Cutlets, broiled.—The cutlets are much better when improved as directed. The seasonings are spread all over. They are then wrapped up in buttered paper and broiled on a quick fire. They may also be larded with salt pork, and then broiled with or without being enveloped in paper. When broiled and dished, serve them warm with a maître d'hôtel or ravigote sauce.
Sautées.—Put six cutlets in a stewpan, larded or not, with salt, pepper, eight small onions, two carrots, four sprigs of parsley, two of thyme, two cloves, a bay-leaf, a gill of broth, and same of water; set it on a good fire and boil gently till cooked. Dish the cutlets so that every small end or bone rests on the larger end of another, and serve with the sauce strained on them. If more sauce is desired, add to it any of the following: cranberry, piquante, ravigote, Robert, or Tartar.
Haunch, roasted.—After being improved, if liked, remove the thin skin around it and lard it with salt pork; it may be roasted without larding, but it is certainly an improvement, the meat being naturally dry. Place it on the spit before a brisk fire and near it; baste with melted butter first, and then with the drippings till done. If it is larded, it will require less butter. As soon as a kind of crust forms around the meat, remove it a little from the fire by degrees. Ascertain with a skewer or small knife when done. Venison is generally served rather underdone, when roasted or baked.
To make the dish more sightly, the skin and hair of the lower part of the leg, together with the hoof, are left untouched. To prevent them from burning while it is roasting, envelop these parts with a wet towel, which you cover with several sheets of buttered or oiled paper. It may be necessary to dip the towel in water two or three times during the process of roasting. When roasted, serve with any of the following sauces: cranberry, piquante, poivrade, ravigote, Robert, or Tartar; also with currant-jelly. If served with the gravy only, add water-cress and lemon-juice or vinegar.
Baked.—Prepare it as directed for roasting; then place it in a bakepan with a little cold water, just enough to cover the bottom of the pan; sprinkle salt and pepper all over, spread some butter on the upper side and put in a quick oven. Turn over and baste now and then till done. If the water is absorbed, add more. When baked, serve with the same sauces as if roasted, and also with currant-jelly and water-cress.
Saddle.—Roast or bake the saddle, and serve it as directed for a haunch, with the same sauces, and also with water-cress and currant-jelly.
Shoulder.—Cut the shoulder in fillets and lard them slightly. Put in a stewpan four ounces of butter and set it on a brisk fire; when hot, lay the fillets in, and when of a golden color add the seasonings in which you have improved the saddle, or the same ones if you have not done it; then subdue the fire, wet with a little warm broth, simmer till cooked, dish the fillets, strain the sauce on them, and serve. It may also be dressed entire, with the bones off; but it is more generally done in fillets. It is boned like a shoulder of mutton, and roasted or baked, and served like a haunch, with the same sauces and with currant-jelly or water-cress.
Stewed.—Cut the meat in square pieces, about two inches in size. Have in a stewpan, and on a good fire, a piece of butter the size of a duck's egg; when melted, sprinkle in, little by little, a tablespoonful of flour, stirring the while with a wooden spoon; when getting rather thick, add two ounces of bacon cut in dice, also half a pint of claret wine, same of warm water, salt, pepper, a pinch of allspice, two shallots chopped fine, or two green onions, four or five mushrooms, two cloves of garlic, and six onions; then lay the meat on the whole, and boil gently till cooked. Dish the meat, boil the sauce till of a brownish color, skim off the fat if there is too much of it, take out the cloves of garlic, turn the sauce on the meat, and serve hot.
With Truffles or Mushrooms.—Any part of venison, baked or roasted, may be served with a garniture of mushrooms, or one of truffles.