To make Quince Wine. From Mrs. E. B.
Gather your Quinces when they are dry, and wipe them very clean with a coarse Cloth, then grate them with a coarse Grater or a Rasp, as near the Core as you can; but grate in none of the Core, nor the hard part about it: then strain your grated Quinces into an earthen Pot, and to each Gallon of Liquor put two Pounds of fine Loaf-Sugar, and stir it till your Sugar is dissolved; then cover it close, and let it stand twenty four hours, by which time it will be fit enough to bottle, taking care in the bottling of it that none of the Settlement go into the Bottles. This will keep good about a Year; observe that your Quinces must be very ripe when you gather them for this use.
Rabbits still continue in Season this Month, and besides the common way of dressing them, they may be larded, and drest in the following manner; which I had from a Gentleman in Suffolk. Make a Farce for them, like that mentioned for the Belly of a Hare in the preceding Month, and order its Management and Sauce as for a Hare. A young Rabbit, or Hare, is known by the tenderness of the Jaw-Bones, which will easily break by pressing with the Finger and Thumb.
Woodcocks are now in Season, and it is to be advertised of them, that they are to be only pull'd of their Feathers, and not drawn like other Fowls, but the Guts left in them; when they are roasted, they must be serv'd upon Toasts of Bread, upon which the Guts are spread and eaten, when they are brought to Table. The inward of this Bird eats like Marrow; this is generally eaten with Juice of Orange, a little Salt and Pepper, without other Sauce. The Legs of this Bird are esteem'd the most, and are therefore presented to the greatest Strangers at Table; but the Wings and Breast of a Partridge are the principal parts of that Fowl, for the Legs are full of Strings, like the Legs of Turkeys and Pheasants.
The Snipe is of the same nature with the Woodcock, and is ordered in every respect like it. These may be larded with Bacon upon the Breast, or else strew'd with Salt and Crumbs of Bread, while they are roasting. Besides the Sauce used for Woodcocks and Snipes, the aforesaid Suffolk Gentleman has the following which is Gravey with a little minced Anchovy, a Rocambole, some Lemon-Juice, and a little White-wine boiled together; and when it is strain'd, pour it in a Saucer, and serve it with the Fowls.
These Birds are in plenty among the woody parts of England, from September till the end of March, and then they all leave us at one time, except only such as have been lamed by the Sportsmen, and disabled for Flight; and then they will breed in England, as there are Instances enough. About Tunbridge, it is frequent to find them in Summer; and I have known the same in Leicestershire. I think if one could take Woodcocks here in Hay-Nets, as they do in France, and pinion them or disable a Wing, and then turn them loose again, we might raise a Breed of them that would stay with us; but I have experienced that they will not feed if they are confined in Cages or Aviaries, for they must have liberty to run in search of their Food, which they find for the most part in moist places, near Springs; for I have often taken both the Woodcock and the Snipe with such Snares as are made for Larks, by laying them in the Night on the Bank of Rivulets, or watery Trenches near Woods.
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NOVEMBER.
Pheasants are still in season, and are now chiefly roasted, for they are not so frequently boiled, till about April, and then only the Hens when they are full of Eggs; but that, I think, is too destroying a way. The boiled Pheasants are generally dressed with Oyster-Sauce, or Egg-Sauce, but the roasted are either larded on the Breast with fine Bacon Fat, or else roasted and strew'd with Crumbs of Bread: these, says the Suffolk Gentleman, who sent me the foregoing Method of ordering the Woodcock and Snipe, should be served with the same Sauces that are used for Partridges. The Sauces in his Directions are within a trifle the same as those I have already set down in September for Partridges or Quails, so that I shall not repeat them here.
The Truffle, which I have treated of at large as to its manner of Growth and Season of Maturity, in my Gentleman and Farmer's Monthly Director, affords such Variety of agreeable Dishes, that I have taken care to send to a curious Gentleman abroad for the Receipt how to dress it: They are very plenty in our Woods in England, as I understand by several who have found them this Summer by my Directions, and I believe will be much more so, since several curious Gentlemen have followed my Advice in propagating them. It is now, as well as in the two preceding Months, that we may find them of a fine Flavour; but they being something more in perfection in this Month than in the others, I think it the properest to give the Methods of ordering them for the Table in this place: The first manner is to broil them.