The complete servant / Being a practical guide to the peculiar duties and business of all descriptions of servants, from the housekeeper to the servant of all-work, and from the land steward to the foot-boy. With useful receipts and tables

by servant Samuel Adams; Sarah Adams

GAME.

Venison is chosen by its fat, which should be thick, clear, and bright. A knife stuck in under the shoulder or shank will shew whether it be sweet. If venison looks green, or approaching to black, it is stale.

The Joints of Venison are only four; viz. The haunch, neck, breast, and shoulder.

Hares.—The claws of a young hare are smooth and sharp, the ears are tender and will easily tear, and the cleft of the lip is narrow; but the claws of an old hare are blunt and rugged, the ears dry and tough, and the cleft of the lip is wide, and the haunch is thick.—If fresh the body will be stiff. A hare is best when kept ten days or a fortnight, which, in favourable weather, may be done; but it should always be dressed as soon as it begins to bleed at the nose.

Leverets may be distinguished from hares, by their having a knob or small bone on the fore leg, near the foot, which hares have not. Leverets will not keep, therefore should be dressed as soon as possible.

Rabbits.—The age of Rabbits, whether wild or tame, may be known by nearly the same rules as that of Hares: observe also, that if old, their hairs are intermixed with the wool, their claws will be limber, and their flesh, instead of being white, will have a blue cast, and be slimy.

POULTRY.

(Poultry is in the greatest perfection when most plentiful. It is generally dearest from February to Midsummer, and cheapest in September.)

Geese.—The bill and feet of a young Goose will be yellow, the breast fat and plump, and the fat white and soft; but if old, the bill and feet will be red, and the fat yellow and skinny. If fresh, the feet will be limber, but if stale, stiff and dry. Green-Geese are in season in April, May, and June. They should be scalded. Stubble-Geese come into season in September.

Turkeys.—Choose cock birds. The very best have black legs, but the white legged birds are nearly as fine. If young their legs will be smooth, and the spurs of the cock will be very short and tender; but if old, the legs will be rough, and the spurs long and hard, unless filed or cut off. But the best criterion, by which to judge of both Turkeys and Fowls with certainty is, that the toes and bills, if they be young, will be soft and pliable, but will feel hard and stiff, if old. A Turkey should be kept without meat thirty-six hours before it is killed, and should be hung up in its feathers a week before it is dressed.