Game and Poultry.—Game is on the wane. Grouse, pheasant, and partridge are over, and game imported from the forests of Norway and the prairies of Illinois but inadequately fills the place of our home-grown birds. In default of these come swimming and wading fowl, woodcock, snipe, and golden plover. Wild duck holds its own, and always presents an appetising morsel. Of all Lenten fowl, the curlew holds the chiefest place, and affords an admirable dish either as a roast or en salmis. The godwit is also an excellent bird. Larks are to be had, and, in default of ortolans, are agreeable if diminutive. Hares are still to the fore, and rabbit is to be obtained, and may be roasted, smothered in onions, or best of all exhibited in a curry.
Barndoor poultry waxes scarce and dear. Turkeys no longer abound as at Christmas, and guinea-fowl are found the best substitute. Spring chickens present but a diminutive appearance, while geese and ducks are becoming rare.
Vegetables.—Seakale and rhubarb can be added to the list of vegetables, but they are still costly, though before the end of the month forced rhubarb will be common.
Fruit.—Oranges are now at the lowest prices, and very plentiful. It is a time of year when bottled and tinned fruits are in great request, both for dessert and for cooking.
Apples, with the exception of the reinette and other varieties of russets, are becoming scarce. France and America, however, send us lady-apples, and a few choice pippens, such as the famous Newtown variety.
Breadstuffs.—Good flour should have a very slight yellow tinge, should not feel gritty between the fingers, and it should be adherent, so that a handful pressed together retain its shape. There should be no mouldy smell nor acid taste. The best test of all is to bake a loaf of bread, always granted that the character of the flour is not to be held liable for shortcomings of cook or yeast. The very fine and white pastry flour makes the best-looking and also delicious-tasting bread, and is much to be preferred for puff paste and rolls; but for family use seconds flour and seconds bread is better, for not only is it cheaper, but it is more nourishing, because it contains less starch and a larger proportion of bone and flesh forming material. Rice is added in making bread, sometimes because it is cheaper than flour, at other times because it retains water. Bread made so is heavier and of closer texture. Potatoes are used only in small quantity, to assist the action of the yeast. Alum enables flour to be used that without it could not make passable bread.
As it cools, bread begins to lose weight. This may be stopped by throwing a thick cloth over the loaves, but the crust thereby becomes heavy. No private person would need to do this, but as household bread is sold by weight, and every customer may demand a full 4 lb. to each quartern, or 2 lb. to an ordinary loaf, it is sometimes in the baker’s interest to do so. When bread is left at the house it is not customary to weigh it, but the humbler housekeepers who fetch their bread take care to have a slice thrown in as makeweight if the scale does not turn at 2 lb. or 4 lb. Fancy bread is never sold by weight.
It is customary to allow about 1 lb. baker’s bread a day for each person. Two people would eat a half-quartern loaf between them. Of course, individual appetites vary, and if there is great abundance of other food, the bread bill may be diminished; but (though, of course, there should be no idea of stinting the supply) 1 lb. a day is an ample allowance, and if more is consumed there is probably some waste going on, new loaves being begun before the old are finished, and pieces of bread thrown into the dustbin or hog-tub. This is as unnecessary as it is undesirable. Half a stale loaf can be made fresh by warming it through in the oven. Slices of bread should not be cut till they are needed; but if they are cut, they can be made into puddings or fritters for the nursery tea or kitchen supper, much more popular and wholesome, and no more costly, than the monotonous bread and butter and bread and cheese. Smaller pieces can be dried and pounded for cutlets or fish; soaked in cold water or milk, they come in for rissoles and stuffing.
March.
Meat.—Pork is not seasonable in hot weather, and is not often seen on table after this month. Beef, mutton, and veal are obtainable as usual, and lamb can also be had, though it will be dear for a few weeks yet.