Game and Poultry.—Birds are never more plentiful than in November. Partridges, pheasants, grouse, wild duck, teal, plover, dotterel, woodcock, snipes, widgeon, ducks, geese, turkeys, fowls, are all in season. The best turkeys are said to be fattened in Norfolk. At any rate, most persons will agree that those fed and fattened in England are preferable to those sent from Ireland, France, or Belgium. The number consumed in England at Christmas is very much greater than the number fattened in this country. The best indication of youth is the absence of spur and the smooth skin, soft and silky to touch, which with age becomes hard and wrinkled. As to plumpness, that may be felt by the breast and thighs. It is not quite easy to see if a fowl is plump, for either it has its feathers on or else it is trussed, and the skill of the poulterer is used to give the bird its best possible appearance. With this aim it is pressed into a round plump shape, a thin layer of fat is laid over the breast, known as the leaf, and supposed to come out of the bird, but quite as often fetched from the butcher’s shop, and even white down is powdered over and secured with a little gum. A hairy turkey, with reddish or purplish thighs and back, is likely to be old, so is one of unusually large size. The chief attainment of a successful poultry breeder is to get size and youth together, but it is only the successful who accomplish it.
Partridges and pheasants are much cheaper than last month. It is no longer quite so easy to distinguish old birds from young, as the plumage is gradually developing. One sign of youth is that the penfeathers are pointed in a young, rounded in an old bird. It happens very often that wild duck, widgeon, teal, and sometimes the common plover are sold at a very low price in the London markets, or are hawked about the streets. All these birds are apt to be coarse-flavoured, rank, and fishy. It is rare that a widgeon is anything else. Teal is the best of the three, and a good wild duck is not to be despised. The most of them are caught in the fens of Lincolnshire, where they abound. All these birds have soft pliable legs and feet while they are fresh, and the legs very soon dry and stiffen. They should be eaten as fresh as possible, for keeping only develops the oily flavour. Of plovers there are two kinds, the golden and the grey, the latter being the commoner and the former the better kind. Neither is so commonly seen on fashionable tables as plovers’ eggs, for which, however, the eggs of other semi-aquatic birds are often substituted.
Coals.—A few words about coals may not be unacceptable to some housekeepers. They always last longer if they are kept in a well-ventilated coal-cellar. Shut up, they give off gas, which helps forward their speedy consumption, and is also unwholesome to the inmates of the house. Country people cannot do better than keep the coals out of doors—that is, if they can so arrange that they are not likely to be stolen to any large amount. If they are wetted, so much the better, for they burn slower, and make less dust. By far the cheapest way is to have a truckload (about 7 tons) direct from the colliery; in that way they cost several shillings a ton less. The coalheaver is one of those public functionaries who comes in for a good share of general abuse. As coals are sold by weight, the most obvious way of delivering short measure is by wetting them, when a given bulk weighs more. It is also easy to fill the sacks less than full. A respectable coal merchant would not lend himself to any such practices. Of course, with connivance of the servants, it is easy to deliver any quantity of coals a sack or two short; but that might equally be said of any other goods. Coke helps much to economise coal, and should be purchased of the gas company. Briquettes made of coal-dust are very cheap and most enduring fuel; they are sold by special agents.
December.
Meat.—All meats are in their primest condition in this month.
Game and Poultry.—Barndoor poultry specially challenges attention during the present month. Deliciously plump, fat, well-fed capons come from the Eastern counties.
To the enormous turkeys so popular at Christmas-tide we cannot accord unqualified admiration, as they are terribly apt to be dry and tasteless—not to say stringy. Smaller turkeys than those in fashion at the present moment yield a far greater amount of satisfaction. Perhaps the best way to deal with a turkey of exaggerated dimensions is to boil and serve it with celery sauce or oyster sauce, both excellent accompaniments to any kinds of boiled poultry.
Towards the end of the month doe venison puts in an appearance. Hares and wild rabbits are still very good, and even tame rabbits, when very fat, are by no means to be despised. Rabbits are often sold skinned and trussed for table, and in that state they are not so easy to choose well. The claws should be smooth and sharp, the knee joints large, the ears soft; when it is old its fur turns grey. If fresh it will be supple and moist, with a blue tinge on the flesh. Wild rabbits have more flavour; tame are whiter, fatter, and more delicate. Fowls, geese, pigeons, teal, turkeys, widgeon, wild duck, larks, ortolans, partridges, pheasants, plovers, quails, snipe, woodcock, and swan are all in season just now, and at no time is there so much choice of birds. Pigeons vary much; to waste and to fatten is with them only the work of hours. They should not be fully fledged when they come to table, and the fillets should be bright red; when old these darken to purple and the legs are thin.
Grouse are getting scarce, and are but feebly replaced by capercailzie and ptarmigan. Partridges and pheasants are still in prime condition, and all sorts of water-fowl are in great abundance. Woodcock and snipe, having had ample time to recuperate after their migration, are now superbly plump, while to those who cannot afford such expensive luxuries the golden plover affords a tolerable substitute. The lark also affords a toothsome morsel.
Fish.—Codfish is now in its prime; the perennial sole still appears in many shapes on well-appointed tables; while sturgeon, turbot, skate, whiting, and the delicious smelt contend for notice. Red mullet also charms the eye and palate.