A very large turkey will require about three hours to roast it thoroughly; a middling-sized one, of eight or ten pounds (which is far nicer eating than the very large one), about two hours; a small one may be done in an hour and a half.
Turkey poults are of various sizes, and will take about an hour and a half; they should be trussed, with their legs twisted under like a duck, and the head under the wing like a pheasant.
Fried pork sausages ([No. 87]) are a very savoury and favourite accompaniment to either roasted or boiled poultry. A turkey thus garnished is called “an alderman in chains.”
Sausage-meat is sometimes used as stuffing, instead of the ordinary forcemeat. ([No. 376], &c.)
Mem. If you wish a turkey, especially a very large one, to be tender, never dress it till at least four or five days (in cold weather, eight or ten) after it has been killed. “No man who understands good living will say, on such a day I will eat that turkey; but will hang it up by four of the large tail-feathers, and when, on paying his morning visit to the larder, he finds it lying upon a cloth prepared to receive it when it falls, that day let it be cooked.”
Hen turkeys are preferable to cocks for whiteness and tenderness, and the small fleshy ones with black legs are most esteemed.
Send up with them oyster ([No. 278]), egg ([No. 267]), bread ([No. 221]), and plenty of gravy sauce ([No. 329]). To hash turkey, [No. 533].
Mem. Some epicures are very fond of the gizzard and rump, peppered and salted, and broiled. (See [No. 538], “how to dress a devil with véritable sauce d’enfer!!”)