Hand-Book of Practical Cookery for Ladies and Professional Cooks Part 38

It is also served like game, with currant-jelly, apple-sauce, etc.

_Champagne Sauce._--Proceed as for the above in every particular, except that you use Champagne instead of Madeira wine, and when done serve it with a Champagne sauce.

_Another._--It may be boiled as directed above, and served with a Champagne sauce also.

_Another._--When soaked and dry, put it in a crockery vessel; put on and all around it four onions chopped fine, two bay-leaves, two sprigs of thyme, a piece of nutmeg, and pour on the whole a bottle of white wine; cover the vessel as nearly air-tight as possible, leave it thus for about twenty-four hours, turning it over two or three times, so as to let every side take the seasonings. Place the ham on the spit before a good fire, baste often with the seasonings from the crockery vessel, and when done take it off, dust it with fine raspings of bread, place it fifteen minutes in a slow oven, strain the drippings, boil them till reduced to a proper thickness, dish the ham, pour the drippings on it, and serve.

SALTED PORK.

The best and only proper way to cook salted pork, is, to put it in a kettle, entirely cover it with cold water, boil gently till cooked, and serve it with a _puree_ or with a garniture of cabbage. Any thing else that you might put with it would rather spoil than better it.

PIG'S EARS.

_How to prepare._--Soak them in warm water for a few minutes, then wash and clean them well, and sc.r.a.pe the hair off, if any.

_Boiled._--When prepared, you throw them in boiling water for two minutes and take from the fire; add four onions for four ears, one carrot, salt and pepper; leave just water enough to cover the whole, and when cooked, drain. Serve them on a _puree_ of beans or of lentils.

_The same, broiled._--When cleaned, prepared, and cooked as above, just dip them in beaten eggs, roll them in bread-crumbs, place on the gridiron and on the fire, broil for about two or three minutes; then serve them with a _maitre d'hotel_ sauce.

PIG'S FEET.

_Broiled, or a la Sainte Menehould._--Split six feet in two, lengthwise, and soak them in tepid water for ten minutes, then envelop each in a piece of linen well tied or sewed; place them in a kettle or stewpan with four small onions, four sprigs of parsley, two of thyme, two of sweet basil, two bay-leaves, two cloves of garlic, two cloves, two small carrots cut in pieces, salt, pepper, and half a pint of white wine; cover with cold water, simmer about six hours, skim them properly, fill with boiling water so as to have them covered all the time; take from the fire when cooked, and when nearly cool take the feet from the kettle, untie them, throw away the linen, and let them cool. Dip each in melted b.u.t.ter or in sweet-oil, roll in bread-crumbs, and place on a gridiron and on a good fire; serve them as they are, when properly broiled.

_Stuffed._--Prepare the feet and cook them as above. When perfectly cold, remove the long bone of each half, fill the place with sausage-meat; dip each in melted b.u.t.ter and yolk of egg, mixed and seasoned with salt and pepper, roll in bread-crumbs, and broil. While they are broiling, baste them with melted b.u.t.ter. Serve as they are, or with meat-jelly, or gravy.

_Stuffed with Truffles._--Proceed as with the above in every particular, so far as removing the long bone of each half, so as to be ready for stuffing them.

Cut truffles in small dice, enough to half fill the feet, and put them on the fire in a small saucepan, just covered with Madeira wine; toss and stir till the wine is absorbed and nearly boiled away, then add a little gravy, stir half a minute, take from the fire and let cool. When cold, fill each half foot till half full, and finish with sausage-meat; then dip in b.u.t.ter and egg, roll in crumbs, broil and serve as the above.

They may be filled with truffles only, and served with meat-jelly.

PIG'S HEAD.

Soak in water and clean it well; take all the bones and flesh out; then cut the flesh and about one pound of salt pork in strips, which you put inside of the head, well mixed with salt, pepper, half a dozen middling-sized onions chopped, two teaspoonfuls of chopped parsley, half a saltspoonful of allspice, two bay-leaves, two sprigs of thyme, a little sage, and the juice of half a lemon; lay it in a crockery vessel for from four to six days. Envelop the head in a towel, place it in a kettle with eight small onions, two carrots cut in pieces, salt, pepper, four sprigs of parsley, four of thyme, four bay-leaves, two cloves, and a pint of white wine; cover with water, set on the fire, and simmer from six to eight hours; take from the fire and drain, take the towel off and drain again till dry and cold. Serve it with sprigs of green parsley around.

_Wild-Boar like_.--Prepare, stuff, cook, and allow it to cool as the one preceding; then place it on an oval dish, the ears up, with one or two skewers to hold them in place, and also two or three decorated skewers in the middle of the head and between the eyes--not across, but lengthwise. Glaze it with essence of beef, by means of a brush; make eyes with meat-jelly, which you cut with a vegetable spoon, and imitate the tongue, teeth, and tusks with b.u.t.ter colored with cochineal and kneaded with flour. Cover the back part with jelly and skewers ornamented with flowers or slices of truffles, or with both. Some jelly, chopped, may also be placed all around, and flowers in the ears and on the eyes. It is served as an _entree_, or for supper, lunch, or breakfast.

PIG'S KIDNEYS.

Prepare, cook, and serve like calf's kidneys.

PIG'S TAIL.

Prepare, cook, and serve like pig's ears.

PIG'S TONGUE.

Prepare, cook, and serve like beef tongue.

_Head-cheese_.--Soak a pig's head in cold water for two or three hours, clean, and then cut the whole of it, ears and tongue included, in strips one or two inches long, and then put the whole with about two pounds of salt pork, cut in strips also, in a crockery bowl, season with salt, pepper, chopped onion, chopped parsley, thyme, bay-leaf, and sage, chopped also, the juice of a lemon, and leave thus for about two or three days, turning it over occasionally. Then put the mixture in a mould or wrap it in a towel and boil till done. It must be immersed in the water.

Some beet or sheep's tongue, together with the flesh of chicken, may be added to the head.

When cooked and cold, if there are any empty places, they may be filled with meat-jelly.

It is served at late suppers, or at lunch and breakfast. It is always served cold, with parsley around.

SUCKING-PIG.

A sucking-pig, to be good, must be fat.

Then properly cleaned, and hoofs off, clean the inside, leaving the kidneys; skewer it, put in it half a pound of b.u.t.ter kneaded with chopped parsley and green onions, four or five mushrooms, and two white onions with a clove stuck in each; place it on the spit before a good fire, baste often with melted b.u.t.ter first, and then with the drippings, and when done serve on a _vinaigrette_.

Some truffles may be added to the seasoning, if handy; it gives it a good taste.

_Baked_.--Stuff it as the above, place it in a baking-pan with just cold water enough to cover the bottom of the pan; put it in a quick oven, baste often, and when done serve with a _remolade_ or _vinaigrette_ sauce.

When roasted or baked, place it on a dish with slices of truffles, mushrooms, and parsley all around. Run some skewers through slices or truffles and whole mushrooms, and plant them in it like the one represented in the cut on the following page.

A small red apple is placed in the mouth after it is cooked, to make room for which a stone is placed in the mouth before cooking it, in order to keep the mouth open. It is served as warm as possible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A, skewer; B, slices of truffles; C, mushrooms]

_Boned_.--A sucking-pig can be boned and filled just the same as a turkey, and cooked and served alike also.

POULTRY.

Chickens, ducks, turkeys, and geese must be killed not less than twenty-four hours, and not more than three days in summer, nor less than two days nor more than six days in winter, before cooking them.

HOW TO PREPARE AND CLEAN.

To transport poultry, _see_ Game.

Poulterers are of the opinion that the best and quickest way of killing poultry is by cutting the throat or the tongue. Tie the legs of the bird, hang it by the legs, then kill and let bleed. Some cut the head off and throw it away on the ground, but the poor things do not die so fast, and therefore suffer more.

As soon as the throat or tongue is cut, if the head is held down the bird dies sooner, as it allows the blood to run more freely, preventing the bird from bending and twisting its neck, and also from swallowing its blood.