Clayton’s Mode of Cooking Canvas-back Ducks
That most delicately flavored wild fowl, the canvas-back duck, to be properly cooked, should be prepared in the following style:
The bird being properly dressed and cleaned, place in the opening, after drawing, a tablespoonful of salt dissolved in water—some add a stick of celery, or celery salt, to flavor, but this is not necessary. Sew up the opening with strong thread; have your fire in the grate red hot—that is, the oven almost red hot; place your duck therein, letting it remain nineteen minutes—which will be amply sufficient time if your oven is at the proper heat—but as tastes differ in this as in other matters of cookery, some prefer a minute longer and others one less. Serve the duck as hot as possible, with an accompanying dish of hominy, boiled, of course; the only condiment to be desired is a little cayenne pepper; some prefer a squeeze of lemon on the duck; others currant jelly; but the simplest and most palatable serving is the directions given.