_Cheshire-_Pye With Pork. From Mr. R. J.
Take some salt Loin of Pork, or Leg of Pork, and cut it into Pieces, like Dice, or as you would do for an Harsh. If it be boiled or roasted, it is no matter; then take an equal quantity of Potatoes, and pare them, and cut them into dice, or in slices. Make your Pye-Crust, and lay some Butter, in pieces, at the bottom, with some Pepper and Salt; then put in your Meat and Potatoes, with such seasoning as you like, but Pepper and Salt commonly, and on the Top some pieces of Butter. Then close your Pye, and bake it in a gentle Oven, putting in about a Pint of Water, just before it is going into the Oven; for if you put in your Water over Night, it will spoil your Pye.
To bake Herrings in an extraordinary manner. From Mrs. M. N. of Shrewsbury.
Take fresh Herrings, and when they are scaled and cleaned, put them in a glazed earthen Vessel, where they can lie straight; then put in as much of the following Liquor as will cover them, viz. an equal quantity of fine pale and old strong Beer, with Vinegar, which is the best, or else all Vinegar, or as some do, put two parts of Vinegar and one of Water; any of these will do well. Then put in some Bay-Salt, such a quantity as you think will season it to your mind, and to that a tenth part of Salt-Petre, which will not make it salt, but give it a fine relish: to these put two or three Bay-Leaves, a bunch of sweet Herbs, some Cloves, or Jamaica Pepper, and some whole Pepper; then cover your Pan, and bake it in a quick Oven, with Bread. These must be eaten cold; they are excellent for a Country Breakfast, especially, if they are warm of the Spice, and if they are well done, the very Bones will dissolve.
To draw Gravey for a private Family. From the same.
Take some fleshy part of Beef, without Fat, and cut it in pieces about the bigness of Pidgeons Eggs; then flour it well, and put it in a Sauce-Pan, with a little fresh Lard, or a little Butter, a little Onion sliced, some Powder of sweet Marjoram, and a little Pepper. Cover all close, and stir it now and then till the Gravey is come out enough, and then pour on it some Water, when the Gravey is brown, and stir all together, and let them boil some time; then strain it off, adding a little Lemon-Juice.
Another Gravey, for a private Family, where there is not an opportunity of getting Beef to make it of.
Take some Butter, and some Onion, cut small, put it in a Sauce-Pan, and set it over the Fire till the Butter melts; then drudge in some Flour, and stir it well, till the Froth sinks down, and then it will be brown; you must then have ready prepared the following Mixture to throw in, viz. some good old Beer, and as much Water, an Onion cut small, some Pepper and Salt, a small Anchovy shred, a little Lemon-Peel grated, a Clove or two, and, if you have it, a little Mushroom Liquor, or Liquor of pickled Walnuts; then let them all simmer together a little while, and it will produce a thick good Gravey.
The Manner of Trussing a Rabbit for Boiling.
Cut the two Haunches of the Rabbit close by the Back-Bone, two Inches, and turn up the Haunches, by the Sides of the Rabbit; skewer the Haunches through the lower Part of the Back, as at A; then put a Skewer through the utmost Joint of the Leg at B, and so through the Body, and through the other Leg, so that the end of the Leg reaches the Shoulder-Blade. Then truss up the Shoulders high, and let the Pinnions be carried back, to take the Legs at B, and lie between them and the Body; and under the height of the Pinnions, put a Skewer, and bend the Neck backwards, and pass the Skewer through all, at C, so that it supports the Blade-Bone, and holds the Head up.
The Manner of Trussing a Single Rabbit for Roasting. From Mr. W. N. Poulterer.
You case the Rabbit all, excepting the lower Joints of the four Legs, and those you chop off: then pass a Skewer through the middle of the Haunches, after you have laid them flat, as at A; and the Fore-Legs, which are called the Wings, must be turn’d, as at B; so that the smaller Joint may be push’d into the Body, through the Ribs. This, as a single Rabbit, has the Spit pass’d through the Body and Head, but the Skewer takes hold of the Spit to preserve the Haunches. But to truss a couple of Rabbits, there are seven Skewers, and then the Spit passes only between the Skewers, without touching the Rabbits.
To make a Pheasant of a Rabbit, truss’d in such a manner, that it will appear like a Pheasant, and eat like one, with its Sauce. This is called, by the topping Poulterers, a Poland-Chicken, or a Portugal-Chicken. But it is most like a Pheasant, if it is larded. From Mrs. Johnson, at the famous Eating-House in Devereux-Court near the Temple.
Take a young Rabbit full grown; case it all, excepting the Fore-Feet, chop off them, and the Head, as close as may be, but strip the Skin from the hind Legs, even to leave the Claws on them. These Claws are not unlike the Claws of a Pheasant, and some good Judges may be deceiv’d by their first Look, for they are little different from the Legs of the Fowls we design to imitate. Then turn the Neck-part of the Rabbit, the Breast inwards, to the Scut or the Rump, leaving the Rump somewhat short, but to appear; then will the Rabbit appear in the Shape above, viz. B is the Scut, or Rump, of the Rabbit, and C is where the Neck comes; then will the Part mark’d F, appear like the Breast of a Fowl: but you must put up the stript Legs of the Rabbit, over each side of the Neck of it, and tie all together, with a String, as mark’d H H. So will the Hind-Legs of the Rabbit appear like the Legs of a Fowl, and where you see the Letter G mark’d, the Back of the Rabbit is broken. D, is what represents the Back-Side of the Fowl, and E is the Appearance of the Wings, which are supposed to be stuck into the Back, where two large Orifices are made, but the Bones of the Wings, of the Rabbit, must be taken out. A, shews the Legs as they ought to be tied, and O O Directs to the Points of the Skewers which are to run through it.
Fig. 4. will shew you the Back of the same, when it is truss’d, with the Appearance of the Skewers, o, o, o, o, with the Orifices, wherein are the supposed Bones of the Wings. If this is larded on the Breast, I think it best, and it should be served with the following Sauce, if it is roasted.
When this is thus prepared, you may stick a Pheasant’s Tail-Feather at the Scut, and roast it as you would do a Pheasant, basting it well with Butter, after it is drudg’d well with Flour; then make the following Sauce for it. Take some strong Gravey, and put a little Lemon-Peel into it, with some Spice, and a little Wine; then take a few Buttons of Mushrooms pickled, and thicken it with burnt Butter, so that the Sauce becomes like one fit for a Ragout, or Ragoo, as the English pronounce it. Pour this over the Fowl or Rabbit, which you please to call it, and serve it hot, with a Garnish of Lemon sliced, and pickled Red Beet-Roots sliced.
Of Trussing a Pidgeon. From the same.
Draw it, but leave in the Liver, for that has no Gall; then push up the Breast from the Vent, and holding up the Legs, put a Skewer just between the bent of the Thigh and the brown of the Leg, first having turn’d the Pinnions under the Back: and see the lower Joint of the biggest Pinnions, are so pass’d with the Skewer, that the Legs are between them and the Body, as at A.
A Goose to Truss. From the same.
A Goose has no more than the thick Joints of the Legs and Wings left to the Body; the Feet, and the Pinnions being cut off, to accompany the other Giblets, which consist of the Head and Neck, with the Liver and Gizzard. Then at the bottom of the Apron of the Goose A, cut an hole, and draw the Rump through it; then pass a Skewer through the small part of the Leg, through the Body, near the Back, as at B; and another Skewer through the thinnest part of the Wings, and through the Body, near the Back, as at C, and it will be right.
The Trussing of an Easterling. From Mr. W. N. Poulterer of St. _James’s-Market, London._
A Duck, an Easterling, a Teal, and a Widgeon, are all trussed in the same manner. Draw it, and lay aside the Liver and Gizzard, and take out the Neck, leaving the Skin of the Neck full enough to spread over the Place where the Neck was cut off. Then cut off the Pinnions at A, and raise up the whole Legs, till they are upright in the middle of the Fowl B, and press them between the stump of the Wings, and the Body of the Fowl: then twist the Feet towards the Body, and bring them forwards, with the bottom of the Feet towards the Body of the Fowl, as at C. Then take a Skewer, and pass it through the Fowl, between the lower Joint, next the Foot, and the Thigh, taking hold, at the same time, of the ends of the stumps of the Wings A. Then will the Legs, as we have placed them, stand upright. D is the point of the Skewer.
The Manner of Trussing a Chicken like a Turkey-Poult, or of Trussing a Turkey-Poult. From. Mr. W. N. Poulterer of St. _James’s-_Market.
Take a Chicken and cut a long slit down the Neck, on the Fore-part; then take out the Crop and the Merry-Thought, as it is call’d; then twist the Neck, and bring it down under the Back, till the Head is placed on the side of the Left-Leg; bind the Legs in, with their Claws on, and turn them upon the Back. Then between the bending of the Leg and the Thigh, on the Right side pass a Skewer through the Body of the Fowl; and when it is through, run the Point through the Head, by the same Place of the Leg, as you did before, as at A: you must likewise pull the Rump B through the Apron of the Fowl. Note, The Neck is twisted like a Cord, and the boney part of it must be quite taken out, and the Under-Jaw of the Fowl taken away; neither should the Liver and Gizzard be served with it, though, the Pinnions are left on. Then turn the Pinnions behind the Back, and pass a Skewer through the extreme Joint, between the Pinnion and the lower Joint of the Wing, through the Body, near the Back, as at C, and it will be fit to roast in the fashionable manner. N.B. Always mind to beat down the Breast-Bone, and pick the Head and Neck clean from the Feathers before you begin to truss your Fowl.
A Turkey-Poult has no Merry-Thought, as it is called; and therefore, to imitate a Turkey the better, we take it out of a Chicken through the Neck.
Fig. 9. Shews the Manner how the Legs and Pinnions will appear when they are turn’d to the Back; as also, the Position of the Head and Neck of the Chicken, or Turkey-Poult.
The manner of Trussing an Hare in the most fashionable Way. From Mr. W. N.
Case an Hare, and in casing it, just when you come to the Ears, pass a Skewer just between the Skin and the Head, and by degrees raise it up till the Skin leaves both the Ears stript, and then take take off the rest as usual. Then give the Head a Twist over the Back, that it may stand, as at A, putting two Skewers in the Ears, partly to make them stand upright, and to secure the Head in a right Disposition; then push the Joint of the Shoulder-Blade, up as high as may be, towards the Back, and pass a Skewer between the Joints, as at B, through the bottom Jaw of the Hare, which will keep it steady; then pass another Skewer through the lower Branch of the Leg at C, through the Ribs, passing close by the Blade-Bone, to keep that up tight, and another through the Point of the same Branch, as at D, which finishes the Upper-Part. Then bend in both Legs between the Haunches, so that their Points meet under the Scut, and skewer them fast, with two Skewers, as at O O.