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Obs.-There are few occasions, we think, in which the contents of the dripping-pan can be introduced at table with advantage; but in dressing moor game, we would strongly recommend the toast to be laid in it under the birds, as it will afford a superior relish even to the birds themselves.

A SALMI OF MOOR FOWL, PHEASANTS, OR PARTRIDGES.

(ENTRÉE.)

This is an elegant mode of serving the remains of roasted game, but when a superlative salmi is desired, the birds must be scarcely more than half roasted for it. In either case, carve them very neatly, and strip every particle of skin and fat from the legs, wings, and breasts; bruise the bodies well, and put them with the skin, and other trimmings into a very clean stewpan. If for a simple and inexpensive dinner, merely add to them two or three sliced eschalots, a bay leaf, a small blade of mace, and a few peppercorns; then pour in a pint, or rather more, of good veal gravy, or strong broth, and boil it briskly until reduced nearly half; strain the gravy, pressing the bones well, to obtain all the flavour, skim off the fat, add a little cayenne, and lemon-juice, heat the game very gradually, in it, but do not, on any account, allow it to boil; place sippets of fried bread round a dish, arrange the birds in good form in the centre, give the sauce a boil, and pour it on them. This is but a homely sort of salmi, though of excellent flavour if well made; it may require perhaps the addition of a little thickening, and two or three glasses of dry white wine poured to the bodies of the birds, with the broth, would bring it nearer to the French salmi in flavour. As the spongy substance in the inside of moor fowl and black game is apt to be extremely bitter, when they have been long kept, care should be taken to remove such parts as would endanger the preparation.

FRENCH SALMI, OR HASH OF GAME. (ENTRÉE.)

Prepare underdressed, or half-roasted, game by the directions we have already given, and after having stripped the skin from the thighs, wings, and breasts, arrange the joints evenly in a clean stewpan, and keep them covered from the air and dust till wanted. Cut down into dice four ounces of the lean of an unboiled ham, and put it, with two ounces of butter, into a thick, well-tinned saucepan, or stewpan; add three or four minced eschalots (more, should a high flavour of them be liked), two ounces of sliced carrot, four cloves, two bay leaves, a dozen peppercorns, one blade of mace, a small sprig or two of thyme, and

part of a root of parsley, or two or three small branches of the leaves. Stew these over a gentle fire, stirring, or shaking them often, until the sides of the saucepan appear of a reddish-brown, then mix well in a dessertspoonful of flour, and let it take a little colour: next, add by degrees, making the sauce boil as each portion is thrown in, three quarters of a pint of strong veal stock, or gravy, and nearly half a pint of sherry or Madeira; put in the well-bruised bodies of the birds, and boil them from an hour to an hour and a half; strain, and clear the sauce quite from fat, pour it on the joints of game, heat them in it slowly, and when they are near the point of boiling, dish them immediately with delicately fried sippets round the dish. When mushrooms can be obtained, throw a dozen or two of small ones, with the other seasonings, into the butter. The wine is sometimes added to the vegetables, and one half reduced before the gravy is poured in; but though a sauce of fine colour is thus produced, the flavour of the wine is entirely lost.

TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES.

Woodcock.

Snipe.

Handle them as little and as lightly as possible, and pluck off the feathers gently; for if this be violently done the skin of the birds will be broken. Do not draw them, but after having wiped them with clean soft cloths, truss them with the head under the wing, and the bill laid close along the breast; pass a slight skewer through the thighs, catch the ends with a bit of twine, and tie it across to keep the legs straight. Suspend the birds with the feet downwards to a bird-spit, flour them well, and baste them with butter, which should be ready dissolved in the pan or ledle. Before the trail begins to drop, which it will do as soon as they are well heated, lay a thick round of bread, freed from the crust, toasted a delicate brown, and buttered on both sides, into the pan under them to catch it, as this is considered finer eating even than the flesh of the birds; continue the basting, letting the butter fall from them into the basting-spoon or ladle, as it cannot be collected again from the dripping-pan should it drop there, in consequence of the toast or toasts being in it. There should be one of these for each woodcock, and the trail should be spread equally over it. When the birds are

done, which they will be, at a brisk fire, in from twenty to twenty-five minutes, lay the toasts into a very hot dish, dress the birds upon them, pour a little gravy round the bread, and send more to table in a tureen.

Woodcock, 20 to 25 minutes; snipe, 5 minutes less.

TO ROAST THE PINTAIL, OR SEA PHEASANT.

This beautiful bird is by no means rare upon our eastern coast, but we know not whether it be much seen in the markets generally. It is most excellent eating, and should be roasted at a clear quick fire, well floured when first laid down, turned briskly, and basted with butter almost without cessation. If drawn from the spit in from twenty-five to thirty minutes, then dished and laid before the fire for two or three more, it will give forth a singularly rich gravy. Score the breast when it is carved, sprinkle on it a little cayenne and fine salt, and let a cut lemon be handed round the table when the bird is served; or omit the scoring, and send round with it brown gravy, and Christopher North's sauce made hot.

20 to 30 minutes.

TO ROAST WILD DUCKS.

These are prepared for the spit exactly like the tame ones, with the exception of the stuffing, which is never used for wild fowl. A bit of soft bread soaked in port wine, or in claret, is sometimes put into them, but nothing more. Flour them well, lay them rather near to a very clear and brisk fire, that they may be quickly browned, and yet retain their juices. Baste them plentifully and constantly with butter, and, if it can be so regulated, let the spit turn with them rapidly. From fifteen to twenty minutes will roast them sufficiently for the generality of eaters; but for those who object to them much underdressed, a few additional minutes must be allowed. Something less of time will suffice when they are prepared for persons who like them scarcely more than heated through.

Teal, which is a more delicate kind of wild fowl, is roasted in the same way: in from ten to fifteen minutes it will be enough done for the fashionable mode of serving it, and twenty minutes will dress it well at a good fire.

A SALMI, OR HASH OF WILD FOWL.

Carve the birds very neatly, strip off the skin, and proceed as for the salmi of pheasants (page 283), but mix port or claret, instead of white wine, with the gravy, and give it a rather high

seasoning of cayenne. Throw in the juice of half a small lemon before the salmi is served, place fried sippets round the dish, and send it to table as hot as possible.

For a common hash boil the skin and trimmings of the wildfowl in some good broth, or gravy (with a couple of lightly fried eschalots or not, at choice), until their flavour is imparted to it; then strain, heat, and thicken it slightly, with a little brown roux, or browned flour; add a glassful of port wine, some lemon-juice, and cayenne, or sufficient of Christopher North's sauce to flavour it well; warm the birds slowly in it; and serve them as soon as they are thoroughly hot, but without allowing

them to boil.

CHAPTER XIV.

CURRIES, POTTED MEATS, &c.

Hot Water Dish.

THE great superiority of the oriental curries over those generally prepared in England is not, we believe, altogether the result of a want of skill or of experience on the part of our cooks, but is attributable, in some measure, to many of the ingredients, which in a fresh and green state add so much to their excellence, being here beyond our reach.

The natives of the East compound and vary this class of

dishes, we are told, with infinite ingenuity, blending in them very agreeably many condiments of different flavour, until the highest degree of piquancy and savour is produced, the whole being tempered with fine vegetable acids. With us, turmeric and cayenne pepper prevail in them often far too powerfully: the prodigal use of the former should be especially avoided, as it injures both the quality and the colour of the currie, which ought to be of a dark green, rather than of a red or yellow hue. The first is given by the genuine powder imported from India; the others, by the greater number of spurious ones, sold in England, under its name. A couple of ounces of a sweet, sound cocoa-nut, lightly grated and stewed for nearly or quite an hour in the gravy of a currie, is a great improvement to its flavour: it will be found particularly agreeable with that of sweetbreads, and may be served in the currie, or strained from it at pleasure. Great care, however, should be taken not to use, for the purpose, a nut that is rancid. Spinage, cucumbers, vegetable marrow, tomatas, acid apples, green gooseberries (seeded), and tamarinds imported in the shell-not preserved-may all, in their season, be added, with very good effect, to curries of different kinds. Potatoes and celery are also occasionally boiled down in them.

The rice for a currie should always be sent to table in a separate dish from it, and, in serving them, it should be first helped, and the currie laid upon it.

MR. ARNOTT'S CURRIE-POWDER.

Turmeric, eight ounces.*

Coriander seed, four ounces.

Cummin seed, two ounces.

Fenugreek seed, two ounces.

Cayenne, half an ounce. (More or less of this last to the taste.)

Let the seeds be of the finest quality. Dry them well, pound, and sift them separately through a lawn sieve, then weigh, and mix them in the above proportions. This is an exceedingly agreeable and aromatic powder, when all the ingredients are perfectly fresh and good, but the preparing it is rather a troublesome process. Mr. Arnott recommends that when it is considered so, a "high-caste" chemist should be applied to for it. The Messieurs Corbyn and Co., 300, High Holborn,

* We think it would be an improvement to diminish by two ounces the proportion of turmeric, and to increase that of the coriander seed; but we have not tried it.

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