The spirit of cookery

square. Kitchener thinks that this will let out juice and deteriorate the remainder, but a fat leg will not suffer by the ornamentation. Pickled Pork in small pieces (the petit saU of the French, Solp>er of the Germans) is a favourite dish with an ancient history. The Roman Emperor Claudius entered the Senate one day and called out : ‘ Conscript fathers, is it possible to live without pork pickled in slices ?’ And the venerable fathers replied at once : ‘ Oh, sir, it is better to die than to have to live without salt pork !’ Ham admits of many different excellent modes of preparation, which we cannot discuss in detail. For boiling it requires trimming and soaking, on which subject the observations of Kitchiner are carefully to be noted. It may be braised in various ways, baked if young and not too dry, roasted in a cover of venison paste, and may be sugarcured after the Spanish fashion. Pig’s Feet, or Trotters, are boiled fresh in salt water, and consumed largely by the lower classes. Prepared à la Ste. Menehould, i.e., egged, crumbed, and fried, they were a favourite entree dish in France a century ago. Black Paulding, in French boudin ordinaire, is a sausage made of pig’s blood, pork fat cut in small dice, grits, or rice, and spices and salt. The mixture is filled into prepared guts, and boiled. It may be eaten cold, but many prefer it broiled in slices. Roast Sticking-Pig was formerly a much more popular dish than it is now ; thus, the citizens of London consumed in the year 1725 no less than 52,000 of these animals. It may be stuffed and baked at the baker’s, or it may be boned and made into a galantine, with aspic, and served as an entremets. The variations are numerous and very elegant ; in many parts of the South sucking-pig is frequently prepared for unexpected guests. The sucking-pig’s feet are called pretty toes, and worked into a ragout with the pluck and blood of the animal. PREPARATIONS OF WILD BOAR The Wild Boar cannot be cleared of its bristles by scalding and scraping, but its surface has ho be singed with red-hot irons. The skin, therefore, always contains the roots of the bristles, and has to be soaked and boiled greatly to become eatable. The preservation of the skin is essential only in the case of the boar’s head ; from all other parts it may be removed, like any other animal’s skin. The flesh of the Wild Boar's Saddle or Loins is very solid and tendinous, and requires, like the head, a double process of cooking, namely, braising in the first place, and afterwards painting, crumbing, baking, and basting with a savoury mirepoix. Some red deer in Germany receive a similar treatment. Wild boar may be roasted, or made into a ragoilt, or collared, i.e., rolled and dressed in aspic. But for all these preparations the boar must not be less than a year, and not more than three years old ; a loin of an animal of about two years, well braised in a brown sauce, is an admirable delicacy. CHAPTEE XLI. PREPARATIONS OF VENISON FROM FALLOW DEER, RED DEER, AND ROE DEER.