The spirit of cookery

Boast Duck is mostly flavoured with a stuffing consisting of green sage ^ oz., onion 1 oz., and breadcrumb 2 oz., with fat and spice and salt. This is put into the cavity of the duck, and fills only a small part of it, and therefore can hardly be termed a stuffing; for the idea ‘to stuff’ involves that of filling completely. To delicate stomachs this stuffing is not very digestible. Stewed Duck or Duckling with Vegetables is a favourite dish, and admits of many variations. Fillets or Breasts of Duckling may be prepared a la bigarade, i.e., with the juice of Seville orange; the rest of the bird is turned into a salmi. Wild Duck, of which the male is called mallard, the young individual a flapper, is a great resource of the autumnal and hiernal kitchen. It should be well hung before being dressed, and always roasted. It requires basting with butter, and from fifteen to twenty minutes, before a brisk fire. The Canvas-back Duck is a delicate bird of American origin. It should be cooked like our wild duck, but nearer to the fire, its fat being so liquid that it requires rapid coction not to run out. It is best eaten with plain gravy or sharp sauce. The cooking of wild ducks is different from that required by the domestic bird, in this, that it is never carried so far as in the case of the latter. Reared ducks must always be VARIETIES AND PREPARATIONS OF PIGEON 497 well done ; wild ducks are preferred only just, or rather under, done. Both are very suitable for treatment as a ragout with cassareep in the form of the West Indian pepper-pot. Of ingeons, French cooks distinguish four varieties as most suitable for cooking : Romains (large birds), Cochois (from Picardie), Birets (in August), and a la Gaultier (from Paris and neighbourhood). It is interesting to know this, as we receive many thousands of pigeons from France, Bordeaux pigeons being a standing article of trade. Pigeons are in greatest perfection from midsummer to Michaelmas, as there is then the most plentiful and best food for them ; their best condition is just when they are full-feathered. When they are in the pen-feathers, they are flabby ; when they are full-grown and have flown some time, they are tough. When pigeons are fresh they have their full flavour, but it disappears entirely when they are kept, and the slightest goût makes them useless. They should therefore be roasted as soon as they are received, and if not used immediately, be kept in the roasted state, cold, and be reheated for further use. Roast Pigeon is used as a second course roast, plain ; it will take about twenty minutes. It is much improved by a bland stuffing of forcemeat, veal, with egg, panada, and spices. The bird is basted with butter ; its cooking then requires half an hour. Pigeons may be larded and glaced, and garnished with mushrooms, or a ragoitt of cocks’ combs, or they may be broiled, grilled, or spitchcocked, an operation of which the French name is mettre à la crapaudine ; this last word signifies a grating. Stewed Pigeon (named by some compote de pigeons) is a very useful dish for delicate or sick persons ; it admits of many variations, and is supreme with stewed green peas. Pigeon Pie in a dish is a favourite English preparation ; when wanted for substantial nutrition, it receives a basis of rumpsteak; it re-