The handy dictionary of cookery

Take a nice young fat duck ; pluck, singe, and empty it ; scald and skin the feet and legs ; twist them round on the back of the bird. Cut off the head, neck, and pinions at the first joint ; turn them firmly so as to give the breast a plump appearance. For the stuffing take half a pound of onions, a tablespoonful of finely-chopped or powdered sage, three tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs, the liver of the duck, parboiled and chopped. Skin the onions, scald them in boiling water, adding to them a piece of washing-soda the size of a pea, and a tablespoonful of salt. Leave them thus ten minutes to draw out the green indigestible part of the onion. When this is done, chop the onions finely ; add to them the bread crumbs, sage, half a teaspoonful of salt, nearly a quarter of a teaspoonful of pepper, and the liver. Mix well and place it inside the bird. Truss firmly and neatly with a trussing needle and twine. Roast before a clear bright fire ; baste it very often : just before taking it up from the fire dredge over a little flour. Time to roast about one hour. Serve with a good brown gravy {see Brown Gravy) and apple sauce {see Apple Sauce). Dutch Stew. Put into a saucepan one. ounce of dripping. Skin and scald two onions {see Onions) ; chop them finely ; place them in the hot fat to fry ; do not allow them to brown. Put in a piece of neck of mutton ; let it sweat without water threequarters of an hour, then lay on the top a cabbage well washed, scalded, and cut into quarters, also five potatoes peeled, parboiled, and cut into slices. Stew very slowly till cooked. Serve the meat in the centre of the dish and the vegetables round. Dutch Flummery. Put into a clean saucepan one ounce of gelatine, one pint of water, the rind and juice of one lemon. When it is melted strain it over the beaten yolks of three eggs ; return it to the pan ; stir it over the fire till thick ; strain it into a wetted mould; set aside to get cold. Turn out on to crystal dish and serve. Egg’S. Eggs are very nourishing and digestible if they are not too much cooked. To boil an egg, put it in cold water enough to cover it and put it on the fire. As soon as the water boils fast the egg is done. To boil an egg hard, put it in boiling water and boil exactly ten minutes. If you boil it longer the outside of the yolk will be black. If you boil it too fast the shell cracks. To whip an egg, put the white on a clean dry plate with a pinch of salt or sugar. Whip it lightly with a clean, dry, broad-bladed knife. Stand in a draught, whip lightly and evenly, and whip always in the same direction. When the plate can be turned upside-down without the egg slipping, then it is done. Always stir a whipped egg very lightly into any pudding or cake. A beaten egg contains much air. This air, when it is put into the oven, expands, and makes the cake light. Therefore, everything that has a beaten egg in it must be put into a very hot oven at first, and must be baked directly it is mixed, before the air has time to escape. Eg’g’ Drink. Beat the yolk of one egg with a tablespoonful of sugar and a quarter of a pint of warm milk ; pour on to it a bottle of soda water. This is an effervescing drink, and is both nourishing and cooling. Eg’g* Flip.