2 tablespoonfuls of any scrap of cold meat or chicken, cut into small squares. (A dessertspoonful of currants and a dessertspoonful of grated cheese if possible.) 2. Melt the butter or lard in the large frying pan. 72 MACARONI AND RICE. When it is quite hot and bubbling, throw in the rice and fry it till it has turned a good deep yellow, stirring it about the whole time. 3. Tip the pan a little so that the fat drains off the rice, then take out the rice and put it into the boiling stock. Add the salt and pepper and keep slowly boiling until the stock has been all absorbed by the rice. Do not let the rice burn. 4. Slice the onion and fry it in what remains of the fat left from frying the rice. Throw in the little squares of meat and fry them also, but only just for a moment. Then mix together the onion, meat, rice, and the currants and grated cheese if obtainable. Serve very hot, piled in the small pie dish. 73 FOWLS. It is advisable, if possible, to buy a number of fowls at a time and to keep them for ten or fifteen days so that they may have a chance of fattening. How to Kill a Fowl. — The common way of killing a fowl by cutting its throat and throwing it on the ground to bleed to death is both inhuman and absurb, rendering it even more dry and tasteless than it need be. A heavy blow with a mallet on the back of the head is by far the best and most merciful method. When to Kill a Fowl. — Kill as late as possible in the evening, do not pluck or clean it, but hang it by the legs in a cool place, so that the blood runs dowm and leaves the flesh whiter. This is important. Early next morning, pluck and empty carefully ; keep the liver, which should be turned for a moment in the pan with a little hot butter, sprinkled with pepper and s.et aside. It is also as well to Bprinkle a little pepper inside the fowl. Try to persuade the cook not to soak the fowl in hot water in order to render the work of plucking easier, this process absolutely ruins the bird. After being plucked it should be passed over a flame so as to singe off any remaining down, but this should only be done if you have a careful cook. Length of Time to Keep. — This greatly depends upon the season of the year, the place where they are hung and the care with which they have been cleaned. But even during the rains, it is possible to keep a fowl till the following evening ; it should be looked at after lunch, and, if the weather is very hot, it can be turned a few moments in the frying pan with a little hot butter or lard. 74 FOWLS. Other Birds. — Pigeons killed in the evening must be eaten for breakfast or lunch ; if wanted for dinner they must be killed in the morning. Guinea fowl and bush fowl killed in the evening must also generally be eateD for lunch next day, though it is possible to keep them till evening by turning them in a little hot lard about mid-day. Turkeys can be killed about four p.m., hung in a cool place, plucked and cleaned very early the following morning, and eaten in the evening. Fowls or any other birds killed in the morning and which are to be eaten for dinner should be wrapped in a paw paw leaf to make them tender.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

2 tablespoonfuls of any scrap of cold meat or chicken, cut into small squares. (A dessertspoonful of currants and a dessertspoonful of grated cheese if possible.) 2. Melt the butter or lard in the large frying pan. When it is quite hot and bubbling, throw in the rice and fry it till it has turned a good deep yellow, stirring it about the whole time. 3. Tip the pan a little so that the fat drains off the rice, then take out the rice and put it into the boiling stock. Add the salt and pepper and keep slowly boiling until the stock has been all absorbed by the rice. Do not let the rice burn. 4. Slice the onion and fry it in what remains of the fat left from frying the rice. Throw in the little squares of meat and fry them also, but only just for a moment. Then mix together the onion, meat, rice, and the currants and grated cheese if obtainable. Serve very hot, piled in the small pie dish. It is advisable, if possible, to buy a number of fowls at a time and to keep them for ten or fifteen days so that they may have a chance of fattening. How to Kill a Fowl. — The common way of killing a fowl by cutting its throat and throwing it on the ground to bleed to death is both inhuman and absurb, rendering it even more dry and tasteless than it need be. A heavy blow with a mallet on the back of the head is by far the best and most merciful method. When to Kill a Fowl. — Kill as late as possible in the evening, do not pluck or clean it, but hang it by the legs in a cool place, so that the blood runs down and leaves the flesh whiter. This is important. Early next morning, pluck and empty carefully ; keep the liver, which should be turned for a moment in the pan with a little hot butter, sprinkled with pepper and s.et aside. It is also as well to sprinkle a little pepper inside the fowl. Try to persuade the cook not to soak the fowl in hot water in order to render the work of plucking easier, this process absolutely ruins the bird. After being plucked it should be passed over a flame so as to singe off any remaining down, but this should only be done if you have a careful cook. Length of Time to Keep. — This greatly depends upon the season of the year, the place where they are hung and the care with which they have been cleaned. But even during the rains, it is possible to keep a fowl till the following evening ; it should be looked at after lunch, and, if the weather is very hot, it can be turned a few moments in the frying pan with a little hot butter or lard. Other Birds. — Pigeons killed in the evening must be eaten for breakfast or lunch ; if wanted for dinner they must be killed in the morning. Guinea fowl and bush fowl killed in the evening must also generally be eaten for lunch next day, though it is possible to keep them till evening by turning them in a little hot lard about mid-day. Turkeys can be killed about four p.m., hung in a cool place, plucked and cleaned very early the following morning, and eaten in the evening. Fowls or any other birds killed in the morning and which are to be eaten for dinner should be wrapped in a paw paw leaf to make them tender.

Practical West African cookery