Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Pig, Sucking, Stuffing for.— A sucking pig is usually filled with a stuffing prepared as follows : — Take half a pint of finely-grated bread-crumbs. Mix with them a dozen sageleaves, chopped small, a tea-spoonful of salt, Half a tea-spoonful of pepper, and a pinch of cayenne. Moisten these with two ounces of clarified butter and the well-beaten yolk of an egg. One onion or more, chopped small, may be added or not, according to taste. Time, a few minutes to prepare. Probable cost, 4d. Sufficient for one young pig. Pig, Sucking, Stuffing of Chestnuts for. — Peel, scald, and blanch half a hundred chestnuts, and boil them in a pint of milk, with a pinch of salt and half an ounce of butter. When they are done enough, drain and dry them, and mix them with one pound of good pork sausage meat. Fill the body of the pig, and sew it securely. When the pig is filled with this forcemeat, a sauce, made as follows, should be sent to table with it : — Peel, scald, and blanch six ounces of sound chestnuts, and stew them in three-quarters of a pint of good brown gravy until they are sufficiently tender to be rubbed through a hair sieve. Stir into the pulp half a dozen table-spoonfuls of rich brown sauce, season rather highly with mace and cayenne, and add a little salt, if necessary. Stir the sauce over the fire until it boils, and serve immediately. A glassful of madeira or sherry may be added or not. Time, twenty minutes to boil the chestnuts for the stuffing; one hour and a quarter for the sauce. Probable cost, Is. 6d. Sufficient for one pig. Pig, Sucking, Stuffing of Potatoes for. — Potatoes mashed with milk, and seasoned with pepper and salt, are sometimes used as a stuffing for roast sucking-pig. Any of the ordinary sauces may be sent to table with this dish. Pig, Sucking, Stuffing of Truffles for. — Take one pound of English truflles. Wash and brush them well, changing the water several times, dry them, and cut each one into quarters. Mince half a pound of fat bacon finely, and pound it to a paste. Put it into a stewpan, with the truffles, a clove of garlic, half a tea-spoonful of chopped thyme, a bay-leaf, and a little grated nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Let these ingredients simmer over a gentle fire for ten minutes, when they will be ready to put inside the pig. When the pig is filled with this forcemeat a sauce, made as follows, should be sent to table with it :— Wash, wipe, and pare four truffles, and chop them very small. Put them into a stewpan, with half a pint of thick brown sauce, a piece of garlic the size of a pea, and a glassful of sherry, and let them boil for ten minutes. Mix with them half a tea-spoonful of Liebig's extract, and a tea-spoonful of the essence of anchovy. Boil up once more, and serve. Probable cost, 3s. 8d. Sufficient for one pig. Pig, To Cut up for Bacon [see Bacon, To Cut up a Pig for). Pig's Blood.— Black puddings are made with pig's blood and oatmeal. The blood of animals, it is to be remarked, is rich in restorative matter, and although when an animal is killed it is usually treated as refuse, blood may sometimes advantageously be used as food.