Cassell's dictionary of cookery

Fieldfares, Roasted.— These birds are trussed and roasted like a partridge. When put before a bright fire, baste well with butter and flour, and froth nicely a few minutes before serving. Send to table hot on fried breadcrumbs, with a tureen of gravy, and another of bread sauce. Time, from fifteen to twenty minutes. Fieldfares are seldom to be bought. Sufficient for a dish, four. Fife Pie. — Take a nice young rabbit, skin and cut it into bits. Lay them in cold water to soak. Prepare a forcemeat of the hver, parboiled and minced, some bread-crumbs, a little fat bacon, and a seasoning of lemon-thyme, minced parsley, nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Moisten with an egg, and make into balls. Cut one pound of bacon into thin slices ; drain the meat, sprinkle all with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and pack it, with the balls, closely into a dish. Pour in a tea-cupful of good gravy, and a small glass of white wine. Bake with a cover of puif paste. Time, one hour to bake. Probable cost, 2s. 6d., without wine. Sufficient for five or six persons. Fig Pudding. — Take equal quantities of flour and bread-crumbs, eight ounces of each, shred a pound of suet very finely, and cut up two pounds of figs into small bits ; mix these well together, and make into a stiff paste with two eggs — which should be well beaten — and only sufficient milk to make the paste firm, not wet. Put it into a buttered mould, press it closely together, and tie down with a cloth. Serve with wine sauce or melted butter. Time, three hours to boil. Probable cost, 2s. Sufficient for seven or more persons. Fig Pudding (another way) . — This pudding is often made like a roly-poly jam pudding [see lloly-poly Jam Pudding), thus: — Mix three-quarters of a pound of flour and six ounces of finely-chopped suet into a smooth paste with milk. Cut the figs — about one pound — into bits, and put them over the paste, which should be rolled out half an inch thick. When doubled over, see that the paste is firmly closed at the ends, and tie in a floured cloth to boil. Time, nearly two hours. Probable cost, Is. 3d. Sufficient for five or six persons. Figs, Green, Compote of. — BoU one pound of sugar with a pint and a half of water and the rind of half a lemon ; take off the scum as it appears, and when it has boiled a quarter of an hour, put in one pint and a half of green figs, and simmer them very slowly till tender, adding a little port wine or lemon-juice. Remove the figs, and boil the sjTup up quickly ; pour it over the figs, and when cold serve on a glass dish. Time, two to three hours to stew the figs. Probable cost, 2s. to 3s. per dozen. Figs, Preserved. — Take small green figs, wipe, and put them into cold water; do this in the morning, and the next day simmer them tiU tender. Put them into cold water for three days, changing the water each day. Try if they are soft enough for a pin's head to pierce them FIG ( 209 ) FIS easily ; if so, weigh them, and to each pound of fruit allow a pound of sugar. Clarify the sugar, and put the figs into it while hot. Simmer for ten or twelve minutes. In a couple of days add the thin rind of a lemon and a little ginger to the syrup, and heat the figs in it again ; do this twice, divide the figs into halves, and put them, in their syrup, into pots. Tie down closely.