Cookery and housekeeping

Prepare and truss as a fowl ; do not wash the bird, but wipe it dry. Put black ground pepper and a piece of butter inside the bird, and hang before a brisk fire, basting it well with butter. Shortly before it is done, which will be from a quarter of an hour to twenty minutes, put some toast below the bird, and let the butter drop upon it. Serve with breadcrumbs, and bread sauce if liked. Haunch of Venison. If the outside be hard, wash with lukewarm water ; then rub all over with fresh butter and lard. Cover it on the top and sides with a paste of flour and water, nearly half an inch thick. Lay upon this a large sheet of thin white wrapping-paper well buttered, and above this thick foolscap. Keep all in place by greased packthread, then put down to roast with a little water in the dripping-pan. Let the fire be steady and strong. Pour a few ladlesful of butter and water over the meat now and then to prevent the paper from scorching. If the haunch is large, it will take at least five hours to roast. About half an hour before you take it up, remove the papers and paste, and test with a skewer to see if it is done. If this passes easily to the bone through the thickest part, set it down to a more moderate fire, and baste every few minutes with claret and melted butter. At the last, baste with butter, dredge with flour to make a light froth, and dish. It should be a fine brown by this time. Twist a frill of fringed paper round the knuckle. For gravy, put into a saucepan a pound or so of scraps of raw venison left from trimming the haunch, a quart of water, a pinch of cloves, a few blades of mace, half a nutmeg, cayenne and salt to taste. Stew slowly to one-half the original quantity. Skim, strain, and return to the saucepan when you have rinsed it with hot water. Add three tablespoonsful of currant jelly, a glass of claret, two tablespoonsful of butter, and thicken with browned flour. Send to table in a sauce-boat. Red currant jelly is always handed with venison. 224 VENISON. Neck of Venison. A neck of venison should be used as a neck of mutton, for the three purposes of soup, haricot cutlets, and a ' roast' The breast will make venison pasty, and stock or gravy. Hashed Venison. It is desirable to have very rich gravy made from uncooked venison. If this cannot be had, stock made from hare, and thickened with the blood of the hare, is to be used ; failing this, take good stock with gravy from the haunch, and ' roux ' to thicken it, some claret and herb-flavour, and a pinch of sugar. Slices from the haunch of venison are to be cut thin, and warmed in the sauce. They must be heated through, but not allowed to cook in the sauce. Hashed venison must be sent up in a deep dish with a spirit lamp burning under it ; and red currant jelly in a tureen. Venison Pasty. (American Recipe.) Almost any part of the deer can be used for the purpose, but the neck and shoulders are generally preferred. Cut the raw venison from the bones, and set aside these with the skin, fat, and refuse bits for gravy. Put them into a saucepan with a shallot, pepper, salt, and s\\'eet herbs. Cover with cold water VENISON. 225