A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes | Page 7

chopped small, pepper and salt to season; and when the birds are half done, shake in a small handful of flour, add rather better than a gill of water, stir the whole on the fire while boiling for ten minutes, and when the stew of birds is nearly cold, pour it all into a good-sized pudding basin, which has been ready-lined with either a suet and flour crust, or else a?dripping-crust, cover the pudding in with a piece of the paste, and either bake or boil it for about an hour and-a-half.
No. 25. BAKED PIG'S HEAD.
Split the pig's head into halves, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and lay them with the rind part uppermost upon a bed of sliced onions in a baking dish. Next bruise eight ounces of stale bread-crumb, and mix it with four ounces of chopped suet, twelve sage leaves chopped fine, pepper and salt to season, and sprinkle this seasoning all over the surface of the pig's head; add one ounce of butter and a gill of vinegar to the onions, and bake the whole for about an hour and-a-half, basting the pig's head occasionally with the liquor.
No. 26. BAKED GOOSE.
Pluck and pick out all the stubble feathers thoroughly clean, draw the goose, cut off the head and neck, and also the feet and wings, which must be scalded to enable you to remove the pinion feathers from the wings and the rough skin from the feet; split and scrape the inside of the gizzard, and carefully cut out the gall from the liver. These giblets well stewed, as shown in No. 62, will serve to make a pie for another day's dinner. Next stuff the goose in manner following, viz.:--First put six potatoes to bake in the oven, or even in a Dutch oven; and, while they are being baked, chop six onions with four apples and twelve sage leaves, and fry these in a saucepan with two ounces of butter, pepper and salt; when the whole is slightly fried, mix it with the pulp of the six baked potatoes, and use this very nice stuffing to fill the inside of the goose. The goose being stuffed, place it upon an iron trivet in a baking dish containing peeled potatoes and a few apples; add half-a-pint of water, pepper and salt, shake some flour over the goose, and bake it for about an hour and a-half.
No. 27. BAKED SUCKING PIG.
Let the pig be stuffed in the same manner as directed for a goose, as shown in the preceding Number; score it all over crosswise, rub some grease or butter upon it, place it upon a trivet in a dish containing peeled potatoes and a few sliced onions, season with pepper and salt; add half-a-pint of water, and bake the pig for about two hours, basting it frequently with its own dripping, or, a bit of butter tied up in a piece of muslin.
No. 28. BAKED OR ROAST DUCKS.
These are to be dressed in the same way as directed for dressing geese.
No. 29. HOW TO MAKE THE MOST OF A PIG, AFTER IT IS KILLED.
Cottagers sometimes feed a pig for their own consumption, and, therefore, in the hope that many of you may have it in your power to do so, I will give you proper instructions as to the best way to make the most of it. First, when the pig is killed, should the hair or bristles be wet, wipe them dry with a wisp of hay or straw, and having laid it on the ground upon a narrow bed of dry straw three inches in thickness, and laid some loose straw all over it, set fire to it, and as the upper straw burns out, lay on another covering of loose straw, and, by the time this has burnt out, all the hairs of the upper part of the pig will probably be singed off, if not, burn a little more straw upon the remaining parts; and, on turning the pig over, should it be found that any of the hairs yet remain, let them be singed off with a lighted wisp of straw. Throw a pail of water over the pig, and scrape it clean and dry with an old knife. The next thing to be done, is to insert a stout stick, pointed at the ends, into the hocks of the hind legs; fasten a strong cord to the stick, and hoist up the pig so as to enable you to stand up and finish your work with ease to yourself. With a sharp knife rip up the belly, and stretch out the flaps with two sticks to enable you to throw in some water to cleanse the pig's inside, having first removed the guts, etc.; hang up the pluck