A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes | Page 7

vinegar and a
gill of water; stir all together on the fire to boil for five minutes, and
pour this sauce over the cutlets. A dish of cutlets of any kind of meat
may be prepared as above.
No. 24. A PUDDING MADE OF SMALL BIRDS.
Industrious and intelligent boys who live in the country, are mostly
well up in the cunning art of catching small birds at odd times during
the winter months. So, my young friends, when you have been so
fortunate as to succeed in making a good catch of a couple of dozen of
birds, you must first pluck them free from feathers, cut off their heads
and claws, and pick out their gizzards from their sides with the point of
a small knife, and then hand the birds over to your mother, who, by
following these instructions, will prepare a famous pudding for your
dinner or supper. First, fry the birds whole with a little butter, shalot,

parsley, thyme, and winter savory, all 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