Book of Household Management — 044 - Recipes. Chapter 21. Part 1.

CHICKEN CUTLETS (an Entree).

926. INGREDIENTS.

--2 chickens; seasoning to taste of salt, white pepper, and cayenne; 2 blades of pounded mace, egg and bread crumbs, clarified butter, 1 strip of lemon-rind, 2 carrots, 1 onion, 2 tablespoonfuls of mushroom ketchup, thickening of butter and flour, 1 egg.

_Mode_.

--Remove the breast and leg bones of the chickens; cut the meat into neat pieces after having skinned it, and season the cutlets with pepper, salt, pounded mace, and cayenne.

Put the bones, trimmings, &c. , into a stewpan with 1 pint of water, adding carrots, onions, and lemon-peel in the above proportion; stew gently for 1-1/2 hour, and strain the gravy.

Thicken it with butter and flour, add the ketchup and 1 egg well beaten; stir it over the fire, and bring it to the simmering-point, but do not allow it to boil.

In the mean time, egg and bread-crumb the cutlets, and give them a few drops of clarified butter;

fry them a delicate brown, occasionally turning them; arrange them pyramidically on the dish, and pour over them the sauce.

_Time_.

--10 minutes to fry the cutlets.

_Average cost_, 2s.

each.

_Sufficient_ for an entrée. _Seasonable_ from April to July.

FOWLS AS FOOD.

--Brillat Savarin, pre-eminent in gastronomic taste, says that he believes the whole gallinaceous family was made to enrich our larders and furnish our tables; for, from the quail to the turkey, he avers their flesh is a light aliment, full of flavour, and fitted equally well for the invalid as for the man of robust health.

The fine flavour, however, which Nature has given to all birds coming under the definition of poultry, man has not been satisfied with, and has used many means--such as keeping them in solitude and darkness, and forcing them to eat--to give them an unnatural state of fatness or fat.

This fat, thus artificially produced, is doubtless delicious, and the taste and succulence of the boiled and roasted bird draw forth the praise of the guests around the table.

Well-fattened and tender, a fowl is to the cook what the canvas is to the painter; for do we not see it served boiled, roasted, fried, fricasseed, hashed, hot, cold, whole, dismembered, boned, broiled, stuffed, on dishes, and in pies,--always handy and ever acceptable?

THE COMMON OR DOMESTIC FOWL.

--From time immemorial, the common or domestic fowl has been domesticated in England, and is supposed to be originally the offspring of some wild species which abound in the forests of India.

It is divided into a variety of breeds, but the most esteemed are, the Poland or Black, the Dorking, the Bantam, the Game Fowl, and the Malay or Chittagong.

The common, or barn-door fowl, is one of the most delicate of the varieties; and at Dorking, in Surrey, the breed is brought to great perfection.

Till they are four months old, the term chicken is applied to the young female; after that age they are called pullets, till they begin to lay, when they are called hens.

The English counties most productive in poultry are Surrey, Sussex, Norfolk, Herts, Devon, and Somerset.

FRENCH CHICKEN CUTLETS (Cold Meat Cookery).

927. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast or boiled fowl, fried bread, clarified butter, the yolk of 1 egg, bread crumbs, 1/2 teaspoonful of finely-minced lemon-peel; salt, cayenne, and mace to taste.

For sauce,--1 oz.

of butter, 2 minced shalots, a few slices of carrot, a small bunch of savoury herbs, including parsley, 1 blade of pounded mace, 6 peppercorns, 1/4 pint of gravy.

_Mode_.

--Cut the fowls into as many nice cutlets as possible; take a corresponding number of sippets about the same size, all cut one shape;

fry them a pale brown, put them before the fire, then dip the cutlets into clarified butter mixed with the yolk of an egg, cover with bread crumbs seasoned in the above proportion, with lemon-peel, mace, salt, and cayenne; fry them for about 5 minutes, put each piece on one of the sippets, pile them high in the dish, and serve with the following sauce, which should be made ready for the cutlets.

Put the butter into a stewpan, add the shalots, carrot, herbs, mace, and peppercorns; fry for 10 minutes or rather longer; pour in 1/2 pint of good gravy, made of the chicken bones, stew gently for 20 minutes, strain it, and serve.

_Time_.

--5 minutes to fry the cutlets; 35 minutes to make the gravy.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the chicken, 9d.

_Seasonable_ from April to July.

EGGS FOR HATCHING.

--Eggs intended for hatching should be removed as soon as laid, and placed in bran in a dry, cool place.

Choose those that are near of a size; and, as a rule, avoid those that are equally thick at both ends,--such, probably, contain a double yolk, and will come to no good.

Eggs intended for hatching should never be stored longer than a month, as much less the better.

Nine eggs may be placed under a Bantam hen, and as many as fifteen under a Dorking.

The odd number is considered preferable, as more easily packed.

It will be as well to mark the eggs you give the hen to sit on, so that you may know if she lays any more: if she does, you must remove them; for, if hatched at all, they would be too late for the brood.

If during incubation an egg should be broken, remove it, and take out the remainder, and cleanse them in luke-warm water, or it is probable the sticky nature of the contents of the broken egg will make the others cling to the hen's feathers; and they, too, may be fractured.

HENS SITTING.

--Some hens are very capricious as regards sitting;

they will make a great fuss, and keep pining for the nest, and, when they are permitted to take to it, they will sit just long enough to addle the eggs, and then they're off again.

The safest way to guard against such annoyance, is to supply the hen with some hard-boiled eggs; if she sits on them a reasonable time, and seems steadily inclined, like a good matron, you may then give her proper eggs, and let her set about the business in earnest.

CHICKEN OR FOWL PATTIES.

928. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast chicken or fowl; to every 1/4 lb.

of meat allow 2 oz.

of ham, 3 tablespoonfuls of cream, 2 tablespoonfuls of veal gravy, 1/2 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel;

cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste; 1 tablespoonful of lemon-juice, 1 oz.

of butter rolled in flour; puff paste.

_Mode_.

--Mince very small the white meat from a cold roast fowl, after removing all the skin; weigh it, and to every 1/4 lb.

of meat allow the above proportion of minced ham.

Put these into a stewpan with the remaining ingredients, stir over the fire for 10 minutes or 1/4 hour, taking care that the mixture does not burn.

Roll out some puff paste about 1/4 inch in thickness; line the patty-pans with this, put upon each a small piece of bread, and cover with another layer of paste;

brush over with the yolk of an egg, and bake in a brisk oven for about 1/4 hour.

When done, cut a round piece out of the top, and, with a small spoon, take out the bread (be particular in not breaking the outside border of the crust), and fill the patties with the mixture.

_Time_.

--1/4 hour to prepare the meat; not quite 1/4 hour to bake the crust.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

HATCHING.

--Sometimes the chick within the shell is unable to break away from its prison; for the white of the egg will occasionally harden in the air to the consistence of joiners' clue, when the poor chick is in a terrible fix.

An able writer says, "Assistance in hatching must not be rendered prematurely, and thence unnecessarily, but only in the case of the chick being plainly unable to release itself; then, indeed, an addition may probably be made to the brood, as great numbers are always lost in this way.

The chick makes a circular fracture at the big end of the egg, and a section of about one-third of the length of the shell being separated, delivers the prisoner, provided there is no obstruction from adhesion of the body to the membrane which lines the shell.

Between the body of the chick and the membrane of the shell there exists a viscous fluid, the white of the egg thickened with the intense heat of incubation, until it becomes a positive glue.

When this happens, the feathers stick fast to the shell, and the chicks remain confined, and must perish, if not released."

The method of assistance to be rendered to chicks which have a difficulty in releasing themselves from the shell, is to take the egg in the hand, and dipping the finger or a piece of linen rag in warm water, to apply it to the fastened parts until they are loosened by the gluey substance becoming dissolved and separated from the feathers.

The chick, then, being returned to the nest, will extricate itself,--a mode generally to be observed, since, if violence were used, it would prove fatal.

Nevertheless, breaking the shell may sometimes be necessary; and separating with the fingers, as gently as may be, the membrane from the feathers, which are still to be moistened as mentioned above, to facilitate the operation.

The points of small scissors may be useful, and when there is much resistance, as also apparent pain to the bird, the process must be conducted in the gentlest manner, and the shell separated into a number of small pieces.

The signs of a need of assistance are the egg being partly pecked and chipped, and the cluck discontinuing its efforts for five of six hours.

Weakness from cold may disable the chicken from commencing the operation of pecking the shell, which must then be artificially performed with a circular fracture, such as is made by the bird itself.

CHICKEN OR FOWL PIE.

929. INGREDIENTS.

--2 small fowls or 1 large one, white pepper and salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoonful of grated nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoonful of pounded mace, forcemeat No. 417, a few slices of ham, 3 hard-boiled eggs, 1/2 pint of water, puff crust.

_Mode_.

--Skin and cut up the fowls into joints, and put the neck, leg, and backbones in a stewpan, with a little water, an onion, a bunch of savoury herbs, and a blade of mace; let these stew for about an hour, and, when done, strain off the liquor: this is for gravy.

Put a layer of fowl at the bottom of a pie-dish, then a layer of ham, then one of forcemeat and hard-boiled eggs cut in rings; between the layers put a seasoning of pounded mace, nutmeg, pepper, and salt.

Proceed in this manner until the dish is full, and pour in about 1/2 pint of water;

border the edge of the dish with puff crust, put on the cover, ornament the top, and glaze it by brushing over it the yolk of an egg.

Bake from 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour, should the pie be very large, and, when done, pour in, at the top, the gravy made from the bones.

If to be eaten cold, and wished particularly nice, the joints of the fowls should be boned, and placed in the dish with alternate layers of forcemeat; sausage-meat may also be substituted for the forcemeat, and is now very much used.

When the chickens are boned, and mixed with sausage-meat, the pie will take about 2 hours to bake.

It should be covered with a piece of paper when about half-done, to prevent the paste from being dried up or scorched.

_Time_.

--For a pie with unboned meat, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour; with boned meat and sausage or forcemeat, 1-1/2 to 2 hours.

_Average cost_, with 2 fowls, 6s.

6d.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 7 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

THE YOUNG CHICKS.

--The chicks that are hatched first should be taken from underneath the hen, lest she might think her task at an end, and leave the remaining eggs to spoil.

As soon as the young birds are taken from the mother, they must be placed in a basket lined with soft wool, flannel, or hay, and stood in the sunlight if it be summer time, or by the fire if the weather be cold.

It is a common practice to cram young chicks with food as soon as they are born.

This is quite unnecessary.

They will, so long as they are kept warm, come to no harm if they take no food for twenty-four hours following their birth.

Should the whole of the brood not be hatched by that time, those that are born may be fed with bread soaked in milk, and the yolk of a hard-boiled egg.

POTTED CHICKEN OR FOWL (a Luncheon or Breakfast Dish).

930. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast chicken; to every lb.

of meat allow 1/4 lb.

of fresh butter, salt and cayenne to taste, 1 teaspoonful of pounded mace, 1/4 small nutmeg.

_Mode_.

--Strip the meat from the bones of cold roast fowl; when it is freed from gristle and skin, weigh it, and, to every lb.

of meat, allow the above proportion of butter, seasoning, and spices.

Cut the meat into small pieces, pound it well with the fresh butter, sprinkle in the spices gradually, and keep pounding until reduced to a perfectly smooth paste.

Put it into potting-pots for use, and cover it with clarified butter, about 1/4 inch in thickness, and, if to be kept for some time, tie over a bladder: 2 or 3 slices of ham, minced and pounded with the above ingredients, will be found an improvement.

It should be kept in a dry place.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

FEEDING AND COOPING THE CHICKS.

--When all the chicks are hatched, they should be placed along with the mother under a coop in a warm dry spot.

If two hens happen to have their broods at the same time, their respective chicks should be carefully kept separate; as, if they get mixed, and so go under the wrong coop, the hens will probably maim and destroy those who have mistaken their dwelling.

After being kept snug beneath the coop for a week (the coop should be placed under cover at nightfall), the chicks may be turned loose for an hour or so in the warmest part of the day.

They should be gradually weaned from the soaked bread and chopped egg, instead of which grits or boiled barley should be given; in 8 or 10 days their stomachs will be strong enough to receive bruised barley, and at the end of 3 weeks, if your chicks be healthy, they will be able to take care of themselves.

It will be well, however, to keep your eye on them a week or so longer, as the elder chickens may drive them from their food.

Great care should be taken that the very young chicks do not run about the wet ground or on damp grass, as this is the most prominent and fatal cause of disease.

While under the coop with their mother, a shallow pan or plate of water should be supplied to the chicks, as in a deeper vessel they are liable to drench themselves and take cold, or possibly to get drowned.

CHICKEN OR FOWL SALAD.

931. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast or boiled chicken, 2 lettuces, a little endive, 1 cucumber, a few slices of boiled beetroot, salad-dressing No. 506. _Mode_.

--Trim neatly the remains of the chicken; wash, dry, and slice the lettuces, and place in the middle of a dish; put the pieces of fowl on the top, and pour the salad-dressing over them.

Garnish the edge of the salad with hard-boiled eggs cut in rings, sliced cucumber, and boiled beetroot cut in slices.

Instead of cutting the eggs in rings, the yolks may be rubbed through a hair sieve, and the whites chopped very finely, and arranged on the salad in small bunches, yellow and white alternately.

This should not be made long before it is wanted for table.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the cold chicken, 8d.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

AGE AND FLAVOUR OF CHICKENS.

--It has been the opinion of the medical faculty of all ages and all countries, that the flesh of the young chicken is the must delicate and easy to digest of all animal food.

It is less alkalescent than the flesh of any other animal, and its entire freedom from any irritating quality renders it a fit dish for the ailing, or those whose stomachs are naturally weak.

In no animal, however, does age work such a change, in regard to the quality of its flesh, as it does in domestic fowls.

In their infancy, cocks and hens are equally tender and toothsome; but as time overtakes them it is the cock whose flesh toughens first.

A year-old cock, indeed, is fit for little else than to be converted into soup, while a hen at the same age, although sufficiently substantial, is not callous to the insinuations of a carving-knife.

As regards capons, however, the rule respecting age does not hold good.

There is scarcely to be found a more delicious animal than a well-fed, well-dressed capon.

Age does not dry up his juices; indeed, like wine, he seems but to mellow.

At three years old, even, he is as tender as a chick, with the additional advantage of his proper chicken flavour being fully developed.

The above remarks, however, concerning the capon, only apply to such as are _naturally_ fed, and not crammed.

The latter process may produce a handsome-looking bird, and it may weigh enough to satisfy the whim or avarice of its stuffer; but, when before the fire, it will reveal the cruel treatment to which it has been subjected, and will weep a drippingpan-ful of fat tears.

You will never find heart enough to place such a grief-worn guest at the head of your table.

It should be borne in mind as a rule, that small-boned and short-legged poultry are likely to excel the contrary sort in delicacy of colour, flavour, and fineness of flesh.

HASHED DUCK (Cold Meat Cookery).

932. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast duck, rather more than 1 pint of weak stock or water, 1 onion, 1 oz.

of butter, thickening of butter and flour, salt and cayenne to taste, 1/2 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 dessertspoonful of lemon-juice, 1/2 glass of port wine.

_Mode_.

--Cut the duck into nice joints, and put the trimmings into a stewpan; slice and fry the onion in a little butter; add these to the trimmings, pour in the above proportion of weak stock or water, and stew gently for 1 hour.

Strain the liquor, thicken it with butter and flour, season with salt and cayenne, and add the remaining ingredients; boil it up and skim well; lay in the pieces of duck, and let them get thoroughly hot through by the side of the fire, but do not allow them to boil: they should soak in the gravy for about 1/2 hour.

Garnish with sippets of toasted bread.

The hash may be made richer by using a stronger and more highly-flavoured gravy; a little spice or pounded mace may also be added, when their flavour is liked.

_Time_.

--1-1/2 hour.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the cold duck, 4d.

_Seasonable_ from November to February; ducklings from May to August.

THE DUCK.

--This bird belongs to the order of _Natatores_, or Swimmers; the most familiar tribes of which are ducks, swans, geese, auks, penguins, petrels, pelicans, guillemots, gulls, and terns.

They mostly live in the water, feeding on fish, worms, and aquatic plants.

They are generally polygamous, and make their nests among reeds, or in moist places.

The flesh of many of the species is eatable, but that of some is extremely rank and oily.

The duck is a native of Britain, but is found on the margins of most of the European lakes.

It is excessively greedy, and by no means a nice feeder.

It requires a mixture of vegetable and animal food; but aquatic insects, corn, and vegetables, are its proper food.

Its flesh, however, is savoury, being not so gross as that of the goose, and of easier digestion.

In the green-pea season it is usually found on an English table; but, according to Ude, "November is its proper season, when it is plump and fat."

TO RAGOUT A DUCK WHOLE.

933. INGREDIENTS.

--1 large duck, pepper and salt to taste, good beef gravy, 2 onions sliced, 4 sage-leaves, a few leaves of lemon thyme, thickening of butter and flour.

_Mode_.

--After having emptied and singed the duck, season it inside with pepper and salt, and truss it.

Roast it before a clear fire for about 20 minutes, and let it acquire a nice brown colour.

Put it into a stewpan with sufficient well-seasoned beef gravy to cover it; slice and fry the onions, and add these, with the sage-leaves and lemon thyme, both of which should be finely minced, to the stock.

Simmer gently until the duck is tender; strain, skim, and thicken the gravy with a little butter and flour; boil it up, pour over the duck, and serve.

When in season, about, 1-1/2 pint of young green peas, boiled separately, and put in the ragoût, very much improve this dish.

_Time_.

--20 minutes to roast the duck; 20 minutes to stew it.

_Average cost_, from 2s.

3d.

to 2s.

6d.

each.

_Sufficient_ for 4 or 5 persons.

_Seasonable_ from November to February; ducklings from April to August.

[Illustration: BUENOS AYRES DUCKS.

] THE BUENOS AYRES DUCK.

--The Buenos Ayres duck is of East-Indian birth, and is chiefly valuable as an ornament; for we suppose one would as soon think of picking a Chinese teal for luncheon, or a gold fish for breakfast, as to consign the handsome Buenos Ayres to the spit.

The prevailing colour of this bird is black, with a metallic lustre, and a gleaming of blue steel about its breast and wings.

VARIETIES OF DUCKS.

--Naturalists count nearly a hundred different species of ducks; and there is no doubt that the intending keeper of these harmless and profitable birds may easily take his choice from amongst twenty different sorts.

There is, however, so little difference in the various members of the family, either as regards hardiness, laying, or hatching, that the most incompetent fancier or breeder may indulge his taste without danger of making a bad bargain.

In connection with their value for table, light-coloured ducks are always of milder flavour than those that are dark-coloured, the white Aylesbury's being general favourites.

Ducks reared exclusively on vegetable diet will have a whiter and more delicate flesh than those allowed to feed on animal offal; while the flesh of birds fattened on the latter food, will be firmer than that of those which have only partaken of food of a vegetable nature.

ROAST DUCKS.

934. INGREDIENTS.

--A couple of ducks; sage-and-onion stuffing No. 504; a little flour.

_Choosing and Trussing_.

--Choose ducks with plump bellies, and with thick and yellowish feet.

They should be trussed with the feet on, which should be scalded, and the skin peeled off, and then turned up close to the legs.

Run a skewer through the middle of each leg, after having drawn them as close as possible to the body, to plump up the breast, passing the same quite through the body.

Cut off the heads and necks, and the pinions at the first joint; bring these close to the sides, twist the feet round, and truss them at the back of the bird.

After the duck is stuffed, both ends should be secured with string, so as to keep in the seasoning.

[Illustration: ROAST DUCK.

] _Mode_.

--To insure ducks being tender, never dress them the same day they are killed; and if the weather permits, they should hang a day or two.

Make a stuffing of sage and onion sufficient for one duck, and leave the other unseasoned, as the flavour is not liked by everybody.

Put them down to a brisk clear fire, and keep them well basted the whole of the time they are cooking.

A few minutes before serving, dredge them lightly with flour, to make them froth and look plump; and when the steam draws towards the fire, send them to table hot and quickly, with a good brown gravy poured _round_, but not _over_ the ducks, and a little of the same in a tureen.

When in season, green peas should invariably accompany this dish.

_Time_.

--Full-grown ducks from 3/4 to 1 hour; ducklings from 25 to 35 minutes.

_Average cost_, from 2s.

3d.

to 2s.

6d.

each.

_Sufficient_.

--A.

couple of ducks for 6 or 7 persons.

_Seasonable_.

--Ducklings from April to August; ducks from November to February.

_Note_.

--Ducklings are trussed and roasted in the same manner, and served with the same sauces and accompaniments.

When in season, serve apple sauce.

[Illustration: ROUEN DUCKS.

] THE ROUEN DUCK.

--The Rouen, or Rhone duck, is a large and handsome variety, of French extraction.

The plumage of the Rouen duck is somewhat sombre; its flesh is also much darker, and, though of higher flavour, not near so delicate as that of our own Aylesbury.

It is with this latter breed that the Rouen duck is generally mated; and the result is said to be increase of size and strength.

In Normandy and Brittany these ducks, as well as other sorts, greatly abound; and the "duck-liver _pâtés_" are there almost as popular as the _pâté de foie gras_ of Strasburg.

In order to bring the livers of the wretched duck to the fashionable and unnatural size, the same diabolical cruelty is resorted to as in the case of the Strasburg goose.

The poor birds are _nailed_ by the feet to a board placed close to a fire, and, in that position, plentifully supplied with food and water.

In a few days, the carcase is reduced to a mere shadow, while the liver has grown monstrously.

We would rather abstain from the acquaintance of a man who ate _pâté de foie gras_, knowing its component parts.

DUCK'S EGGS.

--The ancient notion that ducks whose beaks have a tendency to curve upwards, are better layers than those whose beaks do not thus point, is, we need hardly say, simply absurd: all ducks are good layers, if they are carefully fed and tended.

Ducks generally lay at night, or early in the morning.

While they are in perfect health, they will do this; and one of the surest signs of indisposition, among birds of this class, is irregularity in laying.

The eggs laid will approach nearly the colour of the layer,--light-coloured ducks laying white eggs, and brown ducks greenish-blue eggs; dark-coloured birds laying the largest eggs.

One time of day the notion was prevalent that a duck would hatch no other eggs than her own; and although this is not true, it will be, nevertheless, as well to match the duck's own eggs as closely as possible; for we have known instances wherein the duck has turned out of the nest and destroyed eggs differing from her own in size and colour.

DUCKS.

--The Mallard, or Wild Duck, from which is derived the domestic species, is prevalent throughout Europe, Asia, and America.

The mallard's most remarkable characteristic is one which sets at defiance the speculations of the most profound ornithologist.

The female bird is extremely plain, but the male's plumage is a splendour of greens and browns, and browns and blues.

In the spring, however, the plumage of the male begins to fade, and in two months, every vestige of his finery has departed, and he is not to be distinguished from his soberly-garbed wife.

Then the greens, and the blues, and the browns begin to bud out again, and by October he is once more a gorgeous drake.

It is to be regretted that domestication has seriously deteriorated the moral character of the duck.

In a wild state, he is a faithful husband, desiring but one wife, and devoting himself to her; but no sooner is he domesticated than he becomes polygamous, and makes nothing of owning ten or a dozen wives at a time.

As regards the females, they are much more solicitous for the welfare of their progeny in a wild state than a tame.

Should a tame duck's duckling get into mortal trouble, its mother will just signify her sorrow by an extra "quack," or so, and a flapping of her wings; but touch a wild duck's little one if you dare!

she will buffet you with her broad wings, and dash boldly at your face with her stout beak.

If you search for her nest amongst the long grass, she will try no end of manoeuvres to lure you from it, her favourite _ruse_ being to pretend lameness, to delude you into the notion that you have only to pursue _her_ vigorously, and her capture is certain; so you persevere for half a mile or so, and then she is up and away, leaving you to find your way back to the nest if you can.

Among the ancients, opinion was at variance respecting the wholesomeness and digestibility of goose flesh, but concerning the excellence of the duck all parties were agreed;

indeed, they not only assigned to duck-meat the palm for exquisite flavour and delicacy, they even attributed to it medicinal powers of the highest order.

Not only the Roman medical writers of the time make mention of it, but likewise the philosophers of the period.

Plutarch assures us that Cato preserved his whole household in health, in a season when plague and disease were rife, through dieting them on roast duck.

STEWED DUCK AND PEAS (Cold Meat Cookery).

935. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast duck, 2 oz.

of butter, 3 or 4 slices of lean ham or bacon, 1 tablespoonful of flour, 2 pints of thin gravy, 1, or a small bunch of green onions, 3 sprigs of parsley, 3 cloves, 1 pint of young green peas, cayenne and salt to taste, 1 teaspoonful of pounded sugar.

_Mode_.

--Put the butter into a stewpan; cut up the duck into joints, lay them in with the slices of lean ham or bacon; make it brown, then dredge in a tablespoonful of flour, and stir this well in before adding the gravy.

Put in the onion, parsley, cloves, and gravy, and when it has simmered for 1/4 hour, add a pint of young green peas, and stew gently for about 1/2 hour.

Season with cayenne, salt, and sugar; take out the duck, place it round the dish, and the peas in the middle.

_Time_.

--3/4 hour.

_Average cost_, exclusive of the cold duck, 1s.

_Seasonable_ from June to August.

DUCKS HATCHING.

--Concerning incubation by ducks, a practised writer says, "The duck requires a secret and safe place, rather than any attendance, and will, at nature's call, cover her eggs and seek her food.

On hatching, there is not often a necessity for taking away any of the brood; and, having hatched, let the mother retain her young ones upon the nest her own time.

On her moving with her brood, let a coop be prepared upon the short grass, if the weather be fine, and under shelter, if otherwise."

COOPING AND FEEDING DUCKLINGS.

--Brood ducks should be cooped at some distance from any other.

A wide and flat dish of water, to be often renewed, should stand just outside the coop, and barley, or any other meal, be the first food of the ducklings.

It will be needful, if it be wet weather, to clip their tails, lest these draggle, and so weaken the bird.

The period of the duck's confinement to the coop will depend on the weather, and on the strength of the ducklings.

A fortnight is usually the extent of time necessary, and they may even be sometimes permitted to enjoy the luxury of a swim at the end of a week.

They should not, however, be allowed to stay too long in the water at first; for they will then become ill, their feathers get rough, and looseness of the bowels ensue.

In the latter case, let them be closely cooped for a few days, and bean-meal or oatmeal be mixed with their ordinary food.

[Illustration: AYLESBURY DUCKS.

] THE AYLESBURY DUCK.

--The white Aylesbury duck is, and deservedly, a universal favourite.

Its snowy plumage and comfortable comportment make it a credit to the poultry-yard, while its broad and deep breast, and its ample back, convey the assurance that your satisfaction will not cease at its death.

In parts of Buckinghamshire, this member of the duck family is bred on an extensive scale; not on plains and commons, however, as might be naturally imagined, but in the abodes of the cottagers.

Round the walls of the living-rooms, and of the bedroom even, are fixed rows of wooden boxes, lined with hay; and it is the business of the wife and children to nurse and comfort the feathered lodgers, to feed the little ducklings, and to take the old ones out for an airing.

Sometimes the "stock" ducks are the cottager's own property, but it more frequently happens that they are intrusted to his care by a wholesale breeder, who pays him so much _per_ score for all ducklings properly raised.

To be perfect, the Aylesbury duck should be plump, pure white, with yellow feet, and a flesh-coloured beak.

STEWED DUCK AND PEAS (Cold Meat Cookery).

936. INGREDIENTS.

--The remains of cold roast duck, 1/2 pint of good gravy, cayenne and salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 teaspoonful of pounded sugar, 2 oz, of butter rolled in flour, 1-1/2 pint of green peas.

_Mode_.

--Cut up the duck into joints, lay it in the gravy, and add a seasoning of cayenne, salt, and minced lemon-peel; let tins gradually warm through, but not boil.

Throw the peas into boiling water slightly salted, and boil them rapidly until tender.

Drain them, stir in the pounded sugar, and the butter rolled in flour; shake them over the fire for two or three minutes, and serve in the centre of the dish, with the duck laid round.