STEWED VENISON STEAKS.--Take some fine steaks of _freshly killed_ venison. Cut them from the upper part of the leg. Make a forcemeat, or stuffing, with bread soaked in milk, mixed with fresh b.u.t.ter, with chopped sweet marjoram and sweet basil; or some boiled onions, minced small, and mixed with chopped sage, which may be boiled _with_ the onion, and seasoned with a very little salt and pepper. Spread the stuffing thickly over the inside of the steaks. Then roll them up, and tie them round with packthread, or secure them at the ends with wooden skewers. Put the steaks into a stewpan with some fresh b.u.t.ter or lard, or some drippings that have been left of roast venison--the day before.

Let them stew (keeping the pan covered) till thoroughly done. Then dish them with the gravy round them. Serve up with them a sauce of stewed cranberries, or stewed dried peaches.

You may stew lamb or mutton cutlets in the same manner, but do not use mutton dripping. Water (a very small quant.i.ty) is best for them. Veal cutlets may be stewed exactly like venison.

HASHED VENISON.--Take the remains of cold roast venison, from which sufficient gravy or dripping has been saved to cook the meat again, without any water at all. It would be well if this were done in all hashes made from cold meat. For want of drippings, use b.u.t.ter or lard.

Cold meat stewed in water is weak and unpalatable.

Two or three large spoonfuls of mushroom, or tomato catchup, are improvements to all hashes. If nothing better can be obtained use onions, always previously boiled to render them less strong.

Minced sweet herbs are excellent seasoning for hashes. Also minced tarragon leaves; they give a peculiar flavor that is very generally liked. Fresh tarragon is in season in July, August, and September.

French mustard (to be obtained at all the best grocery stores) is a great improvement to hashes and stews. Stir in at the last, one or two large table-spoonfuls. The chief ingredient of French mustard is tarragon.

A FINE VENISON PIE.--Cut steaks from a loin or haunch of venison, which should be as freshly killed as you can get it. The strange and absurd prejudice in favor of hard black-looking venison, (that has been kept till the juices are all dried up,) is fast subsiding; and no one now eats any sort of food in which decomposition has commenced. Those who have eaten venison fresh from the forest, when the deer have fattened on wild grapes, huckleberries, blackberries, cranberries, &c., will never again be able to relish such as is brought in wagon loads to the Atlantic cities, and which has been kept till full of those fine threads that are in reality long thin whitish worms, and which are often seen in very old hams.

Having removed the bones and cut the meat into steaks, and seasoned it with salt and pepper, put the venison into a pot, with merely as much water as will cover it well. Let it stew till perfectly tender, skimming it occasionally. Then take it out, and set it to cool, saving the gravy in a bowl. Make a nice puff paste; divide the paste into two equal portions, and roll it out rather thick. b.u.t.ter a deep dish, and line it with one of the sheets of paste, rolled thin at the bottom. Then put in the stewed venison. Season the gravy with a gla.s.s of _very good_ wine, (either port or sherry,) a few blades of mace, and a powdered nutmeg.

Stir into it the crumbled yolks of some hard-boiled eggs. Pour the gravy over the meat, and put on the other sheet of paste, as the lid of the pie. Bring the two edges close together, so as to unite evenly, and notch them handsomely. Set it immediately into the oven, and bake it well. If a steady heat is kept up, it will be done in an hour. Send it to table hot.

Instead of wine, you may put into the gravy half a pint of _black_ currant jelly, which, for venison, is thought preferable to red. Either will do.

Any sort of game, partridges, pheasants, grouse, wild ducks, &c., may be made into a fine pie, exactly as above.

VERY PLAIN VENISON PIE.--Cut from the bone some good pieces of fine _fresh_ venison, season them slightly with salt and pepper, and put them into a pot with plenty of potatos, (either sweet or white,) split and quartered, and only as much water as will cover the whole. Set it over the fire, cover it, and let it stew slowly and steadily, till all is tender, skimming it several times. Meanwhile, make a nice paste of flour shortened with cold gravy, or drippings saved from roast venison, or of nice lard. Allow half a pint of shortening to each quart of flour. Put the flour into a pan, and rub the shortening into it as quickly as possible, adding a _very little_ cold water, to make it into a lump of paste. Then roll it out into a sheet, and spread over it with a broad knife the remaining half of the shortening. Dredge lightly with flour, fold it up, and roll it out in two sheets. With one of them line your pie-dish, and put into it the stewed venison and potatos. Pour in the gravy of the stew. The filling of this pie should be piled high in the centre. Lay on, as a lid, the other sheet of paste, which should be rather the largest. Pare off smoothly the edges of the two crusts, and crimp them nicely. Set the pie in the oven, and bake it well. It may be eaten either hot or cold, but is best hot.

The above quant.i.ty of paste is only sufficient for a very small pie.

For one of moderate size allow two quarts of flour, and a pound of shortening.

VENISON POT-PIE.--Remove the bone from some fine venison steaks, cut near an inch thick. Season them lightly with pepper and salt, and score them each in several places. Stew them in a very little water till tender. Have ready an ample portion of nice suet paste. If you cannot obtain beef suet use cold venison fat, minced fine and made into a paste with double its quant.i.ty in flour, and as little water as possible. Lay some stewed venison at the bottom of the pot, and line the sides with paste almost up to the top. Put in the meat, adding among it boiled sweet potatos cut into pieces, or (if they are to be had in plenty,) chestnuts, boiled and peeled. Mushrooms will be a great improvement.

Onion also, (if liked,) boiled and cut up. Intersperse the whole with square pieces of paste. Fill the pot almost to the top with the meat and other ingredients. Lay a thick paste over the whole, cut round to fit, but not too closely. Pour in a pint of warm water to increase the gravy.

Make a cross slit in the middle of the upper crust. Cook the pie till all is well done. Serve it up with the brown crust in pieces, and laid on the top.

This pie, if well made, and with plenty of paste, will be thought excellent whenever fresh venison is to be had.

VENISON HAM.--Take fine freshly-killed venison. Mix together an ounce of saltpetre, a pound of coa.r.s.e brown sugar, and a pound of salt. Let them be very thoroughly mixed and pounded. Rub this well into the meat, and continue rubbing hard till it froths. Keep the meat in the pickle for two weeks, turning it every day. Then take it out, and roll it in saw-dust, (which, on no account, must be the saw-dust of any species of pine.) Hang it for two weeks longer in the smoke of oak wood or of corn cobs. All hams, when being smoked, must be hung very high, and have the large end downwards. If hung too low, the heat softens or melts the fat.

Venison hams, if well cured, require no boiling. They are always eaten chipped or shaved like smoked beef, to which they are very superior. It may be stewed in a skillet with fresh b.u.t.ter and beaten egg, and cut into thin shavings, or very thin small slices--or, instead of b.u.t.ter, with the drippings of cold roast venison. Season with pepper only.

RABBITS.--Rabbits should be young and tender, but full-grown and fat.

Two are required to make a dish. One rabbit, except for an invalid, is scarcely worth the trouble of cooking; and, being naturally insipid, it must have certain seasoning to make it taste well. The hare, so much prized in England, owes its reputation entirely to their mode of dressing it, which is troublesome, expensive, and in our country would never become popular, unless the animal had in itself more to recommend it. With all that can be done for a hare, it is, when cooked, black, dry, hard; and if it has been kept long enough to acquire what they call the "true game flavor," so much the worse. A fine fat well-fed tame rabbit is much better. In Virginia, the negroes frequently call a large rabbit "a hare"--or rather "a yar;" and though they know it to be young, they generally term it "that old yar." We opine that _with them_ "yars"

are not admired. If a rabbit is really old his ears are tough, and his claws blunt and rough with coa.r.s.e hairs growing between them. A young rabbit has short sharp claws, and ears so tender that on trying you can easily tear them. Rabbits should be cooked the day they are killed.

Always cut off the head. A rabbit dished whole, with its head on, is, to most persons, a disgusting sight. The head of no small animal is worth eating, and always looks disagreeable when cooked.

The livers of rabbits should be added to the gravy.

ROASTED RABBITS.--Take a pair of fine well-fed young rabbits, and having drawn or emptied them, lay them, for about ten minutes, in a pan of warm water. Then dry them inside with a clean cloth, carefully wiping them out. Truss them short, and neatly, having removed the heads. Line the inside with very thin slices of fat bacon that has had most of the salt soaked out. Make a plentiful stuffing or forcemeat of bread steeped in milk, some fresh b.u.t.ter mixed with a very little flour; or, instead of b.u.t.ter, some beef suet finely minced; some chopped sweet herbs; and some crumbled yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Season with mace and nutmeg, and grated lemon rind. Fill the rabbits well with this--or, you may stuff them entirely with boiled potatos, mashed with plenty of nice b.u.t.ter, or the drippings of roast veal or pork. Or (if liked) you may make the stuffing entirely of minced onion, (previously boiled,) and minced sage leaves, moistened with a very little lard or sweet oil, and seasoned with powdered mace, nutmeg, and pepper. Having put in plenty of stuffing, sew up the bodies of the rabbits, flour them well, and put them on the spit and set them before a clear fire. Baste them with milk, or with fresh b.u.t.ter, tied up in thin muslin. They will be done in an hour or more. Thicken the gravy with flour, and pour it over them in the dish. Roasted rabbits make a good second dish at a small dinner. Take the livers of the rabbits, and chop them, to put into the gravy.

RABBITS WITH ONIONS.--Peel, boil, and slice six (or more) large onions, and season them with nutmeg, and a very little cayenne. Cover them, and set them aside till wanted. Cut two fine rabbits into pieces, and fry them in fresh b.u.t.ter or lard. When browned, and nearly done, cover them with the sliced onions, and brown _them_, having laid among them some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter rolled in flour. Dish the rabbits, with the pieces entirely hidden under the onions.

A plainer, and not so good a way, is to put the pieces of rabbit, and the sliced onions, into a stew-pan with a little water, and stew the whole together.

RABBIT POT-PIE.--Cut up the rabbits, and stew them in a little water.

When nearly done, put the pieces into a pot and intersperse them with bits of cold ham. Add the gravy left from the stew. Season with pepper and mace. Have ready sufficient paste, (made with minced suet, and rather more than twice its quant.i.ty of flour.) There must be enough of paste to line the sides of the pot all round, nearly up to the top, and enough to make a thick lid, besides having plenty of extra pieces to lay among the other contents. Also have ready a few onions boiled and sliced. Cover the pie with the lid of paste, not fitting very closely.

Make a cross slit in the top, and pour in a little water. When done, serve all up on one large dish.

This pie will be much improved by stewing with the rabbits a fresh beef steak. A beef steak in any pot-pie thickens and enriches the gravy.

PULLED RABBITS.--Boil, very tender, a fine pair of nice young rabbits.

When cold, cut them in pieces as for carving, and peel off the skin.

Then with a fork pull all the meat from the bones, first loosening it with a knife. Put it into a stew-pan with plenty of cream, or some bits of fresh b.u.t.ter rolled in flour; some minced sweet herbs, some grated fresh lemon rind, and some hard-boiled yolks of eggs crumbled. Season with cayenne and nutmeg. Cover it, and let it simmer till it comes to a boil. Then immediately take it off the fire, and transfer it to a deep dish. Serve it up hot. This is a side dish at dinner.

FRICa.s.sEED RABBITS.--Cut up the rabbits as for carving, and go over every piece with lard or sweet oil. Lay them in a frying pan, and fry them in nice fresh b.u.t.ter. If you cannot procure this, use lard. Season them with a very little salt and cayenne, dredge them well with flour, and sprinkle them thickly with parsley, or sweet marjoram. When they are fried brown, take them up. Keep them warm in a heated dish with a cover.

Skim the gravy that remains in the pan, and add to it some cream, or rich milk thickened with flour, enriched with the beaten yolk of an egg, and flavored with nutmeg.

Rabbits may be cut up, and fried in batter made of bread-crumbs and beaten egg. Dip every piece of rabbit twice into the batter.

A COATED HARE, OR LARGE RABBIT.--The hare, or rabbit, should be large and fat. Save the liver and heart to a.s.sist in the gravy, which ought to be made of some pieces of the lean of good fresh beef, seasoned with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, stewed in a small sauce-pan, till all the essence is extracted, adding the chopped liver and heart, and a bit of fresh b.u.t.ter, rolled in flour. Cold fresh meat, or meat that has to be recooked, is unfit for gravy, and so it is for soup. Line the inside of the hare with small thin slices of fat ham, or bacon, and then fill the cavity with a stuffing made of grated bread-crumbs, the grated yellow rind and juice of a lemon, or orange, a piece of fresh b.u.t.ter, some minced sweet marjoram, and the crumbled yolk of one or two hard-boiled eggs. Season the stuffing with a little pepper and salt, and some powdered nutmeg and mace. Fill the body of the hare with this mixture, and sew it up, to keep in the stuffing. Spit the hare, and roast it well, keeping it for a while at a moderate distance from the fire. To baste it, while roasting, make a dressing of the beaten yolks of four eggs, four spoonfuls of flour, a pint of milk, and three table-spoonfuls of salad oil, all well-beaten together. Baste the hare with this till it is thickly coated all over with the batter, taking care it does not burn. Send the gravy to table in a sauce-boat, accompanied by currant, or cranberry jelly.

A very young fawn, or a kid, may be drest in a similar manner. Kids are not eaten after three months old. Till that age their meat is white and delicate. Their flesh, _after_ that time, gradually becomes coa.r.s.e and dark-colored. A very young kid, before it is weaned, is very delicious; but no longer. In the oriental countries, young kids are stuffed with chopped raisins and almonds, or pistachio nuts, previous to roasting; and basted with rich milk, or cream.

For sauce to a kid or fawn, use orange marmalade, or grape jelly.

POULTRY AND GAME.

Spring chickens bring a high price, and are considered delicacies, but they are so insipid, and have so little on them, that we think the purchase of them, when very young, a mere fashionable extravagance, and a waste of money that might be better employed in something that had really a fine flavor, and that when divided was more than a morsel for each person. We wonder that any but invalids should care for spring chickens. It is better to wait till the young chickens grow into nice plump fowls, that were well fed, and have lived long enough to show it.

A fine full-grown young fowl, has a clear white skin, that tears easily when tried with a pin. It has a broad fleshy breast, the legs are smooth, and the toes easily broken when bent back. Fowls with whitish legs are considered the best for boiling; those with dark legs the best for roasting. The finest of all fowls are capons. They grow very large and fat, and yet are as tender as young chickens, have a fine delicate rich flavor of their own, and are well worth their cost. The great Bucks county fowls are profitable because they are large; but they are never very plenty in market, being difficult to raise. The best poultry feels heavy in proportion to its size. Hen turkeys are best for boiling.

Ducks and geese (particularly the latter) are so tough when old, that it is often impossible to eat them; therefore buy none that are not young.

Geese are generally kept alive too long, for the sake of their feathers, which they always shed in August, and for which there is always a demand. And geese are not expensive to keep, as in summer they feed on gra.s.s, and will graze in a field like sheep. The feet and legs of an old goose are red and hard. So is her bill. The skin is rough, coa.r.s.e, and tough, and full of hairs. Let nothing induce you to buy an old goose.

You would find it too tough to carve, and too tough to eat. And no cooking can make her tender.

Poultry should be drawn, or emptied (taking care not to break the gall) as soon almost as killed. Then let it be well washed, inside and out, and wiped dry. In picking it, carefully remove every plug or vestige of feathers, and singe off the hairs, by holding the bird to the fire, with a lighted piece of writing paper. Brown paper will give it something of an unpleasant taste. Newspaper is worse, on account of the printing-ink.

If poultry is brought from market frozen, you need not hasten to thaw it, before it is actually wanted for use. Till then, put it in a cold place, and let it remain frozen. It will keep the better. When you thaw it, by all means use only _cold_ water. Any frozen poultry, or meat, thawed in warm water, will most certainly spoil. Let it be remembered that any food which has been frozen requires a much longer time to cook.