The art of cookery

temperature, twenty minutes to the pound is as much cooking as any turkey will bear. Turkey, when properly roasted, is juicy, tender, and high-flavored ; when over-done it is dry and tasteless ; but when underdone it is nauseating and unfit to be eaten. To Roast a Turkey. — Place the turkey, after it has been properly cleaned, in a large bowl, tail downward, put the prepared crumbs, for which see page 27, in at the neck until the breast becomes plump, then draw the skin together, and fasten over on the back. Reverse the position of the turkey in the bowl, put the remaining crumbs in the body, at the opening through which the entrails were removed, and sew it up with strong thread. Press the wings and legs as close to the body as possible, and secure them firmly in position with strings or skewers. Lay the turkey, breast downward, on a rack in the roasting pan, and let it remain in that position until the back is a light brown color, then turn it over, and let the breast and sides brown in a similar manner. Do not put any water in the pan during this process. When the entire turkey is nicely browned begin basting with a thin gravy. As this basting gravy evaporates, add a little boiling water to keep it from burning in the pan, and baste as often as the skin of the turkey becomes dry, until the roasting is completed. To Roast a Chicken. — The method of preparing and roasting a chicken is the same as for preparing and roasting a turkey. The time required for roasting a chicken varies, according to its size and age. But an hour and a half is sufficient time to allow for a large, full-grown chicken not over a year old. Fowls more Baking. 55 than a year old should be steamed a longer or shorter time, according to age, before being roasted, or they will be tough and dry. But boiling and stewing are such admirable methods of cooking tough fowls that it is advisable never to roast a chicken unless it is young and tender. To Roast Wild Duck. — After wild ducks have been prepared for roasting, rub them inside with salt and pepper, put in each duck a small piece of butter and a little currant or cranberry jelly, and roast twenty-five or thirty minutes ; or fill them with bread moistened with currant or cranberry juice and seasoned with salt, pepper, and butter. A wild duck that has a fishy flavor will be improved by parboiling, before roasting, in water with a medium-sized onion. To Roast Quails. — Stuff, place on their backs close together in a roasting pan, and put in a very hot oven. As soon as they are nicely browned, baste with mushroom, celery, or some simple sauce. Quail will roast in about thirty minutes. To Roast Sweetbreads. — Sweetbreads, after they have been soaked in salt water and properly trimmed, should be rolled in flour, then in melted butter, placed close together in a roasting pan, put in a hot oven, and, when brown, basted with any sauce preferred. To Bake a Heart and Liver. — Soak the liver an hour in cold water that has been well salted. Boil the heart in salted water until tender. Then put them in the baking pan together, and dredge with flour. Add a spoonful of butter and a sprinkle of pepper to the water in which the heart boiled, and pour into the pan 56 The Art of Cookery, with the heart and liver. Baste frequently and bake an hour.