Cassell's dictionary of cookery

picking, be careful not to break the skin ; in drawing, not to break the gall-bladder. Let the fowls hang from two to five days, for the most delicate fowl will be tough and thready if too soon dressed. When to be used, draw, singe without blackening, and wash thoroughly, passing a stream of water again and again through the inside. Boiled fowls must be very neatly trussed, as they have small aid from skewers ; and nothing is more indecorous than to see unfortunates on a dinner-table, " whose dying limbs no decent hands composed." Put them on with plenty of water, a little warmed, and in a floured cloth if you like. Having, as usual, skimmed them very carefully, simmer by the side of the fire from thirty-five minutes to an hour and a half, according to the size of the fowl. A small tureen of very good barley or rice broth, seasoned with shred parsley and young onions, may be added at the same time, if a shank or small cutlets of neck-mutton be added; which last may be frugally served in the broth. Some good cooks put fresh suet and slices of peeled lemon to boil with fowls. if lean, but larding is better; while legged fowls are most worthy of attention, whether for eating or appearance. — Meg Bods. Poultry, Boning of, — It is scarcely likely that written instructions only will enable any one to perform this difficult operation ; and far more would be learnt by watching a competent person do the work once than by reading whole pages about it. Nevertheless, the knowledge how to bone meat and poultry is a very desirable kind of knowledge to attain, and one which can only be perfected by practice. The thing to aim at is to loosen the fiesh without injuring the skin, and this can be done only by working the knife close to the bone. A short, sharp-pointed knife is the most suitable for the purpose. It is easiest to divide the bird into joints, and remove the bone from each joint separately. If this will not do, the bird may be split open right down the back, and the bones cut out afterwards, and this plan answers excellently for galantines and dishes of a similar description. The most difficult operation of all is to bone the bird without opening it. Poulterers and butchers are generally very pleased when desired to do this work for their customers. Poultry, Boudins, or French Puddings, of. — HaK roast the bird. Take ofi: the skin, draw out the sinews, and mince and pound the flesh till it is quite smooth. Mix with it its bulk in baked potatoes, dry and floury, season rather highlj' with salt, cayenne, and pounded mace, and add as much butter as there was meat. Pound the forcemeat between every addition, then mix in gradually three whole eggS and the yolks of two others, together with one or two table-spoonfuls of white sauce, chopped mushrooms, or dressed onions, but take care that the mixture is not too moist. To ascertain this, make iip a small ball, dro}) it into boiling water, and poach it for five minutes. If it wants firmness, put another eggto it ; if it is too firm, add a little sauce or water. Form the forcemeat into small sausages or boudins, or mould them into the shape of an egg with a table-spoon: drop them then into boiling water and poach them. Serve the boudins piled high on a dish, and jiour brown Italian sauce, or white sauce, round them.