Harper's cook book encyclopædia

with a smaller or larger proportion of bread-crumbs. It should be remembered, when bread-crumbs are used, room should be allowed for swelling. Truss the goose firmly, tie the openings securely, and baste it plentifully. A goose is both unwholesome and unpalatable if insufficiently cooked. Send good gravy, and either apple or tomato sauce, to table with it. Garnish with lemon. Time, from an hour and a half to two hours and a half. Pigeons. See Game. Squabs. See Game. Turkeys. — A hen turkey is the best, and it should be young and plump. If young, the legs will be black and smooth. If fresh, the eyes will be bright and the feet supple. The length of the spur will show whether or not a cock turkey is young. A moderate - sized turkey is more likely to be tender than a very large one. Turkey, Boneless Stuffed. — Prepare the turkey the day before, as the truffles will thus give more fragrance to the meat. Singe a young turkey of about io lbs. ; cut the head off, leaving the whole neck ; cut the feet in the joints. Cut the skin open from the back, beginning at the neck. With a sharp-pointed knife detach the flesh from the carcass all around ; remove the bones from the second joints, leaving the bone of the drum, also the bone of the wings. Be careful not to split the skin when detaching the breast-bone. The whole carcass will come out easily, and also the intestines. Spread open the turkey over the table, and remove the under fillet from the breast. Sprinkle the inside with half a teaspoonful of salt and one salt-spoonful of pepper. For stuffing : chop very fine 2 lbs. of veal cutlets and 1 lb. of larding pork. Soak in some good broth one quart of fresh bread-crumbs. Squeeze well and add to the meat. Put every- thing in a large bowl to mix. Wash in cold water 1 lb. of truffles, peel them, chop the parings, put them with the truffles in a small saucepan with half a pint of cooking wine, four shallots or two white onions sliced ; cook and toss for five minutes ; drain off, remove the shallots, and add the chopped parings to the stuffing. Then cut ten slices from the largest truffles one-eighth of an inch thick ; set them aside. Cut all the remaining ones of even size like hazel-nuts; add them to the stuffing with one table - spoonful of chopped parsley Season with one teaspoonful of salt, one salt-spoonful of pepper; add two egg yolks and one white, and mix well again. Pass a blunt knife under the skin, and raise it enough to slip the sliced truffles under. Now put a third part of the stuffing inside of the turkey ; pack it well with the back of a spoon ; put the under fillets over, and finish with the balance of the stuffing. Close the boneless turkey, and with white thread stitch the skin all along the back and at the neck. Fold the wings back, and with a trussing-needle and twine secure them to the body ; do the same thing with the legs, so that the turkey shall retain its shape. Rub over it one teaspoonful of salt and one salt-spoonful of pepper; place it in the roasting - pan with a gill of broth ; then lay all over it thin slices of fat pork. Roast in warm oven for two hours ; after the first hour baste three times. Cut the twine, remove the lardingpork, and serve on a platter with a border of water-cress. Strain the gravy and serve in a sauce-boat. Truffles may be omitted, and oysters added instead.