The Pattern cook-book

Clean the same as turkey, wiping both inside and out with a damp towel. After parboiling or using the cranberries, as directed, tuck back the wings and truss the legs down close to the body. Dust the fowls with salt, pepper and flour, put a piece of butter the size of a walnut in each, place them in a baking pan, and add a cupful of water. Bake from forty-five minutes to an hour if liked well done, or thirty minutes if liked rare, basting frequently with the gravy in the pan. When done, 230 The pattern cook-book. thicken the gravy. Wild ducks are seldom stuffed when roasted. TO COOK THE MALLARD WILD DUCK. These ducks, which are shot in the West, are considered very dry when roasted in the usual way. In Kansas they are stuffed with the common bread stuffing well sewed up and tied in shape. They are then placed in a large kettle with a couple of slices of onion and a little thyme, and a small quantity of water is added. They are cooked slowly for one hour, being turned frequently. The water should be replenished, but only enough should be added to keep the ducks from burning. A gravy is made from the juices in the kettle by adding a cupful of water to them and thickening with flour. This gravy is poured over the ducks when served. Dressed in this way all parts are equally as good as the breast, and the gravy is not the least delicious part of the whole. GUINEA FOWLS. Young guinea fowls make a delicious fricassee. Clean them, and cut them in pieces the same as chickens. Place some slices of fat bacon in a frying-pan, and when these have fried long enough to extract some of the oil, add the pieces of fowl and brown them well. To every two fowls add to the pan two table-spoonfuls of flour, stir until thoroughly mixed, and then add a pint of hot water, a tea-spoonful of salt and a quarter of a tea-spoonful of pepper, stirring until the gravy boils. Cover well, and simmer in a gentle heat until the meat is tender, which is generally in an hour and a-half. Serve with the gravy from the bottom of the pan, adding more salt and pepper, if needed. PEA FOWLS. The peacock and the peahen are cooked the same as turkeys. PHEASANTS, PARTRIDGES, QUAIL AND GROUSE. The real pheasant is not sold in America. The bird known by that name in the South is called a partridge in the North, but is, properly speaking, the ruffled grouse. The f^orthern quail is the English and Southern partridge. The wild fowls brought so plentifully from the West to Eastern cities and called prairie fowls are a species of grouse. The methods of cooking all these birds are substantially the same. They should never be washed, but simply wiped with a damp towel, all shot being carefully picked out of the flesh with a sharppointed knife. Partridges are cooked in forty minutes and quail in ten. ROASTED. Clean, truss and stuff the birds the same as turkey, and bake until brown, basting often with butter and water. Thicken the gravy, and pour it over the birds. BROILED. Clean the birds and split them down the back. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, dust with flour to keep in the juices, and broil in a wire broiler, laying the inside to the fire first. When done, lay them on a warm dish, butter them on both sides, and serve. During the broil-