Virginia Cookery-book

From the meat unused the first day many a nice stew may be prepared, when one gets tired of the plain cold meat, which, however, is exceedingly nutritious, and at the same time delicate enough to tempt the appetite of a confirmed invalid. To Roast a Shoulder op Vbnison. (From(From "The English Housewife.") Make a seasoning with salt and pepper, nutmeg and pounded cloves ; lard the shoulder of venison with fine bacon, and then season it very well in every part with this seasoning. Put into a dish a quart of white wine and a pint of vinegar, add some salt, half a dozen bayleaves, and a stick of broken cinnamon. Stir all this well together, and then lay in the larded venison ; turn it once in half an hour, and from time to time pour some of the liquor upon the upper side of it with a spoon. When it has been four hours soaking lay it down to roast ; let it be at a moderate distance from the fire, and let it be well done, basting it all the time with the liquor. When the venison is enough done strain the dripping out of the pan, and add to it some rich soup stock ; or, if that be not in readiness, add some very strong gravy, and thicken it up with flour and butter ; when it is ready to serve up squeeze in a quarter of a lemon, and add a cupful of capers, minced, and some black pepper. This sauce being ready, lay the venison handsomely in a dish, and pour the sauce upon it. A shoulder of venison in the common way of dressing is but a very indifferent joint ; but when it is thus managed many prefer it to a haunch. It is moist, rich, and excellently flavored. A Vbnison Pasty. (From "The English Housewife.") Cut to pieces a fine fat neck of venison ; season it with pepper and salt after you have taken out the bones, and take care to keep the fine fat part of the neck as entire as possible. Make a good puff paste in sufficient quantity, and, if a larger pasty is intended, more venison from other parts may be added, but nothing excels a pasty made of the neck alone. Lay a good bottom crust in a baking-dish, then a thick side crust, and then lay in the venison ; put the coarser part lowermost, and the finest of the fat just at the top, that nothing may hurt it ; put in half a pound of butter, and a little more than a quarter of a pint of water ; cover the pasty with a good thick top crust, and then put it in the oven to bake. It will take two hours' baking in a steadily heated oven. While the pasty is baking set on the bones in a saucepan with two quarts of water, and put in a bunch of sweet herbs and an onion, two blades of mace, a dozen corns of whole pepper, a crust of bread burnt, and cover it up close ; let this boil till half is wasted, then strain off the gravy, and have it hot. When the pasty is nicely baked pour it in by carefully lifting the lid, and then send up the pasty. There is no great difficulty in this, and no method makes a better pasty. To Roast Mutton like Vbnison. Take a leg of mutton and rub it over with saltpetre, then hang it up in a damp place for two days. Wipe it several times a day with a clean cloth, then put it in a pan. Boil a quarter of an ounce of allspice in a quart of red wine, and pour it boiling hot over the mutton. Cover it up close for two hours. Take out, spit it, and baste it well with the same liquor or butter. Have a brisk fire — one hour and a half will roast it. The latter part of these directions can be altered to suit the modem range or stove, where baking in a pan must be substituted for spitting and roasting ; more time must be allowed — indeed, double as much — for baking than roasting. tlMGINIA COOKERTBOOK, W CHAPTER IX. MEATS (Continued).