The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary Part 48

ROAST LEG OF PORK. Choose a small leg of fine young pork, cut a slit in the knuckle with a sharp knife, fill the s.p.a.ce with chopped sage and onion, mixed together with a little pepper and salt. When half roasted, score the skin in slices, but do not cut deeper than the outer rind. Eat it with potatoes and apple sauce.

ROAST LOBSTER. When the lobster is half boiled, take it out of the water; and while hot, rub it with b.u.t.ter, and lay it before the fire.

Continue basting it with b.u.t.ter till it has a fine froth.

ROAST MUTTON AND LAMB. These require to be well roasted, before a quick clear fire. A small fore quarter of lamb will take an hour and a half.

Baste the joint as soon as it is laid down, and sprinkle on a little salt. When nearly done, dredge it with flour. In dressing a loin or saddle of mutton, the skin must be loosened, and then skewered on; but it should be removed before the meat is done, and the joint basted and made to froth up. When a fore quarter is sent to table, the shoulder may be taken off, the ribs a little seasoned with pepper and salt, and a lemon squeezed over them. Serve up the joint with vegetables and mint sauce. For a breast of mutton, make a savoury forcemeat, if the bones are taken out, and wash it over with egg. Spread the forcemeat upon it, roll it up, bind it with packthread, and serve it up with gravy sauce.

Or roast it with the bones in, without the forcemeat.

ROAST ONIONS. They should be roasted with all the skins on. They eat well alone, with only salt and cold b.u.t.ter; or with beet root, or roast potatoes.

ROAST PHEASANTS. Dust them with flour, baste them often with b.u.t.ter, and keep them at a good distance from the fire. Make the gravy of a scrag of mutton, a tea-spoonful of lemon pickle, a large spoonful of ketchup, and the same of browning. Strain it, and put a little of it into the dish.

Serve them up with bread sauce in a basin, and fix one of the princ.i.p.al feathers of the pheasant in its tail. A good fire will roast them in half an hour. Guinea and pea fowls eat much like pheasants, and are to be dressed in the same way.

ROAST PARTRIDGES. Partridges will take full twenty minutes. Before they are quite done, dredge them with flour, and baste them with fresh b.u.t.ter; let them go to table with a fine froth, and gravy sauce in the dish, and bread sauce in a tureen. The bread sauce should be made as follows. Take a good piece of stale bread, and put it into a pint of water, with some whole pepper, a blade of mace, and a bit of onion: let it boil till the bread is soft; then take out the spice and onion; pour out the water, and beat the bread with a spoon till it is like pap; put in a good piece of b.u.t.ter, and a little salt; set it over the fire for two or three minutes.

ROAST PIG. A sucking pig for roasting, should be put into cold water for a few minutes, as soon as it is killed. Then rub it over with a little rosin finely powdered, and put it into a pail of scalding water half a minute. Take it out, lay it on a table, and pull off the hair as quickly as possible: if any part does not come off, put it in again. When quite clean from hair, wash it well in warm water, and then in two or three cold waters, that no flavour of the rosin may remain. Take off all the feet at the first joint, make a slit down the belly, and take out the entrails: put the liver, heart, and lights to the feet. Wash the pig well in cold water, dry it thoroughly, and fold it in a wet cloth to keep it from the air. When thus scalded and prepared for roasting, put into the belly a mixture of chopped sage, bread crumbs, salt and pepper, and sow it up. Lay it down to a brisk fire till thoroughly dry; then have ready some b.u.t.ter in a dry cloth, and rub the pig with it in every part. Dredge over it as much flour as will lie on, and do not touch it again till it is ready for the table. Then sc.r.a.pe off the flour very carefully with a blunt knife, rub it well with the b.u.t.tered cloth, and take off the head while it is at the fire. Take out the brains, and mix them with the gravy that comes from the pig. The legs should be skewered back before roasting, or the under part will not be crisp. Take it up when done, and without drawing the spit, cut it down the back and belly, lay it into the dish, mince the sage and bread very fine, and mix them with a large quant.i.ty of good melted b.u.t.ter that has very little flour.

Pour the sauce into the dish after the pig has been split down the back, and garnish with the ears and the two jaws: take off the upper part of the head down to the snout. In Devons.h.i.+re it is served up whole, if very small; the head only being cut off to garnish the dish.--Another way.

Spit your pig, and lay it down to a clear fire, kept good at both ends: put into the belly a few sage leaves, a little pepper and salt, a little crust of bread, and a bit of b.u.t.ter, then sew up the belly; flour him all over very well, and do so till the eyes begin to start. When you find the skin is tight and crisp, and the eyes are dropped, put two plates into the dripping pan, to save what gravy comes from him: put a quarter of a pound of b.u.t.ter into a clean coa.r.s.e cloth, and rub all over him, till the flour is clean taken off; then take it up into your dish, take the sage, &c. out of the belly, and chop it small; cut off the head, open it, and take out the brains, which chop, and put the sage and brains into half a pint of good gravy, with a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour; then cut your pig down the back, and lay him flat in the dish: cut off the two ears, and lay one upon each shoulder; take off the under jaw, cut it in two, and lay one on each side; put the head between the shoulders, pour the gravy out of the plates into your sauce, and then into the dish. Send it to table garnished with a lemon.

ROAST PIGEONS. Stuff them with parsley, either cut or whole, and put in a seasoning of pepper and salt. Serve with parsley and b.u.t.ter. Peas or asparagus should be dressed to eat with them.

ROAST PIKE. Clean the fish well, and sew up in it the following stuffing. Grated bread crumbs, sweet herbs and parsley chopped, capers and anchovies, pepper, salt, a little fresh b.u.t.ter, and an egg. Turn it round with the tail in its mouth, and roast it gently till it is done of a fine brown. It may be baked, if preferred. Serve it up with a good gravy sauce.

ROAST PLOVERS. Green plovers should be roasted like woodc.o.c.ks, without drawing, and served on a toast. Grey plovers may either be roasted, or stewed with gravy, herbs, and spice.

ROAST PORK. Pork requires more doing than any other meat; and it is best to sprinkle it with a little salt the night before you use it, and hang it up; by that means it will take off the faint, sickly taste. When you roast a chine of pork, lay it down to a good fire, and at a proper distance, that it may be well soaked, otherwise it eats greasy and disagreeable. A spare-rib is to be roasted with a fire that is not too strong, but clear; when you lay it down, dust on some flour and baste it with b.u.t.ter: a quarter of an hour before you take it up, shred some sage small; baste your pork; strew on the sage; dust on a little flour, and sprinkle a little salt just before you take it up. A loin must be cut on the skin in small streaks, and then basted; but put no flour on, which would make the skin blister; and see that it is jointed before you lay it down to the fire. A leg of pork is often roasted with sage and onion shred fine, with a little pepper and salt, and stuffed at the knuckle, with gravy in the dish; but a leg of pork done in this manner, parboil it first, and take off the skin; lay it down to a good clear fire; baste it with b.u.t.ter, then shred some sage fine, and mix it with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and bread crumbs; strew this over it the time it is roasting; baste it again with b.u.t.ter, just before you take it up, that it may be of a fine brown, and have a good froth; send up some good gravy in the dish; a griskin roasted in this manner eats finely.

ROAST PORKER'S HEAD. Clean it well, put bread and sage into it as for a young pig, sew it up tight, and put it on a hanging jack. Roast it in the same manner as a pig, and serve it up the same.

ROAST POTATOES. Half boil them first, then take off the thin peel, and roast them of a beautiful brown.

ROAST PULLET. To roast a small hen turkey or a pullet with batter, the bird must first be boned, and filled with forcemeat or stuffing. Then paper it round, and lay it down to roast. When nearly half done, drop off the paper, and baste the bird with a very smooth light batter. When the first basting is dry, baste it again, and repeat this till the bird is nicely crusted over, and sufficiently done. It will require ten minutes or a quarter of an hour longer roasting than a bird of the same size in the common way, on account of its being stuffed with forcemeat.

Serve it up with white gravy, or mushroom sauce.

ROAST QUAILS. Quails may be dressed and served up like woodc.o.c.ks; or dressed with the insides stuffed with sweet herbs and beef suet chopped fine, and mixed with a little spice. They must roast rather a shorter time than woodc.o.c.ks.

ROAST RUMP OF BEEF. Let it lie in salt for two days, then wash it, and soak it an hour in a quart of claret, and a pint of elder vinegar. Baste it well with the liquor while roasting. Make a gravy of two beef palates cut thin and boiled, and thickened with burnt b.u.t.ter. Add to it mushrooms and oysters, and serve it up hot.

ROAST SIRLOIN. When a sirloin of beef is about three parts roasted, take out the meat from the under side, and mince it nicely. Season it with pepper and salt, and some shalot chopped very small. By the time the beef is roasted, heat this with gravy just sufficient to moisten it.

Dish up the beef with the upper side downwards, put the mince in the inside, and strew it with bread crumbs ready prepared. Brown them of a fine colour on a hot salamander over the fire, and then serve up the beef with sc.r.a.ped horseradish laid round it.

ROAST SNIPES. Snipes and land rails are dressed exactly in the same manner as woodc.o.c.ks, but only require a shorter time in roasting.

ROAST STURGEON. Put the fish on a lark spit, then tie it on a large spit, and baste it constantly with b.u.t.ter. Serve it with a good gravy, an anchovy, a squeeze of Seville orange or lemon, and a gla.s.s of sherry.--Another way is, to put into a stewpan a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, with four cloves, a bunch of sweet herbs, two onions, pepper and salt, half a pint of water, and a gla.s.s of vinegar. Stir it over the fire till hot, then let it become lukewarm, and steep the fish in it an hour or two. b.u.t.ter a paper well, tie it round, and roast it without letting the spit run through. Serve it with sorrel and anchovy sauce.

ROAST SWEETBREADS. Parboil two large ones, and then roast them in a Dutch oven. Use gravy sauce, or plain b.u.t.ter, with mushroom ketchup.

ROAST TONGUE. After well cleaning a neat's tongue, salt it for three days with common salt and saltpetre. This makes an excellent dish, with the addition of a young udder, having some fat to it, and boiled till tolerably tender. Then tie the thick part of one to the thin part of the other, and roast the tongue and udder together. A few cloves should be stuck in the udder. Serve them with good gravy, and currant-jelly sauce.

Some people like neats' tongues cured with the root, in which case they look much larger; but otherwise the root must be cut off close to the gullet, next to the tongue, but without taking away the fat under the tongue. The root must be soaked in salt and water, and extremely well cleaned, before it is dressed; and the tongue should be laid in salt a day and a night before it is pickled.

ROAST TURKEY. The sinews of the leg should be drawn, whichever way it is dressed. The head should be twisted under the wing; and in drawing it, take care not to tear the liver, nor let the gall touch it. Put a stuffing of sausage meat; or if sausages are to be served in the dish, a bread stuffing. As this makes a large addition to the size of the fowl, observe that the heat of the fire is constantly to that part, for the breast is often not done enough. A little strip of paper should be put on the bone, to prevent its being scorched while the other parts are roasting. Baste it well, and froth it up. Serve with gravy in the dish, and plenty of bread sauce in a sauce tureen. Add a few crumbs and a beaten egg to the stuffing of sausage meat. Another way. Bone your turkey very nicely, leaving on the pinions, rump, and legs; then take the flesh of a nice fowl, the same weight of bread grated, and half a pound of beef suet, nicely picked; beat these in a marble mortar, season with mace, one clove, pepper, nutmeg, salt beat fine, a little lemon peel shred very small, and the yolks of two eggs; mix all up together very well; then fill all the parts that the bones came out of, and raise the breast to the form it was before the bone was taken out; sew up the skin of the back, and skewer down the legs close as you do a chicken for roasting; spit it and let it be nicely roasted: send good gravy in the dish.

ROAST VEAL. Veal must be well done before a good fire. Cover the fat of the loin and fillet with paper. Stuff the fillet and shoulder in the following manner. Take a quarter of a pound of suet, parsley, and sweet herbs, and chop them fine. Add grated bread, lemon peel, pepper, salt, nutmeg, and an egg. Mix all well together, and put the stuffing safely into the veal. Roast the breast with the caul on: when nearly done, take it off, and baste and dredge the meat. Lay it in the dish, pour a little melted b.u.t.ter over it, and serve it up with salad, boiled vegetables, or stewed celery.

ROAST VENISON. After a haunch of venison is spitted, take a piece of b.u.t.ter and rub all over the fat, dust on a little flour, and sprinkle a little salt: then take a sheet of writing paper, b.u.t.ter it well, and lay over the fat part; put two sheets over that, and tie the paper on with small twine: keep it well basting, and let there be a good soaking fire.

If a large haunch, it will take full three hours to do it. Five minutes before you send it to table take off the paper, dust it over with a little flour, and baste it with b.u.t.ter; let it go up with a good froth; put no gravy in the dish, but send it in one boat; and currant jelly melted, in another; or if you have no currant jelly, boil half a pint of red wine with a quarter of a pound of lump sugar, a stick of cinnamon, and a piece of lemon peel in it, to a syrup. The neck and shoulder are dressed the same way; and as to the time, it depends entirely on the weight, and the goodness of your fire: if you allow a quarter of an hour to each pound, and the fire be tolerably kept up, you cannot well err. A breast of venison is excellent dressed in the following way: flour it, and fry it brown on both sides in fresh b.u.t.ter: keep it hot in a dish, dust flour into the b.u.t.ter it was fried in, till it is thick and brown.

Keep it stirring that it may not burn; pour in half a pint of red wine, and a quarter of a pound of powdered sugar: stir it and let it boil to a proper thickness. Squeeze in the juice of a lemon, take off the sc.u.m very clean, and pour it over your venison, then send it to table.

ROAST WHEAT-EARS. These birds should be spitted sideways, with a vine leaf between each. Baste them with b.u.t.ter, and cover them with bread crumbs while roasting. Ten or twelve minutes will do them. Serve them up with fried bread crumbs in the dish, and gravy in a tureen.

ROAST WILD DUCK. A wild duck or a widgeon will require twenty or twenty-five minutes roasting, according to the size. A teal, from fifteen to twenty minutes; and other birds of this kind, in proportion to their size, a longer or a shorter time. Serve them up with gravy, and lemons cut in quarters, to be used at pleasure.

ROAST WOODc.o.c.kS. Whether for woodc.o.c.ks or snipes, put a toast of fine bread under the birds while at the fire; and as they are not to be drawn before they are spitted, let the tail drop on the toast while roasting, and baste them with b.u.t.ter. When done, lay the birds on the toast in a dish, and send it warm to the table. A woodc.o.c.k takes twenty minutes roasting, and a snipe fifteen.

ROBERT SAUCE. Put an ounce of b.u.t.ter into a pint stewpan, and when melted, add to it half an ounce of onion minced very fine. Turn it with a wooden spoon till it takes a light brown colour, and then stir into it a table-spoonful of flour, a table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup, the like quant.i.ty of port wine, half a pint of weak broth, and half a tea-spoonful of pepper and salt mixed together. Give them a boil, then add a tea-spoonful of mustard, the juice of half a lemon, and one or two tea-spoonfuls of vinegar, basil, taragon, or burnet vinegar. This sauce is in high repute, and is adapted for roast pork or roast goose.

ROLLS. Warm an ounce of b.u.t.ter in half a pint of milk, put to it a spoonful or more of small beer yeast, and a little salt. Mix in two pounds of flour, let it rise an hour, and knead it well. Make the paste into seven rolls, and bake them in a quick oven. If a little saffron, boiled in half a tea-cupful of milk, be added, it will be a great improvement.