CHAPTER XXIII.

POTTING.

IN this mode of cookery, be sure to make it a rule, that whatever you do it is well covered with clarified butter before you send it to the oven, tie it close with strong paper, and let it be well baked. When it comes from the oven, pick out every bit of skin you can, and drain away the gravy, otherwise the article potted will be apt to turn sour. Beat your seasoning very fine, and strew it on gradually. Before you put it into your pot, press it well, and before you put on your clarified butter, let it be perfectly cold.

SECT. I.

MEAT and  POULTRY.

Venison.

RUB your venison all over with red wine; season it with beaten mace, pepper and salt; put it into an earthen dish, and pour over it half a pint of red wine, and a pound of butter, and then send it to the oven. If it be a shoulder, put a coarse paste over it, and let it lay in the oven all night. When it comes out, pick the meat clean from the bones, and beat it in a marble mortar, with the fat from your gravy. If you find it not sufficiently seasoned, add more, with clarified butter, and keep beating it till it becomes like a fine paste. Then press it hard down into your pots, pour clarified butter over it, and keep it in a dry place.

Hares.

CASE your hare, wash it thoroughly clean, then cut it up as you would do for eating; put it into a pot, and season it with pepper, salt, and mace. Put on it a pound of butter, tie it down close, and bake it in a bread oven. When it comes out, pick the meat clean from the bones, and pound it very fine in a mortar, with the fat from your gravy. Then put it close down in your pots, and pour over it clarified butter.

Marble Veal.

BOIL, skin, and cut a dried tongue as thin as possible, and beat it well with near a pound of butter, and a little beaten mace, till it is like a paste. Have ready some veal stewed, and beat in the same manner. Then put some veal into potting-pots, thin some tongue in lumps over the veal. Do not lay on your tongue in any form, but let it be in lumps, and it will then cut like marble. Fill your pot close up with veal, press it very hard down, and pour clarified butter over it. Remember to keep it in a dry place, and when you send it to table, cut it into slices. Garnish it with parsley.

Tongues

TAKE a fine neat’s tongue, and rub it well over with an ounce of saltpetre and four ounces of brown sugar, and let it lie two days. Then boil it till it is quite tender, and take off the skin and side bits. Cut the tongue in very thin slices, and beat it in a marble mortar with a pound of clarified butter, and season it to your taste with pepper, salt, and mace. Beat all as fine as possible, then press it close down in small potting-pots, and pour over them clarified butter.

Geese and Fowls.

BOIL a dried tongue till it is tender; then take a goose and a large fowl, and bone them. Take a quarter of an ounce of mace, the same quantity of olives, a large nutmeg, a quarter of an ounce of black pepper, and beat all well together, add to these a spoonful of salt, and rub the tongue and inside of the fowl well with them. Put the tongue into the fowl, then season the goose, and fill it with the fowl and tongue, and the goose will look as if it was whole. Lay it in a pan that will just hold it, melt fresh butter enough to cover it, send it to the oven, and bake it an hour and a half. Then take out the meat, drain the butter carefully from it, and lay it on a coarse cloth till it is cold. Then take off the hard fat from the gravy, and lay it before the fire to melt. Put your meat again into the pot, and pour your butter over it. If there is not enough, clarify more, and let the butter be an inch above the meat. It will keep a great while, cut fine, and look beautiful, and when you cut it let it be cross-ways. It makes a very pretty corner-dish for dinner, or side-dish for supper.

Beef.

TAKE half a pound of brown sugar, and an ounce of saltpetre, and rub it into twelve pounds of beef. Let it lie twenty-four hours; then wash it clean, and dry it well with a cloth. Season it to your taste with pepper, salt, and mace, and cut it into five or six pieces. Put it into an earthen pot, with a pound of butter in lumps upon it, set it in a hot oven, and let it stand three hours, then take it out, cut off the hard outsides, and beat it in a mortar. Add to it a little more pepper, salt, and mace. Then oil a pound of butter in the gravy and fat that came from your beef, and put in as you find necessary; but beat the meat very fine. Then put it into your pot, press it close down, pour clarified butter over it, and keep it in a dry place.

Another method of potting beef, and which will greatly imitate venison, is this: Take a buttock of beef, and cut the lean of it into pieces of about a pound weight each. To eight pounds of beef take four ounces of saltpetre, the same quantity of bay-salt, half a pound of white salt, and an ounce of sal prunella. Beat all the salt very fine, mix them well together, and rub them into the beef. Then let it lie four days, turning it twice a day. After that put it into a pan, and cover it with pump water, and a little of its own brine. Send it to the oven, and bake it till it is tender; then drain it from the gravy, and take out all the skin and sinews. Pound the meat well in a mortar, lay it in a broad dish, and mix on it an ounce of cloves and mace, three quarters of an ounce of pepper, and a nutmeg, all beat very fine. Mix the whole well with the meat, and add a little clarified fresh butter to moisten it. Then press it down into pots very hard, set them at the mouth of the oven just to settle, and then cover them two inches thick with clarified butter. When quite cold, cover the pots over with white paper tied close, and set them in a dry place. It will keep good a considerable time.

Pigeons.

PICK and draw your pigeons, cut off the pinions, wash them clean, and put them in a sieve to drain. Then dry them with a cloth, and season them with pepper and salt. Roll a lump of butter in chopped parsley, and put it into the pigeons. Sew up the vents, then put them into a pot with butter over them, tie them down, and set them in a moderately heated oven. When they come out, put them into your pots, and pour clarified butter over them.

Woodcocks.

TAKE six woodcocks, pluck them, and draw out the train. Skewer their bills through their thighs, put their legs through each other, and their feet upon their breasts. Season them with three or four blades of mace, and a little pepper and salt. Then put them into a deep pot, with a pound of butter over them, and tie a strong paper over them. Bake them in a moderate oven, and when they are enough, lay them on a dish to drain the gravy from them, then put them into potting-pots; take all the clear butter from your gravy, and put it upon them. Fill up your pots with clarified butter. Keep them in a dry place for use. Snipes must be done in the same manner.

SECT. II.

FISH.

TAKE a large eel, and when you have skinned, washed clean, and thoroughly dried it with a cloth, cut it into pieces about four inches long. Season them with a little beaten mace and nutmeg, pepper, salt, and a little sal prunella beat fine. Lay them in a pan, and pour as much clarified butter over them as will cover them. Bake them half an hour in a quick oven; but the size of your eels must be the general rule to determine what time they will take baking. Take them out with a fork, and lay them on a coarse cloth to drain. When they are quite cold, season them again with the like seasoning, and lay them close in the pot. Then take off the butter they were baked in clear from the gravy of the fish, and set it in a dish before the fire. When it is melted, pour the butter over them, and put them by for use. You may bone your eels, if you choose; but in that case you must put in no sal prunella.

Salmon.

TAKE a large piece of fresh salmon, scale it, and wipe it clean. Then season it with Jamaica pepper, black pepper, mace, and cloves, beat fine, and mixed with salt, and a little sal prunella: then pour clarified butter over it, and bake it well. When it is done, take it out carefully, and lay it on a cloth to drain. As soon as it is quite cold, season it again, lay it close in your pot, and cover it with clarified butter. Or you may pot it in this manner:

Scale and clean a whole salmon, slit it down the back, dry it well, and cut it as near the shape of your pot as you can. Then take two nutmegs, an ounce of mace and cloves beaten, half an ounce of white pepper, and an ounce of salt. Then take out all the bones, cut off the tail and the head below the fins. Season the scaly side first, and lay that at the bottom of the pot; then rub the seasoning on the other side, cover it with a dish, and let it stand all night. It must be put double, and the scaly sides top and bottom. Put some butter at the bottom and top, and cover the pot with some stiff coarse paste. If it is a large fish, it will require three hours baking; but if a small one, two hours wall be sufficient. When it comes out of the oven, let it stand half an hour, then uncover it, raise it up at one end that the gravy may run out, and put a trencher and weight on it effectually to answer this purpose. When the butter is cold take it out clear from the gravy, add more butter to it, and put it in a pan before the fire. When it is melted pour it over the salmon, and as soon as it is cold, paper it up, put it in a dry place, and it will keep a considerable time. Carp, tench, trout, and several other sorts of fish, may be potted in the same manner.

Lobster.

BOIL a live lobster in salt and water, and stick a skewer in the vent to prevent the water getting in. As soon as it is cold, take out all the flesh, beat it fine in a mortar, and season it with beaten mace, grated nutmeg, pepper, and salt. Mix all together, melt a piece of butter the size of a walnut, and mix it with the lobster as you beat it. When it is beat to a paste, put it into your pot, and press it down as close and hard as you can. Then set some butter in a deep broad pan before the fire, and when it is all melted, take off the scum at the top, if any, and pour the clear butter over the fish as thick as a crown-piece. The whey and churn-milk will settle at the bottom of the pan; but take care that none of that goes in, and always let your butter be very good, or you will spoil all. If you choose it, you may put in the meat whole, with the body mixed among it, laying them as close together as you can, and pouring the butter over them.