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Roast Duck
Place it in the same position and carve in the same way as a goose. Begin at the wing, and cut down to the bone in long thin slices, parallel with the breast-bone; then remove them from the bone. The breast is the favorite portion; but the "wing of a flyer and the leg of a swimmer" are esteemed by epicures.
The stuffing is not often desired, but if so, it may be found by cutting across below the end of the breast.
Geese and ducks are seldom entirely cut up at the table, as there is very little meat on the back. But often from a seemingly bare carcass enough may be obtained to make a savory entree.
PIGEONS.
These, if small, are served whole. If large, cut through the middle from the neck to the end of the breast and down through the backbone. The bones are thin, and may easily be divided with a sharp knife. When smaller portions are required, cut from the shoulder down below the leg, separating the wing and leg from the body.
PARTRIDGES.
Cut through above the joint of the wing, down below the leg, and remove the wing and leg in one portion. Cut under the breast from the lower end through the ribs to the neck and remove the breast entire. Then divide it through the middle, and, if very plump, divide again. When very small they may be divided through the breast and back into two equal parts.
Duck first, then pigeons and partridges. Every instruction here is about the direction of the cut and where the meat actually is, which is a different kind of knowledge from a recipe.
- Long slices, not jointsA duck is carved along the breast in long thin slices parallel with the breast-bone, and then lifted off the bone. That is the opposite of the modern habit of taking the whole breast off in one piece and slicing it across, and it gives smaller pieces with a strip of skin on each one.
- Wing of a flyer, leg of a swimmerThe page gives this as the epicure’s preference, against the general taste for the breast. It is a real guide to where an animal did its work: on a bird that flies the wing muscle is the better meat, on a bird that swims the leg. It holds far more for wild birds than for farmed ones.
- Carving happened in front of peopleThe whole book assumes the bird is taken apart at the table, which is why it talks about which end goes to the right and which way the knife travels, and never about resting or doneness. A bird carved standing up in a kitchen can be dismantled any way at all.
- Pigeon: split, not jointedA small pigeon goes whole to a plate. A large one is cut from the neck down the length of the breast and through the backbone, which halves it; the bones are thin enough to divide with a sharp knife. This is still exactly how a spatchcocked bird is split.
- Partridge: wing and leg togetherCut above the wing joint and down below the leg and the two come away as one portion. Then take the breast off entire by cutting under it through the ribs, and divide it in two, or in four if the bird is plump. The book sizes the serving to the animal rather than the other way round.
- The bare carcass is the next mealThe page says geese and ducks are seldom entirely cut up at the table because there is so little on the back, and then adds that enough can usually be got off a seemingly bare carcass to make a savoury entrée. The carving instruction and the kitchen economy are in the same breath.
This page is written for whoever holds the knife in front of the company, and one aside gives the period away completely: the stuffing is not often desired, but if it is, cut across below the end of the breast. The carver had to know what each person at the table wanted, know where in the bird to find it, produce it without turning the carcass over or making a mess, and do all of it while talking. Notice what the book never mentions: temperature, resting, doneness, seasoning. Those belonged to the cook, downstairs, and the carver’s responsibility began at the moment the dish was set in front of him. The two halves of the same dinner were separate departments with separate skills and separate books, and that division is the reason a whole genre of carving manuals existed at all, and why not one of them is a cookery book.