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Game, to Keep from Tainting

While it is very desirable that game should be hung a proper length of time, to render the flesh tender and in proper condition, it is most undesirable that it should be served at table in a state offensive to sight and smell. Choose birds which are not much mangled by shot. Hang them, if possible, in a cool place, where there is a current of air blowing right through. Be careful to preserve them from flies; black pepper will do this. Examine them every day, and if there is danger that they will not keep, draw, pick, and crop them, place them on a dish, cover them with muslin, and sprinkle a little powdered charcoal under and over them. If they appear already spoilt, they may often be made fit for eating by washing in vinegar and water, or by washing and thoroughly rubbing them with salt, and putting them for ten minutes in boiling water. Take them out, hang them in a cool place, and powder them lightly over with charcoal. If game is tainted, wash it before roasting, but if not, it should not be touched with water. Game is as often spoilt by being frozen as by being too fresh. In frosty weather it should be brought into the warm kitchen three or four hours before it is cooked. Charcoal may be made by putting a piece of wood in the oven, and letting it remain until it is burnt through, and quite black.