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Turkey, Forcemeat Of
Shred very finely four ounces of beef suet or beef marrow; add four ounces of finely-grated bread-crumbs, a quarter of an ounce of mixed savoury herbs, of which two-thirds should be parsley and the remainder sweet marjoram or lemon thyme, a quarter of an ounce of fresh lemon-rind finely grated, and a little nutmeg, pepper, salt, and cayenne. Mix these ingredients thoroughly, and bind them together with the yolks and whites of two eggs. A large turkey will require double the quantity of forcemeat which the above ingredients will make, and many cooks use equal weights of sausagemeat and forcemeat well mixed together. Or shred finely four ounces of beef suet, and add four ounces of grated bread-crumbs, four ounces of lean uncooked veal, a quarter of an ounce of chopped parsley, a pinch of powdered thyme, a shallot finely minced, and a little pepper, salt, and powdered mace. Pound the ingredients thoroughly, and bind the mixture together with the unbeaten yolk of an egg. Or mix the above ingredients, and add a dozen bearded oysters finely minced, and a filleted anchovy, or two ounces of cooked lean ham or tongue finely grated. Tinned oysters may be used instead of fresh ones. Oyster sauce should be used with this forcemeat, which is suitable for a boiled turkey. Time, twenty minutes to prepare.
A stuffing formula in three variations, written when a cook was expected to judge quantity by the size of the bird. The weights are workable as given; the main adjustments are units, ingredients that have left the shops, and the question of cooking stuffing inside a bird at all.
- Quantities in cupsFour ounces of shredded suet is roughly 3/4 cup packed; four ounces of fresh breadcrumbs is about 2 cups loosely packed, or 1 cup if dried and finely grated. A quarter ounce of chopped herbs is about 2 tablespoons; a quarter ounce of grated lemon rind is the zest of one to two lemons.
- YieldThe first mixture makes roughly 10 to 11 oz of forcemeat. As the text says, a large turkey wants double the quantity.
- Beef marrow and suetShredded beef suet still sells in the UK; in the US ask a butcher for kidney suet or beef marrow bones and scrape the marrow out. Cold unsalted butter, coarsely grated, is the usual substitute, though it melts sooner and gives a looser texture.
- Stuff it or bake itModern practice is to bake forcemeat in a separate dish rather than pack it in the cavity, since the centre of a stuffed bird reaches a safe temperature long after the breast has dried out. If you do stuff, the stuffing itself must reach 165F, and the veal and oyster versions especially need it.
- The veal variationRaw lean veal pounded with suet and bound with egg is essentially a fine quenelle mixture, and a food processor does the pounding far faster than a mortar. Keep everything cold or the fat smears and the texture turns greasy.
- Bearded oysters"Bearded" means the tough frill of gill trimmed away. A dozen shucked oysters, drained and minced, is right; add a spoonful of their liquor to the crumbs. Canned oysters, as the book allows, are milder and saltier, so hold back on the salt.
- AnchovyOne filleted salted anchovy equals about two oil-packed fillets or a teaspoon of anchovy paste. It is there for depth, not fish flavour, and should not be tasted as itself in the finished stuffing.
- Mixed savoury herbsMixtures sold or kept as 'mixed savoury herbs' were generally some combination of dried parsley, thyme and marjoram. The proportions here (two-thirds parsley, the rest marjoram or lemon thyme) are worth following with fresh herbs; dried, use a third as much.
- ServingThe oyster version is directed at a boiled turkey with oyster sauce, a pairing that has largely vanished. Baked in a dish, it suits a roast bird just as well, though the sauce is what ties it together.
Forcemeat comes from the French farce, meaning stuffing; the English form appears to have been reshaped by association with the word "force". The word covers any pounded, bound mixture used to fill, line or garnish, and a Victorian cook could make many versions from the same suet-and-crumb base. That base is the point: fat, starch, egg and aromatics, adjusted by what the bird was to be served with. Oysters in poultry stuffing look extravagant now but were commonplace in nineteenth-century Britain and America, when oysters were cheap, barrelled and shipped inland by rail. The instruction that this version suits a boiled turkey is a reminder that boiling was an accepted treatment for a large bird; a boiled turkey with oyster sauce was a familiar dish, and readers would have understood the pairing without explanation.