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Turkey Poult, to Roast
The turkey poult or young turkey is an excellent substitute for the fully-grown bird, as it is most easily obtained in summer and autumn, when the large turkeys are out of season. The young ones may be said to be in season whenever they are large enough to be used. They may be roasted in the same way as a fully-grown bird. It is not usual to fill them with forcemeat, though some epicures, regardless of expense, are partial to them when stuffed with truffles, and served with Perigueux sauce. Tongue, bacon, or sausages are generally sent to table with them. Turkey poults are trussed with the head tucked under the wing, and the legs twisted under like a duck. Unlike the grown bird, the feet may be left on, though the claws must be cut off. A turkey poult should be put down to a clear fire, liberally basted, and when done enough should be served on a dish garnished with water-cress. Brown gravy and bread sauce should be sent to table with it. Time to roast, three-quarters of an hour to an hour and a half, according to size.
This is a spit-roasting instruction rather than a formula, written for a bird bought whole with head and feet still attached. The gaps to fill are the oven, the doneness test, and the size of the bird.
- What a poult isA young turkey, killed at a few months old, dressed weight roughly 4-8 lb. The nearest modern equivalent is a small hen turkey or a large roasting chicken; a butcher may sell them as "baby turkey" in autumn.
- The missing oven temperature"A clear fire" means a bright, ash-free bed of coals radiating onto a spit. In an oven, 400F for the first 20 minutes to set the skin, then 350F for the rest gives a comparable result.
- Timing and the actual testThree-quarters of an hour to an hour and a half was realistic in front of a fire, where heat comes from one side and the bird turns constantly. In a closed oven allow roughly 15 minutes per pound and, regardless, take the thigh to 165F on an instant-read thermometer before resting it 15 minutes.
- Basting"Liberally basted" mattered because radiant heat dries the exposed side fast. In an oven, basting is less critical than starting with the breast well buttered or covered with bacon rashers for the first two-thirds of the cooking.
- Trussing as describedHead tucked under the wing and feet left on are presentation conventions of the period and are not possible with a supermarket bird. Truss legs and wings close to the body so the thighs cook at the same rate as the breast.
- Périgueux sauceA Madeira-based brown sauce with chopped black truffle, named for the Dordogne town at the centre of the French truffle trade. Truffle stuffing here is genuinely a luxury option, not a standard step; the plain roast with bread sauce is the intended dish.
- Accompaniments"Tongue, bacon, or sausages" are served as a separate garnish around or beside the bird, not cooked inside it. Bread sauce is milk infused with onion and clove, thickened with fresh white breadcrumbs and finished with butter.
- YieldA 5 lb poult serves four to six; allow about a pound of dressed weight per person once the carcass is accounted for.
Cassell's is writing for a market where poultry was strictly seasonal: the mature turkey was a bird of late autumn and Christmas, fattened through the year and sold heavy, so anyone wanting turkey in July had to take a young one. Hence the framing of the poult as a "substitute" rather than a delicacy in its own right. The details of trussing with the head under the wing and the feet left on are a reminder that Victorian poultry arrived from the poulterer largely undressed, and that the appearance of the bird at table was part of what the cook was judged on. The truffle-and-Perigueux variation is the book gesturing at French haute cuisine, an influence widely felt in English cookery writing of the period; the watercress garnish, brown gravy and bread sauce are the plainer English service the book sets as the default.