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Goose in Jelly, or Duck in Jelly
Put the goose in a deep stewpan, and barely cover it with clean stock, or water. Put with it 1 dessertspoonful of salt, 1 teaspoonful of pepper, 2 large onions, 2 bay leaves, 2 or 3 springs of lemon thyme and sweet basil with a small piece of tarragon. Put the cover on the saucepan, and simmer gently, until the meat parts easily fall from the bones. Take out the goose, drain it from the gravy, remove the bones, which may be returned to the saucepan and boiled a little longer, and cut the meat into convenient-sized pieces. If the gravy requires it, add a little more pepper and salt. Skim of the fat, strain it through a jelly-bag, and mix with an ounce of good gelatine, which has been soaked in cold water for half an hour or more. Put a little of the jelly into the bottom of the mould. Let it set, then put in any pretty ornamental devices, such as hard-boiled eggs, sliced beetroot, pickles, etc.; pour a little more jelly over these, and, when it is stiff, put in the pieces of meat, leaving room for the jelly to flow between them. Let the dish remain until the next day, then turn out, and garnish according to taste. Time to simmer the goose, two hours, or a little more. Sufficient for a breakfast, luncheon, or supper dish. A couple of ducks may be prepared in this way instead of a goose.
A cold moulded galantine of the sort that carried a Victorian sideboard through breakfast and supper. Everything depends on the stock: it must be strong, well seasoned and perfectly clear, because once set it is the flavour of half the dish.
- Clarify and degrease properlyGoose gives off a great deal of fat, and cold fat in aspic reads as a greasy film on the palate. Chill the strained stock so the fat sets in a solid cap you can lift off, then strain again through a cloth-lined sieve.
- Reduce before you setThe bird is barely covered, but a large goose still gives a good deal of liquid, and thin gravy makes a feeble jelly. Boil the strained stock down until it tastes concentrated -- roughly 1 quart (1 litre) suits the ounce of gelatine specified -- and season it then: "if the gravy requires it" is the point at which seasoning must be right, since cold jelly always tastes blander than hot.
- The gelatineOne ounce is about 28 g, roughly four modern quarter-ounce sachets of powdered gelatine, and that will set 1 quart of liquid firmly enough to unmould and slice. Soften it in a little cold water, then stir it into the hot strained stock off the heat until fully dissolved; do not boil it. A stock made from the bones and carcase will already be partly self-setting, so err on the lower side if it gels on its own when chilled.
- DessertspoonfulTwo level teaspoons. The teaspoonful of pepper is generous by modern taste for this volume of liquid; start with half and adjust after reducing.
- The herbsLemon thyme, sweet basil and tarragon in the stockpot is a distinctly nineteenth-century combination and worth keeping. Two or three sprigs each of the thyme and basil, with only a small piece of tarragon as the recipe specifies; tie them with the bay in a bundle so they can be pulled out before straining.
- Simmering timeTwo hours at a bare simmer suits a young goose; the recipe allows "a little more," and an older or tougher bird may want considerably longer. Judge by the meat leaving the bone rather than the clock. A pair of ducks will need rather less time than the goose.
- Chilling, not just standing"Let the dish remain until the next day" assumed a cold larder. Cover and refrigerate overnight; cooked poultry in stock left at room temperature is exactly the situation to avoid. Unmould by dipping the tin briefly in hot water.
- YieldThe recipe claims only that it is "sufficient for a breakfast, luncheon, or supper dish." A goose treated this way fills a large mould and will serve a good company cold, with mustard, pickles and bread.
Cold moulded meat in aspic was one of the great labour-saving dishes of the late nineteenth-century household: it used up a large bird economically, it could be made a day ahead, and it sat on the sideboard for breakfast, luncheon or supper without further attention, which is precisely the range this recipe claims for it. The decorated bottom layer dsliced beetroot, pickles set into clear jelly and revealed upside down when turned out belongs to the same tradition as the elaborate chaudfroids of professional kitchens, scaled down for a cook with one copper mould. Commercially prepared gelatine, more widely available and more dependable as the century went on, is part of what put such dishes within reach of ordinary households; before that the setting power had to be coaxed out of calves' feet or pig skin.