Home › C › Choosing and Trussing (Choose a plump bird and truss)
Choosing and Trussing (Choose a plump bird and truss)
-Choose a plump bird, and truss it in the following manner.
After it has been carefully plucked, drawn and singed, skin the neck, and fasten the head under the wing; turn the legs at the TURKEY SOUP. first joint, and bring the feet close to the thighs, as a woodcock should be trussed, and do not stuff it.
Put it down to a bright fire, keep it well basted, and at first place a piece of paper on the breast to prevent its taking too much colour. About 10 minutes before serving, dredge it lightly with flour, and baste well; when nicely frothed, send it to table immediately, with a little gravy in the dish, and some in a tureen. If at hand, a few watercresses may be placed round the turkey as a garnish, or it may be larded.
TIME. About 1 hour.
TURNIPS, BOILED. be added and will be considered by most people an improvement.
This is a spit-roasting instruction for a game bird — the trussing method (legs turned at the first joint, head tucked under the wing, no stuffing) and the watercress garnish point squarely at pheasant, which Beeton roasts for about an hour. The stray capitals "TURKEY SOUP." and "TURNIPS, BOILED." are running heads from neighbouring columns that have fallen into the text; ignore them.
- The bird arrives readyPlucking, drawing and singeing are done for you. If the bird still has pinfeathers, pass it briefly over a gas flame; if the head is still attached, it is usually removed today rather than fastened under the wing.
- Truss without stuffing, for a reasonTruss without stuffing -- the recipe is explicit that the bird is not to be stuffed. Fold the wing tips back, tie the legs close to the body with string, and leave it at that.
- Fire to oven"Down to a bright fire" means a hot radiant heat with constant turning. In a modern oven something around 400F is a reasonable substitute; a smaller bird of 1 1/2 to 2 lb is likely to want nearer 40-50 minutes than the full hour.
- The paper on the breastGame birds have almost no fat over the breast and will dry out before the legs are done. A buttered paper, or a sheet of foil, does the same job. Beeton's alternative, "it may be larded", means strips of fat drawn through the flesh, which is not the same as barding with bacon laid over the breast.
- FrothingThe final flour dredge plus a basting is a Victorian finish: the flour absorbs the hot fat and puffs into a crisp golden film. It only works if the fat in the pan is genuinely hot and the bird goes to table at once.
- DonenessCook to 165F at the thickest part of the thigh. Beeton's hour assumes a fierce open fire and a bird of uncertain weight, so treat the time as a guide and the thermometer as the answer.
- Gravy"A little gravy in the dish" means the pan juices, deglazed and skimmed, not a thickened sauce. Serve the rest separately in a warmed jug.
- YieldA single pheasant serves two generously, three at a stretch. A larger bird trussed this way will feed four.
Trussing a bird "as a woodcock should be trussed" -- feet drawn up against the thighs, head tucked under a wing -- was traditionally associated with game rather than poultry, and was as much about the look of the dish on the table as about cooking. The instruction not to stuff belongs to the same tradition: game was valued for its own flavour, and the stuffings that filled a turkey or a goose were thought to muddy it. Watercress as a garnish for roast game is a long-standing British pairing, generally explained by the peppery leaves cutting the richness of the meat and the pan fat, and it survives on restaurant menus today.