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Stuffing or Forcemeat for Fowl or Veal
333. Shred a little ham or gammon, some cold veal or fowl, some beef-suet, a small quantity of onion, some parsley, a little lemon-peel, salt, nutmeg, or pounded mace, and either white pepper or cayenne, and bread crumbs. Pound in a mortar, and bind it with one or two eggs beaten and strained, adding thyme or marjoram, or both together, according to fancy. For forcemeat patties, the mixture as above.
A Victorian all-purpose forcemeat, given without a single quantity — the cook was expected to judge by eye. A workable ratio and a few notes on the vanished ingredients make it usable.
- Proportions, since none are givenA reliable starting point is 4 oz cooked veal or chicken, 2 oz ham, 2 oz suet, 3 oz fresh breadcrumbs, 1 small shallot or a quarter of an onion, 2 tbsp chopped parsley, the zest of half a lemon, and one beaten egg. This makes enough for a 4–5 lb bird or a large veal joint.
- Gammon and beef-suetGammon is the cured hind leg, sold today as raw gammon steak or as unsmoked bacon; either works, as does a good cooked ham. Beef-suet means hard kidney fat from the butcher, or packaged shredded suet; cold unsalted butter, grated, is one modern stand-in and gives a softer result.
- Lemon-peel means zestPare or grate only the yellow outer layer. Any white pith turns the forcemeat bitter.
- Mace and nutmegPounded mace is the dried outer covering of the nutmeg seed, warmer and less sweet than the nutmeg itself; blades are still sold and grind readily. Use a scant quarter teaspoon of either — this quantity of forcemeat is easily overwhelmed.
- Mortar or processorA food processor does the pounding in seconds, but pulse rather than run it: the mixture should stay slightly coarse and springy, not become a paste. Keep everything cold so the suet does not smear.
- Strained eggsStraining the beaten egg catches the chalazae, the stringy cords of albumen, and any unmixed lumps, which otherwise show up as white threads once cooked. A single pass through a fine sieve is enough.
- Cooking it safelyBecause the forcemeat contains raw egg and raw fat, stuffing packed inside a bird must reach 165F/74C at its centre — check with a probe, not by the bird's own timing. Baked separately in a buttered dish, it takes about 30 minutes at 350F.
- Forcemeat pattiesThe closing line means the same mixture rolled into small balls or flattened cakes and fried in butter, or baked in pastry cases, to serve alongside the roast. Allow about 1 oz each and fry 3–4 minutes a side.