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To Roast Turkeys, Guinea Fowl, and Chickens
492. Those kinds of poultry which have white meat all require the same management in roasting. They are first trussed according to the mode described at page 35, et seq., and then either put in a cradle-spit, or on a small common spit, or suspended from a bottle-jack. All of these require lard, dripping, or butter, to baste them with, the last being the best, but either answering the purpose well enough, provided they are used almost constantly. They should be well floured at first, and kept at a distance from the fire for about half the time, after which they may be put nearer, and when the thin skin rises in little bladders they are generally done enough. Turkeys, and sometimes large fowls, have their necks stuffed with forcemeat (which see), and require a made-gravy for them, which can generally be obtained from odds and ends, including their heads, necks, and legs cut off. Bread sauce and sometimes sausages are served in addition, and the invariable concomitants, ham or tongue, must not be forgotten. Time required, as near as may be, one quarter of an hour per pound.
This is a method rather than a formula: one set of instructions covering every white-meated bird, written for a cook working in front of an open fire. Almost all of it translates to an oven, but the doneness test does not.
- The hinge: judge by temperature, not by the skin"When the thin skin rises in little bladders" was a workable sign on a spit-roasted bird with fat crackling under it, but it tells you nothing reliable in an oven. Take the thickest part of the thigh to 165F/74C, and rest the bird 20-30 minutes before carving.
- Spits and bottle-jacksA cradle-spit held the bird in a hinged frame; a bottle-jack was a clockwork winder that hung a bird in front of the fire and turned it slowly. In an oven, set the bird breast-up on a rack over a shallow tray so the underside is not steamed by its own drippings.
- "At a distance from the fire for about half the time"This is the two-stage heat the recipe depends on. The book gives no temperatures; in an oven one workable equivalent is a moderate heat (around 325F) for the bulk of the cooking, raised for the last 20-30 minutes to colour and crisp the skin.
- Fifteen minutes to the poundGenerous but not absurd for a fire-roasted bird. For an oven, reckon roughly 13-15 minutes per pound at 325F for an unstuffed turkey, and allow a little extra if the neck end is packed with forcemeat. Treat all of it as an estimate and let the thermometer decide.
- Basting fatButter is still the best of the three named, but it browns fast. Clarified butter, or butter mixed with the pan drippings, will baste "almost constantly" without burning. The initial flouring gives the fat something to cling to and helps the crust.
- Where the stuffing goesNote that the forcemeat goes into the neck cavity only, under the loose skin, and not into the body. That is still the better practice: the body cavity stuffing is what pushes a bird to overcooked breast while the centre catches up.
- Made gravy from the odds and endsHeads and feet are hard to buy now; neck, wing tips, gizzard and heart will do. Brown them, cover with water or light stock, simmer an hour while the bird roasts, strain, and finish with the skimmed roasting juices.
- Guinea fowl needs different handlingIt is much smaller and far leaner than turkey, and 15 minutes per pound will dry it out. Bard the breast with bacon or fat, roast a 2-2.5 lb bird hot for 45-55 minutes, and rest it well.
- The accompanimentsBread sauce, sausages, and sliced ham or tongue were the expected service. A turkey of 10-12 lb will serve something like 8-10; a guinea fowl serves two, three at a stretch.
Roasting before a fire, not in an oven, was the English default well into the nineteenth century, and the equipment named here marks the transition: the cradle-spit was the older fireside apparatus, turned by hand (and, earlier, in some kitchens by a dog in a wheel), while the bottle-jack was the cheaper clockwork device that put spit-roasting within reach of an ordinary household. The instruction to keep the bird well back for the first half of the cooking is the fire-cook's version of what a modern recipe achieves with a moderate oven, and it is why these birds were basted almost continuously: radiant heat on one side only dries a breast very quickly. The fixed set of accompaniments -- bread sauce, forcemeat in the neck, sausages, and a slice of ham or tongue -- was already conventional by the time this book was written, and the author's phrase "the invariable concomitants" shows how little latitude a cook was thought to have with a roast fowl.