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To Stew Giblets
506. After very nicely cleaning goose or duck giblets, stew them for several hours with a small quantity of water, onion, black pepper, and a bunch of sweet herbs, till nearly done; season them with salt and pepper, and a very small piece of mace. Before serving, give them one boil with a cup of cream, and a piece of butter rubbed in a teaspoonful of the flour.
A plain Victorian stew of the parts left over when a bird was drawn: neck, gizzard, heart, wing tips and feet. The method is sound, but the ingredient list needs translating and the finish needs care.
- What counts as gibletsIn this period the term usually covered neck, gizzard, heart, pinions (wing tips) and scalded feet; the liver was sometimes included and sometimes reserved for gravy or stuffing. A supermarket giblet bag today is usually neck, heart and gizzard only; two or three bags will make a modest dish for four.
- Cleaning matters more than the recipe admits"Very nicely cleaning" means splitting the gizzard, turning out the grit and stripping the tough inner lining, and rinsing the neck of any windpipe and blood. Anything left in the gizzard will grate through the whole stew.
- "A small quantity of water"Enough to come just level with the meat, roughly 1 to 1 1/2 cups for a pound of giblets. Gizzards need long moist cooking, so keep the pan covered and top up sparingly rather than starting with a flood, which gives thin gravy.
- Several hours means several hoursGizzard is dense working muscle and stays rubbery until the collagen breaks down: 2 to 3 hours at a bare simmer. Hearts and necks are done sooner, so lift them out if they threaten to fall apart and return them at the end.
- Sweet herbs and the bunchA bundle of parsley stalks, thyme and a bay leaf, tied so it can be pulled out. "Sweet herbs" in nineteenth-century usage broadly means the aromatic culinary herbs, as distinct from pot-herbs.
- MaceA very small piece means a single blade of mace, the lacy covering of the nutmeg. About 1/8 teaspoon of ground mace substitutes, added at the end, since ground spice loses its edge over a long stew.
- The cream and butter finish"A piece of butter rubbed in a teaspoonful of flour" is butter kneaded with flour, beurre manie, roughly 1 tablespoon butter to 1 teaspoon flour, dropped in to thicken. Add the cream, whisk in the paste and let it come to the boil once only, briefly, or the cream may split.
- ServingEnough for four as a first course or a supper dish, with toast, boiled rice or mashed potato to take up the sauce. Season firmly at the end; giblets and cream both need more salt than they appear to.