Roast Goose

Green geese about four months old are the best, as they get very tough when much older. If there is any doubt about the age of the goose, it is better to braise than to roast it. It can be browned after it is braised, and have the same appearance as if roasted. Dress and truss a goose the same as a turkey; singe and wash the skin well; flatten the breast bone by striking it with a rolling-pin. Stuff it only partly full with mashed potato highly seasoned with onion, sage, salt, and pepper, or with a mixture of bread, apples, onions, sage, salt and pepper, and a little butter. Dredge the goose with salt, pepper, and a thick coating of flour; put a little water in the pan and baste frequently. Allow eighteen minutes to the pound for a young goose, twenty-five minutes for an older one. Serve with goose apple sauce and a brown giblet gravy.

* A rectangular-shaped galantine may be obtained by pressing it into a bread-tin to cool. It should then be trimmed and incased in aspic, using the same or a slightly larger bread-tin of the same shape. See Molding, page 32b. - M. R.

Tame Ducks

Prepare the same as geese. Stuff with the same mixture or with celery. Roast ducklings in a hot oven twenty minutes, if liked rare; thirty minutes if they are to be cooked through. Old ducks require an hour to cook, and should be basted frequently. Pekin ducks, a breed of white ducks raised in quantities on Long Island, are especially esteemed.

Canvasbacks And Bedhead Ducks

Carefully pick, singe, and wipe the outside. Draw them, leaving on the head, so as to distinguish them from ordinary game. Cut an opening at the neck, and through it draw the head and neck, letting the head emerge at the back between the drumsticks, and tie it securely in place. Do not wash the inside. If carefully drawn they will not need it. Cut off the wings at the second joint. Truss the ducks neatly. Sprinkle with salt and pepper inside, and a teaspoonful of currant jelly may also be put inside. Place them in a baking-pan with a little water, and bake in a very hot oven from fifteen to eighteen minutes; baste frequently.

Wild ducks should be very rare and served very hot, on hot plates. Each duck makes but two portions, as the breast only is served. Serve with duck small pieces of fried hominy and currant jelly.

The Canvasback is superior in flavor to any other species of wild duck, and is much esteemed. They have a purple head and silver breast, and are in season from September to May. The "Redhead" closely resembles in flavor the "Canvasback," and often is mistaken for it.

Salmi Of Duck Or Game

Cut the game into neat pieces; put them in the oven for five minutes to start the juices. Put in a saucepan one tablespoonful of. butter, one half pound of bacon or salt pork cut into dice, one tablespoonful each of chopped onion and carrot, twelve peppercorns, one saltspoonful each of salt, thyme, and sage, and any coarse pieces of the game. Cover with a greased paper and let cook to a glaze; then add a tablespoonful of flour, and let it brown; then two cupfuls of stock; simmer for thirty minutes; strain; add one quarter cupful of Madeira and the pieces of game; cover and let simmer another thirty minutes.

This dish needs long, slow cooking and careful watching. Garnish with croutons and truffles.

The truffles should be added to the salmi a few minutes before it is removed from the fire. If cooked game is used for the salmi, simmer for ten minutes only after the pieces are added to the sauce.