Truss the turkey for roasting. Stuff' it with some good veal forcemeat. (See Veal Stuffing.) Cover the turkey with very thin slices of fat bacon, and cover these with some buttered or oiled paper, tying them on with thread. The turkey should be entirely surrounded. Roast before a good fierce fire, or in a fairly fierce oven. (See No. 3 and No. 4.) About half an hour before you serve, take off the paper and bacon, but do not be anxious about browning the breast before the fire: you will too often dry the flesh and spoil it, in order to make it " look nice." Have ready a little thick rich glaze. (See Glaze.) Paint the breast with this, and colour the bird wherever it wants it. Serve some pork sausages, which can be cooked in the pan with it; and boiled ham or bacon, hot. Send some good, hot, rich, brown gravy to table with it in a tureen, and another of bread sauce. (See Bread Sauce.) Of course the breast should be slightly browned by being basted with butter and held near the fire. But don't overdo this: trust to the glaze. (See Glaze).

Time to roast a turkey weighing fifteen pounds, three hours and a half; to bake, rather under three hours. One weighing ten pounds, to roast, two hours and a half; to bake, about two hours. A small turkey, six pounds, about one hour and a quarter. Remember, you must allow less time if you don't surround the turkey with bacon-fat.

The chief fault with roast turkey is that it is so often spoilt by being over-cooked, and all the outside meat hardened.

Turkey Trussed For Boiling

Pluck, singe, and draw the bird, and be particularly careful not to break the gall-bladder, which adheres to the liver, for if any of the gall touches the bird it will impart a bitter taste to it. Cut off the head and neck, and leave sufficient skin to turn and sew over the back. After the forcemeat is put into the breast, cut off the legs at the first joint, draw the upper legs into the body, and make a slit for the stumps to go in. Break and flatten the breastbone, and also break the back-bone, that the bird may lie flat on the dish. Truss firmly, to make it look as plump and round as possible. Turn the pinions with the points over the back, and fasten the liver (freed from gall) under one pinion, and the gizzard (washed and skinned) under the other. Skewer the apron over the nose, and pass string firmly round the body, fasten it to the skewers, and tie it in the middle of the back.

Turkey Trussed For Roasting

Pluck and singe the bird, and in drawing it preserve the liver and gizzard. Cut off the feet, and draw out the strings or sinews from the thighs - there are five or six in each leg. Place three or four folds of cloth on the high breast-bone, and break and flatten it with a rolling-pin to make the bird look plump. Cut off the head and neck close to the body, and before doing so push back the skin of the neck so that sufficient may be left on to turn over the back. Hold the legs in boiling water for a minute or two, and afterwards peel off the rough dirty skin. Fill the breast with forcemeat, and sew the neck over the back. Press the legs close to the breast, and pass a skewer through them and the body. Turn the points of the wings over the back, skewer them through the body, and put the liver under one pinion and the gizzard under the other. Cut a slit in the apron, and put the nose through. Pass a string over the back of the bird, put it firmly round the skewers, and tie it in the middle. Tie a buttered paper over the breast, and be very careful to truss the bird firmly. The liver of the turkey must be freed from gall and covered with a buttered paper, or it will be dry and hard. The gizzard must be carefully cleansed - as it contains stones - skinned and washed, seasoned with pepper and salt, and, like the liver, guarded from the heat by buttered paper.