This section is from the book "The People's Cook Book", by Jennie Taylor. See also: Larousse Gastronomique.
A turkey weighing not more than eight or nine pounds (young) is the best. Wash and clean thoroughly, wiping dry, as moisture will spoil the stuffing. Take one small loaf of bread grated fine, rub into it a piece of butter the size of an egg, one small teaspoonful of pepper, and one of salt; sage, if liked. Rub all together, and fill only the breast of the turkey, sewing up so that the stuffing cannot cook out. Always put the giblets under the side of the fowl, so they will not dry up. Rub salt and pepper on the outside, put into the dripping-pan, with one teacupful of water, basting often, turning it till brown all over. Bake about three hours. Have left in the chopping-bowl a little stuffing, take out the giblets, and chop fine. After taking out the turkey put in a large tablespoonful of flour; stir until brown. Put the giblets into a gravy-boat, and pour over them the gravy.
Soak it in salt and water for an hour and a half, to make it white. Make the stuffing of bread crumbs and about half the quantity of suet, a little parsley, and a little lemon-peel, chopped fine. Scald the parsley, in order to have it green. Put all these in the breast. Tie lightly in cloth, and boil. A young turkey will boil in two hours; an older one will of course require a longer time. Garnish with parsley and lemon cut in shoes.
Stuff the turkey as for roasting. A very nice dressing is made by chopping half a pint of oysters, and mixing them with bread crumbs, butter, pepper, salt, thyme, and wet with milk or water. Baste about the turkey a thin cloth, the inside of which has been dredged with flour, and put it to boil in cold water with a teaspoonful of salt in it. Let a large turkey simmer for three hours; skim while boiling. Serve with oyster sauce, made by adding to a cupful of the liquor in which the turkey was boiled the same quantity of milk, and eight oysters chopped fine; season with minced parsley, stir in a spoonful of rice or wheat flour wet with cold milk; a tablespoonful of butter. Boil up once, and pour into a tureen.
For a ten-pound turkey take two pints of bread crumbs, half a tea-cupful of butter cut in bits (not melted), one teaspoonful of powdered thyme or summer savory, pepper, salt, and mix thoroughly. Rub the turkey well inside and out with salt and pepper, then fill with first a spoonful of crumbs, then a few well-drained oysters, using half a can for a turkey. Strain the oyster liquor, and use to baste the turkey. Cook the giblets in the pan, and chop fine for the gravy. A fowl of this size will require three hours in a moderate oven.
Pick the meat from the bones of cold turkey, and chop it fine. Put a layer of bread crumbs on the bottom of a buttered dish, moisten them with a little milk, then put in a layer of turkey with some of the filling, and cut small pieces of butter over the top; sprinkle with pepper and salt; then another layer of bread crumbs, and so on until the dish is nearly full; add a little hot water to the gravy left from the turkey, and pour over it; then take two eggs, two tablespoonfuls of milk, one of melted butter, a little salt, and cracker crumbs as much as will make it thick enough to spread on with a knife; put bits of butter over it, and cover with a plate. Bake three-quarters of an hour. About ten minutes before serving remove the plate, and let it brown.
Boil a large turkey in as little water as possible until the meat falls from the bones; remove all the bones and skin; pick the meat into small pieces, and mix dark and light together; season with pepper and salt; put into a mold and pour over it the liquor, which must bo kept warm, and press with a heavy weight.
 
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