The taste for this meat is certainly an acquired one, but there is much to recommend • the cultivation of it, since venison is one of the most easily digested of meats. The meat should be of fine grain and nicely covered with fat. If the venison is young, the hoof will be but slightly opened; if old, the hoof will be wide open. Venison, like all game, is not usually fat enough, and is always enriched by larding, or by placing slices of fat salt pork or bacon over it. The fat and juices are sometimes kept in by a thick layer of flour paste. Venison should always be well wiped before cooking, as the hairs are often found clinging to the meat.

Roast Leg Of Venison

Wipe carefully, and draw off the dry skin. Lard the lean side of the leg ; then soften a quarter of a cupful of butter, rub it over the meat, and dredge with salt, pepper and flour. Lay the leg on the rack in the baking-pan, sprinkle the bottom of the pan with flour, place it in a very hot oven, and watch carefully until the flour in the pan is browned, which should be in five minutes. Add boiling water to cover the bottom of the pan, and after roasting fifteen minutes, baste the venison well, and repeat the basting every fifteen minutes until the meat is done, renewing the water in the pan as often as necessary. Should the meat be liked very rare, allow for a ten-pound roast, an hour and a-quarter of cooking; but most tastes require at least fifteen minutes longer than that. Serve with a gravy made from the juices in the bottom of the pan, the same as that for roast beef, sending the gravy to table in a gravy-boat. Always serve currant jelly with venison. The oven must be very hot the first half-hour, and after that the heat may be lessened somewhat.

The Saddle Of Venison

The saddle is, perhaps, the most distinguished cut of venison and is roasted the same as the leg.

Venison Steaks

These are broiled rare the same as beefsteak.

Rolled Venison

This is made the same as stuffed beefsteak.

Game should not be kept too long.

Venison may be hung three weeks in cold weather, but birds should rarely be hung longer than one week. If birds are to be kept many days, draw but do not pick them, place a piece of charcoal in the body, and sift powdered charcoal into the feathers.