Part 11
We have our delicate tit-bits in spitted larks, and as many as four thousand dozen have been known to be taken in the neighbourhood of Dunstable between September and February. What the number sold in our metropolitan markets is annually, it is impossible to say. But larks are taken in much larger numbers in Germany, where there is an excise upon them, which has yielded as much as £1,000 a year in Leipsic--the larks of which place are famous all over Germany as being of a most delicate flavour.
In the Italian markets, besides carrion crows, strings of thrushes, larks, and even robin redbreasts are sold.
Young rooks, when skinned and made into pies are much esteemed by some persons, but they are very coarse eating.
One of the most delicious birds is the rice-bunting of South Carolina (_Dolichonyx oryzivorus_).
The rice-bunting migrates over the continent of America, from Labrador to Mexico, and over the great Antilles, appearing in the southern extremity of the United States about the end of March. Towards the middle and close of August, they enter New York, and Pennsylvania on their way to the south. There, along the shores of the large rivers lined with floating fields of wild rice, they find abundant subsistence, grow fat, and their flesh becomes little inferior in flavour to that of the European ortolan, on which account the reed, or rice birds, as they are then called, are shot in great numbers. When the cool nights in October commence, they move still farther south, till they reach the islands of Jamaica and Cuba in prodigious numbers to feed on the seeds of the guinea grass. Epicures compare the plump and juicy flesh of this delicacy to the ortolan.
On the shores of the Mediterranean there are feathered delicacies in the shape of the quail and the ortolan. Thousands of ortolans used to be shipped from the island of Cyprus, packed in casks of 300 or 400, prepared with spice and vinegar. When specially fattened for the table, they are regarded as most delicious; but, being merely lumps of fat, are so rich as soon to satiate the appetite of even a professed gourmand. In the West India Islands and the Southern States of America, the rice-bunting, as we have seen, takes its place, and is, occasionally, found in prodigious numbers, and greatly esteemed.
The bluish flesh of the toucan, notwithstanding its enormous and unsightly beak, is a wholesome and delicate meat; and there are no birds that give the Trinidad epicure a more delicious morsel. It is one of the most omnivorous of birds, and its powers of digestion and impunity to poisons are remarkable.
Parrot pie is said to be pretty good; at least, it may be so when other animal food is scarce.
Among the GALLINACEOUS fowls, large numbers contribute to the food delicacies of man. Some, like the turkey, peacock, &c., of considerable size; others, as the pigeon tribe, form smaller tit-bits.
The game birds, the pheasant, partridge, grouse, &c., and the quail, guinea fowl, and jungle fowl, are bagged whenever they can be obtained by the sportsman.
The peacock enkakyll ‘was one of the famous dishes at the costly royal banquets of old, and the receipt for dressing it is thus given:--
‘Take and flay off the skin with the feathers, tail, and the neck and head thereon; then take the skin and all the feathers and lay it on the table abroad, and strew thereon ground cumin; then take the peacock and roast him, and baste him with raw yolks of eggs; and when he is roasted, take him off and let him cool awhile, then take him and sew him in his skin, and gild his comb, and so serve him forth with the last course.’
As far as my own experience goes, with all the basting and sauces, the peacock is, at best, a dry and tough eating bird.
The domestic fowls and the tame turkey require no notice here, there being nothing curious about them, however delicate eating they may be when properly fattened and brought to table; but there is a species of wild turkey found in New Granada, weighing from 12 to 16 lbs., and called the iowanen, which is described by Mr. W. Purdie of Trinidad as the most delicate article of food he ever tasted.
Dear as fowls, ducks, and eggs comparatively are, they meet, as every one knows, with a ready sale. When we find our imports of eggs, chiefly from France, amount to about 130,000,000 a year, besides our nominal ‘new laid,’ or home produce,--when we learn that the foreign poultry we receive (mixed up with not a few Ostend rabbits) is valued at 39,000_l._, and that Ireland supplies us with about 150,000,000 of eggs, we begin to perceive that fowls, ducks, geese, and turkeys must be a profitable investment to some persons, and the capital of about 4,000,000_l._ we lay out on these various products serves to gladden the heart of many a poultry breeder.
There are sent to market about nine or ten million head of poultry in a year to supply the whole population of the United Kingdom, shipping and all, which is not more than one-third of a fowl to each person annually. Now, were every one to have a fowl as part food once a month, it would require 330,000,000 more fowls or other poultry than are at present sold.
I copy the following from what I believe to be the first fixed tariff of provisions, in the City of London, about the second year of Edward I. (1272.) The people had at that time great cause to complain of the exorbitant prices demanded of them for provisions, by hucksters and dealers, and a fixed price was found necessary by the Mayor:--
The best hen three half-pence Pullet three half-pence Capon two pence Goose five pence Wild goose four pence Pigeons, three for one penny Mallard, three for a half-penny Plover one penny Partridge three half-pence Larks, per dozen one penny half-penny Pheasant four pence Heron six pence Swan three shillings Crane three shillings, and by a subsequent Act one shilling The best peacock one penny The best coney, with skin four pence Ditto, without skin three pence The best hare, with skin three pence half-penny The best lamb, from Christmas to Lent six pence At other times of the year four pence.
In the time of Edward II., 1313, eggs were 20 a penny, and pigeons sold at three for a penny.
It is curious, even to notice the London prices of poultry, two or three centuries ago, although regard must of course be had to the difference in the value of money now and then.
Sir James Hawes, during his mayoralty, in the year 1575, fixed the following prices within the City of London:--
_s._ _d._ Blackbirds, per dozen 0 10 The best capon, large and fat 1 8 Ditto, second best, being fat 1 4 The best green goose, until Whitsuntide 0 8 Ditto ditto, after Whitsuntide 0 10 Ditto, in winter, being fat 1 2 Pigeons, per dozen 1 4 Chickens, the largest, each 0 4 Ditto, second sort 0 3 The best coney rabbit, from and after the summer 0 5 Eggs, four 0 1 Cygnets, fat until Allhalloweentide, each 6 0 Ditto, from then to Shrovetide 7 0 Cranes, the best, each 6 0 The best heron, pheasant, shoveller (duck), and bittern, each 2 6 Turkey-cock, fat and large 3 0 Turkey chicken, fat and large 1 4 Woodcocks, each 0 6 Snipes, each 0 2½ Hens, being fat and the best, each 0 9 Ditto, second sort 0 7 Green plovers, fat 0 4 The best wild mallard 0 6 Teals, each 0 3
At a feast given at Ely House, by the serjeants-at-law, November, 1531, (23rd of Henry VIII.) on the occasion of making eleven new serjeants, open house was kept for five successive days. On the fourth day, King Henry, his Queen, the Foreign Ambassadors, the Judges, and Lord Mayor and Aldermen, were feasted, as also numerous guests, knights, and gentlemen. Stow particularizes the following articles and prices, in order to furnish _data_ for computing the relative value of money at different periods:--
_s._ _d._ Great beeves, from the shambles (twenty-four) each 26 8 One carcase of an ox 24 0 Fat muttons (one hundred), each 2 10 Great veals (fifty-one), each 4 8 Porks (thirty-four), each 3 8 Pigs (ninety-one), each 0 6 Capons of Greece (of one poulterer, for they had three) ten dozen, each capon 1 8 Capons of Kent (nine dozen and six), each 1 0 Capons, coarse (nineteen dozen), each 1 0 Cocks of grouse (seven dozen and nine), each cock 0 8 Cocks, coarse (fourteen dozen and eight) 0 3 Pullets, the best, each 0 2½ Other pullets, each 0 2 Pigeons (thirty-seven dozen), at per dozen 0 10 Swans (twenty-four dozen) no price Larks (340 dozen), per dozen 0 6
The consumption of liquids, pastry, and _trifles_, can easily be guessed at.
Here is an ancient receipt for making a Christmas game pie, found in the books of the Salter’s Company, which is presumed to have often furnished an annual treat to the members in the olden times; and when made after this receipt, by the Company’s cook in modern days, has been found to be excellent.
‘For to make a mooste choyce paaste of Gamys to be etin at ye Feste of Chrystemasse.
‘(17th Richard II., A.D. 1394.)
‘Take Fesaunt, Haare, and Chykenne, or Capounne, of eche oone; wᵗ. ij. Partruchis, ij. Pygeounes, and ij. Conynggys; and smyte hem on peces and pyke clene awaye p’fro (_therefrom_) alle pᵉ (_the_) boonys pᵗ (_that_) ye maye, and p’wt (_therewith_) do hem ynto a Foyle (_a shield or case_) of gode paste, made craftily ynne pᵉ lykenes of a byrde’s bodye, wᵗ pᵉ lyuours and hertys, ij. kydneis of shepe and farcys (_seasonings or forced meats_) and eyren (_eggs_) made ynto balles. Caste p’to (_thereto_) poudre of pepyr, salte, spyce, eysell,[14] and funges (_mushrooms_) pykled; and panne (_then_) take pᵉ boonys and let hem seethe ynne a pot to make a gode brothe p’ for (_for it_) and do yᵗ ynto pᵉ foyle of paste and close hit uppe faste, and bake yᵗ wel, and so s’ue (_serve_) yᵗ forthe: wt pᵉ hede of oone of pᵉ byrdes, stucke at pᵉ oone ende of pᵉ foyle, and a grete tayle at pᵉ op’ and dyvers of hys longe fedyrs sette ynne connynglye alle aboute hym.’
Marrow bones seem to have been in favour at an early date. 2,000 marrow bones were among the requisites for the Goldsmiths’ Company’s feast, on St. Dunstan’s day, 1449.
In the reign of Edward VI., 1548, a time of plague and scarcity, the king thought it prudent to fix the price of cattle, &c., sold in the several seasons of the year:--
£ _s._ _d._ The best fat ox, from Midsummer to Michaelmas, at 2 5 0 One of inferior sort 1 8 0 The best fat ox, from Hallowmas to Christmas 2 6 8 One of inferior sort 1 19 8 The best fat ox, from Christmas to Shrovetide 2 8 4 One of inferior sort 2 6 8 The best fat wether, from shearing time to Michaelmas 0 4 0 One of ditto, _shorn_ 0 3 0 The best fat ewe 0 2 6 One ditto, shorn 0 2 0 The best fat wether, from Michaelmas to Shrovetide 0 4 4 One ditto, _shorn_ 0 3 0 Essex barrelled butter, per pound 0 0 0¾ All sorts of other barrelled butter, per pound 0 0 0½ Essex cheese, per pound 0 0 0¾ All other sorts 0 0 0½
We are not quite such prodigious devourers of eggs as our French neighbours, having a greater amount of meat or solid animal food to fall back upon, and fewer fast days. Another reason is, that we cannot, like the French, get them so fresh and cheap; but as an alimentary substance, eggs are always in demand at a ratio proportionate to the prices at which they can be obtained. In Paris the consumption of eggs is at least 175 per annum to every head of the population; in the departments it is more than double that amount; eggs entering into almost every article of food, and butchers’ meat being scarce and dear. If we only use, in London, half the number of eggs the Parisians do, there must be a sale of about 173 millions a year; and the consumption throughout the kingdom would be fully 2,000 millions. Although smaller in size, and not equal to a new-laid egg, the French eggs arrive in pretty good condition, and, if sold off quickly, are well adapted for ordinary culinary purposes. Few are wasted, for even when not very fresh, they are sold for frying fish, and to the lower class of confectioners for pastry. Fried eggs, boiled eggs chopped up with salad, egg sauce for fish, &c., eggs for puddings, for omelets, and pancakes, all contribute to the sale. Omelets, sweet or flavoured with herbs, are much less patronized in this country than they are in France.
The sixty wholesale egg merchants and salesmen in the metropolis, whose itinerant carts are kept constantly occupied in distributing their brittle ware, might probably enlighten us as to the extent and increasing character of the trade, and the remunerative nature of the profits. Railways and steamers bring up large crates, and carefully packed boxes of eggs, for the ravenous maws of young and old, who fatten on this dainty and easily digested food. The various city markets dispose of two millions of fowls, one million of game birds, half a million of ducks, and about one hundred and fifty thousand turkeys, every year. But even if we doubled this supply, what would it be among the three million souls of the great metropolis requiring daily food.
Ireland and the continent contribute largely to our supply of poultry and eggs. Immense pens of poultry, purchased in the Irish market, are shipped by the steamers to Glasgow and Liverpool. Commerce owes much to the influence of steam, but agriculture is no less indebted to the same power. Taking everything into account, and examining all the advantages derived by cheap and rapid transit, the manufacturer of food is quite as much indebted to the steam-ship and the locomotive as the manufacturer of clothing.
There is no difficulty whatever in testing eggs; they are mostly examined by a candle. Another way to tell good eggs is to put them in a pail of water, and if they are good they will _lie on their sides_, always; if bad, they will stand on their small ends, the large ends always uppermost, unless they have been shaken considerably, when they will stand either end up. Therefore, a bad egg can be told by the way it rests in water--always end up, never on its side. Any egg that lies flat is good to eat, and can be depended upon.
An ordinary mode is to take them into a room moderately dark and hold them between the eye and a candle or lamp. If the egg be good--that is, if the albumen is still unaffected--the light will shine through with a reddish glow; while, if affected, it will be opaque, or dark.
In Fulton and Washington market, New York, a man may be seen testing eggs at almost any time of the year. He has a tallow candle placed under a counter or desk, and taking up the eggs, three in each hand, passes them rapidly before the candle, and deposits them in another box. His practised eye quickly perceives the least want of clearness in the eggs, and suspicious ones are re-examined and thrown away, or passed into a ‘doubtful’ box. The process is so rapid that eggs are inspected perfectly at the rate of 100 to 200 per minute, or as fast as they can be shifted from one box to another, six at a time.
The preservation of eggs for use on ship board has always occupied a large share of attention. They have been usually smeared with oil or grease, and packed in bran or sawdust. A plan recommended by M. Appert for preserving eggs is to put them in a jar with bran, to prevent their breaking; cork and hermetically seal the jar; and put it into a vessel of water, heated to 200 degrees Fahrenheit, or 12 degrees below boiling. The vessel with water being taken from the fire, the water must cool till the finger may be borne in it; then remove the jar. The eggs may then be taken out, and will keep for six months.
Salted ducks’ eggs are an article in great demand in some parts of the East, for transport by the trading junks. The Malays salt them as they do their meat; but the Chinese mix a red unctuous earth with the brine, which no doubt stops the pores of the shell, and preserves them better. They are put into this mixture at night, and taken out during the day to be dried in the sun, which is, in fact, a half roasting process in a tropical climate.
Pickled eggs, while they constitute a somewhat novel feature in the catalogue of condiments, are at the same time particularly relishing. When eggs are plentiful, farmers’ wives, in some localities, take four to six dozen of such as are newly laid, and boil them hard; then, divesting them of the shells, they place them in large-mouthed earthen jars, and pour upon them scalded vinegar, well seasoned with whole pepper, allspice, ginger, and a few cloves of garlic. When this pickle is cold, the jars are closed, and the eggs are fit for use in a month afterwards. Eggs thus treated are held in high esteem by all the farm-house epicures.
Fowls’ eggs, variously coloured, and having flowers and other matters upon them, formed by the colouring matter being picked off so as to expose the white shell of the egg, are a part of all the Malay entertainments in Borneo. The eggs eaten by the Dyaks are frequently nearly hatched when taken from the nest, as they enjoy them just as well as when fresh.
An article called ‘condensed egg’ is now sold in the shops. It consists of the whole substance of the fresh uncooked egg, very delicately and finely granulated by patent processes, after the watery particles, which the egg naturally contains, have been completely exhausted and withdrawn, without further alteration of its constituents. It contains all the nutritious properties of the egg in its natural state, and must be valuable to shipmasters, emigrants, and others. One ounce of it is said to be equal to three eggs.
The ancient Romans, though not great beef-eaters, were particular as to poultry. Dr. Daubeny, in his _Lectures on Roman Husbandry_, says--‘The ancient Romans had large preserves, not only of poultry and pigeons, but even of thrushes and quails enclosed in pens which were called ‘ornithones,’ from which they could draw their supply for the table at pleasure. We are told, indeed, of two sorts of ornithones, the one merely aviaries stocked with birds for the amusement of the proprietor; the other kind, constructed with a view to profit, which were often of vast extent, to supply the demands of the Roman market for such articles of luxury. In the Sabine country particularly, we read of extensive pens, filled with birds for the latter purpose. For thrushes alone there were large rooms provided, each capable of holding several thousand birds. As they were put in to be fattened, the place had only just light enough to enable the birds to see their food, but there was a good supply of fresh water accessible. And I may remark that, whilst nothing is said by the Roman writers about the fattening of oxen and sheep, particular directions are given for fattening poultry and other birds--a strong additional argument of the little importance they attached to the larger animals as articles of food.’
The following may be enumerated as the sportsman’s game in Jamaica:--
1. The pintado, or wild guinea fowl (_Numida Meleagris_), a bird now domesticated in our poultry-yards. In its wild state the flesh is considered by many persons to equal that of the pheasant.
2. The quail (_Perdix coturnix_).
3. Wild pigeons, namely, ring-tail, bald-pate, pea-dove, white-breast, white-wing, mountain-witch, ground dove, and red-legged partridge.
4. Snipe (_Scolopax gallinago_).
5. Wild duck, or mallard (_Anas boschas_).
6. Gray, or Gadwall duck (_Anas strepera_).
7. The common teal (_Anas crecca_), the flesh of which was so much prized by the Roman epicures, and is still in request for the table.
8. Widgeon (_Anas Penelope_).
9. Gray and ring plover (_Charadrius minor_, and _hiaticula_).
If we are out shooting in Canada we may easily add to our mess the ruffled grouse (_Tetrao umbellus_), although these, like many other birds, are partridges with the settlers--this variety being termed the birch partridge. Another species, the spruce partridge of the colonists (_T. Canadensis_), is less palatable, for, unfortunately, it has a habit of feeding upon laurel leaves. But here is something to make amends--a fine Esquimaux curlew, as large as an English partridge, and a mud-sucker, _id est_ snipe.
Let me note a Canadian receipt for cooking a partridge, which may be useful to sportsmen and travellers:--
‘Expedition is the maxim of all sylvan cookery, and as plucking the feathers of a partridge would be too great a tax on the time and patience of the voyageur, the method most in vogue is to run your hunting knife round his throat and ancles and down his breast, when, taking a leg in each hand, and pressing your thumb into his back, you pop him out of his skin, as you would a pea from its pod. Then make a spread-eagle of him on a forked twig, the other extremity of which is thrust into the ground, and after wrapping a rasher of bacon around his neck and under his wings, as ladies wear a scarf, you incline him to the fire, turning the spit in the ground, and you will have a result such as Soyer might be proud of. When your other avocations will not afford time even for the skinning process, an alternative mode is to make a paste of ashes and water, and roll up your bird therein, with the feathers, and all the appurtenances thereof, and thrust the performance in the fire. In due time, on breaking the cemented shell (which is like a sugared almond), the feathers, skin, &c., adhere to it, and then you have the pure kernel of poultry within.’
The red-legged partridge is common in the Greek islands, on the continent of Asia, and in the southern countries of Europe. In some of the Cyclades, where the inhabitants are too poor to expend money on powder, they chase the birds on foot, till they are so wearied, as to be easily taken with the hand.