CHAPTER IX.
BAKING.
Some joints of meat bake to advantage. It is convenient, occasionally, to send the dinner out to be cooked, and the meat which suffers least from such cookery ought to be selected; veal is good baked, so is pork, a sucking pig, a goose, and a duck; but not mutton. Some pieces of beef bake well, with peeled potatoes under to catch the gravy, and brown. Some sorts of fish also bake well. (See Fish in the Index.)
Breast, Loin, Fillet, or Shoulder of Veal.
The two last stuffed with forcemeat; put the joint on a stand in a deep baking dish, and stick bits of butter over the top. The heat of the oven strong, but not fierce. Baste often; when nearly done, sprinkle salt over, and ten minutes before it is taken out, dredge with flour.
Pig.
Put it in a shallow baking dish, wrap the ears and tail in buttered paper; send a good sized piece of butter tied in muslin, for the baker to rub over it frequently.
Goose and Duck.
Prepare as for roasting: put them on a stand, and turn them when half done.—Wild Goose the same, with a piece of suet inside.
Ham.
Boil it till half done, then cover it with a paste of flour and water, and set it in an oven, hot enough for bread, till you think it done.
Ox Cheek.
Cover with a strong seasoning of pepper, salt, and minced onion. Bake three or four hours, according to its size, then set it by till next day, take off the fat, and warm it as you want it. A Shin of beef in the same way.
Hare and Rabbit.
Prepare as for roasting, and baste it constantly with butter. The stuffing should be rich.
A Fawn.
Put a caul over and set it in the oven; about a quarter of an hour before it is done, take off the caul and baste well with butter. It will bake in the same time that a pig requires.
Meat pies require the oven to be as hot as for joints of meat, yet they should not be scorched. They also require time to soak through, or the meat will not be done.
Fish pies require half an hour less baking than the same sized meat pies.
Great nicety is required in baking fruit pies and light pastry. All these ought to be baked at home; when the precise heat of the oven, required, may be attained, which it rarely can be at the bakehouse. Pastry suffers, too, in being exposed to the air on its way to the oven; and it ought not to wait long before it is baked.
Pork.
Any joint will bake well. It must be scored. Rub it over with oil, or stick bits of butter all over it. Put it on a stand, and put peeled potatoes under it; also, you may put onions and apples. Sprinkle dry sage over, before you serve it. Stuff the pork, or not, as you choose.