MANAGEMENT OF FOWLS. 77 



or two's sunning, they were returned to the coops : no blind- 

 ness was known there." 



We may observe that a temperature which feels cool in 

 Bengal, would be thought warm here; and that, in this 

 country of rapid digestion, a single meal a day is insufficient 

 to fatten Fowls. It is a great point to keep them without 

 food the first twenty-four hours they are shut up, allowing 

 them to have drink only. If food be offered to them as soon 

 as they are deprived of liberty, they will sulk and refuse it, 

 and, perhaps, be several days before they feed heartily; but, 

 if they be starved till they feel a craving appetite, hunger will 

 overcome their sullenness, and they will afterwards greedily 

 devour their allowance. 



The oldest and toughest Fowls may be made into a savoury 

 and nutritious dish by the following method, which is given 

 as a tried and warranted recipe, because such birds are so often 

 pronounced uneatable, thrown away, and wasted. 



When the Fowl is plucked and drawn, joint it as for a pie. 

 Do not skin it. Stew it five hours in a close sauce-pan, with 

 salt, mace, onions, or any other flavouring ingredients that 

 may be approved : a clove of garlic may be added where it is 

 not utterly disliked. When tender, turn it out into a deep 

 dish so that the meat may be entirely covered with the liquor. 

 Let it stand thus in its own jelly for a day or two (this is the 

 grand secret) ; it may then be served in the shape of a curry, 

 a hash, or a pie, and will be found little inferior to pheasant 

 under similar circumstances. 



The cookery of the middle ages abounded in practical jokes. 

 Here is a very witty one with a Chicken. "If you wish a 

 Chicken to jump in the dish, take/' says Albertus Magnus, 

 " quicksilver, and powder of calaminth, and pour them into a 

 glass bottle, seal it, and put it inside the hot Chicken : for as 

 the quicksilver gets warm, it moves itself, and will make the 

 chicken jump." The brilliancy of this trick is only to be 



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