There is an old proverb which says that turkey boiled is turkey spoiled, but in this couplet there is more rhyme than reason, as a boiled turkey forms a dainty dish most acceptable to persons with delicate stomachs, who fear the richness of the roasted bird, and also presents an agreeable change to those who during the Christmas festivities are tired of having roasted turkey constantly set before them. A boiled turkey is prepared as follows: - Take a plump hen turkey which has hung for five or six days (weather permitting), pluck, singe, and draw it, fill it with veal forcemeat (see Veal Stuffing), truss it for boiling, and remember to draw the legs into the body, and bind it securely with tape. Rub it over thoroughly, especially the breast, with slices of cut lemon. The lemon must be hard and acid. Put it into an oval pan with hot water, or still better, stock, just sufficient to cover it, and put with it a teaspoonful of salt, a carrot, an onion stuck with four cloves, a dozen peppercorns, a few sticks of celery, and a bunch of parsley. Bring it slowly to the boil, skim the liquor carefully, and let it simmer very gently until the turkey is tender. Take it up, drain it for a moment, serve on a hot dish, pour a little melted butter or, better still, some good rich white sauce (see White Sauce) over it, and send either parsley and butter, celery sauce, oyster sauce, Dutch sauce, or even good melted butter flavoured with horse-radish, to table with it. A small ham, boiled, a red tongue, or a good cheek of bacon, are all suitable accompaniments to boiled turkey, and the dish containing it may be garnished with bacon and sliced tongue, or with sliced lemon and parsley.

Do not put the turkey in a floured cloth - this is a great mistake - but skim the stock carefully. Recollect, it must not boil, but simmer only. (See No. 1).

Time, for a turkey weighing fifteen pounds, two and a half hours to simmer, after the water has come to the boil. (See Oyster Sauce, Parsley and Butter Sauce, Dutch Sauce, Celery Sauce).

Carving Of Turkey

The breast of a turkey is so large, that slices taken neatly from it and from the wings generally suffice for all. They should be taken from each side alternately, beginning close to the wings, and a little forcemeat and a small portion of liver should be served to each guest. When it is necessary for the legs to be used, they should be separated from the body with a sharp knife and cut in slices, but it should be remembered that they, with the gizzard, will make an excellent devil.

TURKEY, ROAST, TO CARVE.

How To Re-Dress Cold Turkey

A cold turkey can be turned to account in a variety of ways, and, indeed a very good dinner can be given from dishes made from the remains of a cold roast turkey alone.

First cut all the meat from the bones, and begin dinner with some white soup made from the bones. (See White Soup.) Some patties can be made from some of the white flesh of the turkey (see Patties; see Fowl, Minced), and also some nice thin slices of white meat from the breast can be made into a nice mayonnaise salad. (See Salad, Mayonnaise.) The scraping of the bones will make an excellent dish of mince, on which some poached eggs can be placed. (See Mince.) Another entree can be made by making some turkey rissoles. (See Bissoles.) Some of the turkey can be minced, and mixed with some liver forcemeat, and some fat of the turkey can be picked out and mixed with it too; add a very little port-wine dregs to this mixture. Make hot in some paper cases like cups, and warm in the oven. They will taste like game pie. The two drumsticks can be devilled (see Turkey Drumsticks, Devilled), and would make a good finish to a capital dinner.

Devilled Turkey Drumsticks

Score the drumsticks down parallel with the bone, and insert in the slices thus made, with a knife, a mixture of x one ounce of butter, a brimming teaspoonful of French mustard, a saltspoonful of cayenne (or less), and a saltspoonful of black pepper. Mix all this thoroughly together, and spread the mixture in the slices cut in the meat; then rub the two drumsticks with butter, and grill them over a fierce fire.