Hand-Book of Practical Cookery, for Ladies and Professional Cooks: Containing the Whole Science and Art of Preparing Human Food

that it was a skunk, the very name of which is repulsive. The following week we dined with the farmer, ate some of that identical skunk, and found it very good. _How to cook the above-named Animals._--Take out the leaves of sage, etc., which you put in the animal before exposing it to the weather. Pound well the liver and heart with about the same quantity of bacon, then mix that with two or three teaspoonfuls of chopped parsley, a pinch of grated nutmeg, salt, and pepper; stuff the animal with that mixture, and also with six small onions fried in butter, and a bunch of seasoning composed of four sprigs of parsley, three of thyme, two cloves, two cloves of garlic, and two bay-leaves, and sew it up again. Butter it well all over, place it on a spit before a very quick fire; put three or four sage-leaves in the dripping-pan, and baste often with the drippings. Serve it when cooked with the gravy, throwing away the sage-leaves. It may also be served with a _Mayonnaise_, _ravigote_, or _Tartar_ sauce. _Squirrel._--A squirrel is prepared as a rabbit in every particular. VENISON. If young, the hoof is not much opened, and the fat is thick and clear; when old, the hoofs are wide open. To know if it is fresh enough, run a knife or a skewer through the leg or through the shoulder, and if it does not smell bad and stale, it is good. It is not as delicate when fresh as when it has been killed for five or six days. If fresh when you buy it, keep it from three to eight days before cooking it. _To improve._--Put the piece of venison in a crockery vessel. For about six pounds put a pint of vinegar in a saucepan with two bay-leaves, two cloves, two cloves of garlic, one onion sliced, two stalks of thyme, four of parsley, and twelve pepper-corns; set it on the fire, give one boil, and turn over the piece of venison. Turn the piece of meat over occasionally for one or