Modern cookery for private families

Put it into plenty of _warm_ water, or into as much boiling water as will rise about an inch over it, and when it has quite boiled for ten minutes, cool it down by the addition of cold water, and then take out a portion of it, leaving only as much as will keep the bird thoroughly covered until it is ready for table.[87] Clear off the scum with the greatest care as it is thrown to the surface, and boil the bird _very gently_ from an hour and a half to two hours and a quarter. A very large turkey would require a longer time, but it is unsuited to this mode of cooking. When the oyster-forcemeat is used, a large tureen of rich oyster sauce should accompany the dish; but celery sauce, or good white sauce, may otherwise be sent to table with it; and a boiled tongue or a small ham is usually served in addition. For a plain family dinner, a delicate cheek of bacon is sometimes substituted for either of these, and parsley and butter for a more expensive sauce. _Fast boiling_ will cause the skin of the bird to break, and must therefore be especially avoided: it should hang for some days before it is dressed, for if quite freshly killed it will not be tender, but it must be _perfectly_ sweet to be fit for table. Truss the turkey by the directions of introductory chapter on trussing. Footnote 87: As we have elsewhere stated, all meat and fish are injured by being cooked in a much larger quantity of water than is absolutely required for them. Moderate-sized turkey, 1-1/2 to 2 hours; large turkey, longer; very small one, less time. TURKEY BONED AND FORCED. (_An excellent dish._) [Illustration: Cradle Spit. ] Take a small, well-kept, but quite sweet hen-turkey, of from seven to eight pounds weight, and remove, by the receipt for a fowl (page 265), all the bones except those of the pinions, without opening the bird; draw it into shape, and fill it entirely with exceedingly fine sausage meat, beginning with