Part 110 (1/2)

THE COCHIN-CHINA.--About fifteen years ago, the arrival of this distinguished Asiatic created in England as great a sensation as might be expected from the landing of an invading host. The first pair that ever made their appearance here were natives of Shanghai, and were presented to the queen, who exhibited them at the Dublin poultry-show of 1818. Then began the ”Cochin”

_furor_. As soon as it was discovered, despite the most strenuous endeavours to keep the tremendous secret, that a certain dealer was possessed of a pair of these birds, straightway the avenues to that dealer's shop were blocked by broughams, and chariots, and hack cabs, until the shy poulterer had been tempted by a sufficiently high sum to part with his treasure. Bank-notes were exchanged for Cochin chicks, and Cochin eggs were in as great demand as though they had been laid by the fabled golden goose. The reign of the Cochin China was, however, of inconsiderable duration. The bird that, in 1847, would fetch thirty guineas, is now counted but ordinary chicken-meat, and its price is regulated according to its weight when ready for the spit. As for the precious buff eggs, against which, one time of day, guineas were weighed,--send for sixpenn'orth at the cheesemonger's, and you will get at least five; which is just as it should be. For elegance of shape or quality of flesh, the Cochin cannot for a moment stand comparison with our handsome dunghill; neither can the indescribable mixture of growling and braying, peculiar to the former, vie with the musical trumpeting of our own morning herald: yet our poultry-breeders have been immense gainers by the introduction of the ungainly celestial, inasmuch as _new blood_ has been infused into the English chicken family. Of this incalculable advantage we may be sure; while, as to the Cochin's defects, they are certain to be lost in the process of ”cross and cross” breeding.

BOILED FOWLS A LA BECHAMEL.

943. INGREDIENTS.--A pair of fowls, 1 pint of Bechamel, No, 367, a few bunches of boiled brocoli or cauliflower.

_Mode_.--Truss and boil the fowls by recipe No. 938; make a pint of Bechamel sauce by recipe No. 367; pour some of this over the fowls, and the remainder send to table in a tureen. Garnish the dish with bunches of boiled cauliflowers or brocoli, and serve very hot. The sauce should be made sufficiently thick to adhere to the fowls; that for the tureen should be thinned by adding a spoonful or two of stock.

_Time_.--From 1/2 to 1 hour, according to size.

_Average cost_, in full season, 5s. a pair.

_Sufficient_ for 6 or 7 persons.

_Seasonable_ all the year, but scarce in early spring.

s.p.a.cE FOR FOWLS.--We are no advocates for converting the domestic fowl into a cage-bird. We have known amateur fowl-keepers--worthy souls, who would b.u.t.ter the very barley they gave their pets, if they thought they would the more enjoy it--coop up a male bird and three or four hens in an ordinary egg-chest placed on its side, and with the front closely barred with iron hooping! This system will not do. Every animal, from man himself to the guinea-pig, must have what is vulgarly, but truly, known as ”elbow-room;” and it must be self-evident how emphatically this rule applies to winged animals. It may be urged, in the case of domestic fowls, that from constant disuse, and from clipping and plucking, and other sorts of maltreatment, their wings can hardly be regarded as instruments of flight; we maintain, however, that you may pluck a fowl's wing-joints as bare as a pumpkin, but you will not erase from his memory that he is a fowl, and that his proper sphere is the open air. If he likewise reflects that he is an ill-used fowl--a prison-bird--he will then come to the conclusion, that there is not the least use, under such circ.u.mstances, for his existence; and you must admit that the decision is only logical and natural.

BOILED FOWL, with Oysters.

(_Excellent_.)

944. INGREDIENTS.--1 young fowl, 3 dozen oysters, the yolks of 2 eggs, 1/4 pint of cream.

_Mode_.--Truss a young fowl as for boiling; fill the inside with oysters which have been bearded and washed in their own liquor; secure the ends of the fowl, put it into a jar, and plunge the jar into a saucepan of boiling water. Keep it boiling for 1-1/2 hour, or rather longer; then take the gravy that has flowed from the oysters and fowl, of which there will be a good quant.i.ty; stir in the cream and yolks of eggs, add a few oysters scalded in their liquor; let the sauce get quite _hot_, but do not allow it to _boil;_ pour some of it over the fowl, and the remainder send to table in a tureen. A blade of pounded mace added to the sauce, with the cream and eggs, will be found an improvement.

_Time_.--1-1/2 hour. Average cost, 4s. 6d.

_Sufficient_ for 3 or 4 persons.

_Seasonable_ from September to April.

THE FOWL-HOUSE.--In building a fowl-house, take care that it be, if possible, built against a wall or fence that faces the _south_, and thus insure its inmates against many cold winds, driving rains, and sleets they will otherwise suffer. Let the floor of the house slope half an inch to the foot from back to front, so as to insure drainage; let it also be close, hard, and perfectly smooth; so that it may be cleanly swept out. A capital plan is to mix a few bushels of chalk and dry earth, spread it over the floor, and pay a paviour's labourer a trifle to hammer it level with his rammer. The fowl-house should be seven feet high, and furnished with perches at least two feet apart. The perches must be level, and not one above the other, or unpleasant consequences may ensue to the undermost row. The perches should be ledged (not fixed--just dropped into sockets, that they may be easily taken out and cleaned) not lower than five feet from the ground, convenient slips of wood being driven into the wall, to render the ascent as easy as possible. The front of the fowl-house should be latticed, taking care that the interstices be not wide enough even to tempt a chick to crawl through. Nesting-boxes, containing soft hay, and fitted against the walls, so as to be easily reached by the perch-ladder, should be supplied. It will be as well to keep by you a few portable doors, so that you may hang one before the entrance to a nesting-box, when the hen goes in to sit. This will prevent other hens from intruding, a habit to which some are much addicted.

FRICa.s.sEED FOWL OR CHICKEN (an Entree).

945. INGREDIENTS.--2 small fowls or 1 large one, 3 oz. of b.u.t.ter, a bunch of parsley and green onions, 1 clove, 2 blades of mace, 1 shalot, 1 bay-leaf, salt and white pepper to taste, 1/4 pint of cream, the yolks of 3 eggs.

_Mode_.--Choose a couple of fat plump chickens, and, after drawing, singeing, and was.h.i.+ng them, skin, and carve them into joints; blanch these in boiling water for 2 or 3 minutes; take them out, and immerse them in cold water to render them white. Put the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, with the necks and legs, into a stewpan; add the parsley, onions, clove, mace, shalot, bay-leaf, and a seasoning of pepper and salt; pour to these the water that the chickens were blanched in, and simmer gently for rather more than 1 hour. Have ready another stewpan; put in the joints of fowl, with the above proportion of b.u.t.ter; dredge them with flour, let them get hot, but do not brown them much; then moisten the frica.s.see with the gravy made from the tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, &c., and stew very gently for 1/2 hour.

Lift the fowl into another stewpan, skim the sauce, reduce it quickly over the fire, by letting it boil fast, and strain it over them. Add the cream, and a seasoning of pounded mace and cayenne; let it boil up, and when ready to serve, stir to it the well-beaten yolks of 3 eggs: these should not be put in till the last moment, and the sauce should be made _hot_, but must _not boil_, or it will instantly curdle. A few b.u.t.ton-mushrooms stewed with the fowl are by many persons considered an improvement.

_Time_.--1 hour to make the gravy, 1/2 hour to simmer the fowl.

_Average cost_, 5s. the pair.

_Sufficient_.--1 large fowl for one entree.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

STOCKING THE FOWL-HOUSE.--Take care that the birds with which you stock your house are _young_. The surest indications of old age are fading of the comb and gills from brilliant red to a dingy brick-colour, general paleness of plumage, brittleness of the feathers, length and size of the claws, and the scales of the legs and feet a.s.suming a ragged and _corny_ appearance. Your c.o.c.k and hens should be as near two years old as possible. Hens will lay at a year old, but the eggs are always insignificant in size, and the layers giddy and unsteady sitters. The hen-bird is in her prime for breeding at three years old, and will continue so, under favourable circ.u.mstances, for two years longer; after which she will decline. Crowing hens, and those that have large combs, are generally looked on with mistrust; but this is mere silliness and superst.i.tion--though it is possible that a spruce young c.o.c.k would as much object to a spouse with such peculiar addictions, as a young fellow of our own species would to a damsel who whistled and who wore whiskers. Fowls with yellow legs should be avoided; they are generally of a tender const.i.tution, loose-fleshed, and of indifferent flavour.