flour.
_Mode_.--Choose a haunch with clear, bright, and thick fat, and the
cleft of the hoof smooth and close; the greater quantity of fat there
is, the better quality will the meat be. As many people object to
venison when it has too much _haut goût_, ascertain how long it has been
kept, by running a sharp skewer into the meat close to the bone; when
this is withdrawn, its sweetness can be judged of. With care and
attention, it will keep good a fortnight, unless the weather is very
mild. Keep it perfectly dry by wiping it with clean cloths till not the
least damp remains, and sprinkle over powdered ginger or pepper, as a
preventative against the fly. When required for use, wash it in warm
water, and _dry_ it _well_ with a cloth; butter a sheet of white paper,
put it over the fat, lay a coarse paste, about 1/2 inch in thickness,
over this, and then a sheet or two of strong paper. Tie the whole firmly
on to the haunch with twine, and put the joint down to a strong close
fire; baste the venison immediately, to prevent the paper and string
from burning, and continue this operation, without intermission, the
whole of the time it is cooking. About 20 minutes before it is done,
carefully remove the paste and paper, dredge the joint with flour, and
baste well with _butter_ until it is nicely frothed, and of a nice
pale-brown colour; garnish the knuckle-bone with a frill of white paper,
and serve with a good, strong, but unflavoured gravy, in a tureen, and
currant jelly; or melt the jelly with a little port wine, and serve that
also in a tureen. As the principal object in roasting venison is to
preserve the fat, the above is the best mode of doing so where expense
is not objected to; but, in ordinary cases, the paste may be dispensed
with, and a double paper placed over the roast instead: it will not
require so long cooking without the paste. Do not omit to send very hot
plates to table, as the venison fat so soon freezes: to be thoroughly
enjoyed by epicures, it should be eaten on hot-water plates. The neck
and shoulder may be roasted in the same manner.
[Illustration: ROAST HAUNCH OF VENISON.]
_Time_.--A large haunch of buck venison, with the paste, 4 to 5 hours;
haunch of doe venison, 3-1/4 to 3-3/4 hours. Allow less time without the
paste.
_Average cost_, 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. per lb.
_Sufficient_ for 18 persons.
_Seasonable_.--Buck venison in greatest perfection from June to
Michaelmas; doe venison from November to the end of January.
THE DEER.--This active tribe of animals principally inhabit wild
and woody regions. In their contentions, both with each other
and the rest of the brute creation, these animals not only use
their horns, but strike very furiously with their fore feet.
Some of the species are employed as beasts of draught, whilst
the flesh of the whole is wholesome, and that of some of the
kinds, under the name of "venison," is considered very
delicious. Persons fond of hunting have invented peculiar terms
by which the objects of their pursuit are characterized: thus
the stag is called, the first year, a _calf_, or _hind-calf_;
the second, a _knobber_; the third, a _brock_; the fourth, a
_staggard_; the fifth, a _stag_; and the sixth, a _hart_. The
female is, the first year, called a _calf_; the second, a
_hearse_; and the third, a _hind_. In Britain, the stag has
become scarcer than it formerly was; but, in the Highlands of
Scotland, herds of four or five hundred may still be seen,
ranging over the vast mountains of the north; and some of the
stags of a great size. In former times, the great feudal
chieftains used to hunt with all the pomp of eastern sovereigns,
assembling some thousands of their clans, who drove the deer
into the toils, or to such stations as were occupied by their
chiefs. As this sport, however, was occasionally used as a means
for collecting their vassals together for the purpose of
concocting rebellion, an act was passed prohibitory of such
assemblages. In the "Waverley" of Sir Walter Scott, a
deer-hunting scene of this kind is admirably described.
VENISON.--This is the name given to the flesh of some kinds of
deer, and is esteemed as very delicious. Different species of
deer are found in warm as well as cold climates, and are in
several instances invaluable to man. This is especially the case
with the Laplander, whose reindeer constitutes a large
proportion of his wealth. There--
"The reindeer unharness'd in freedom can play,
And safely o'er Odin's steep precipice stray,
Whilst the wolf to the forest recesses may fly,
And howl to the moon as she glides through the sky."
In that country it is the substitute for the horse, the cow, the
goat, and the sheep. From its milk is produced cheese; from its
skin, clothing; from its tendons, bowstrings and thread; from
its horns, glue; from its bones, spoons; and its flesh furnishes
food. In England we have the stag, an animal of great beauty,
and much admired. He is a native of many parts of Europe, and is
supposed to have been originally introduced into this country
from France. About a century back he was to be found wild in
some of the rough and mountainous parts of Wales, as well as in
the forests of Exmoor, in Devonshire, and the woods on the banks
of the Tamar. In the middle ages the deer formed food for the
not over abstemious monks, as represented by Friar Tuck's
larder, in the admirable fiction of "Ivanhoe;" and at a later
period it was a deer-stealing adventure that drove the
"ingenious" William Shakspeare to London, to become a common
player, and the greatest dramatist that ever lived.
HASHED VENISON.