glasses of port wine, pepper and allspice to taste, 1-1/2 pint of weak
stock or gravy, 1/2 teaspoonful of whole pepper, 1/2 teaspoonful of
whole allspice.
_Mode_.--Hang the venison till tender; take out the bone, flatten the
meat with a rolling-pin, and place over it a few slices of mutton fat,
which have been previously soaked for 2 or 3 hours in port wine;
sprinkle these with a little fine allspice and pepper, roll the meat up,
and bind and tie it securely. Put it into a stewpan with the bone and
the above proportion of weak stock or gravy, whole allspice, black
pepper, and port wine; cover the lid down closely, and simmer, very
gently, from 3-1/2 to 4 hours. When quite tender, take off the tape, and
dish the meat; strain the gravy over it, and send it to table with
red-currant jelly. Unless the joint is very fat, the above is the best
mode of cooking it.
_Time_.--3-1/2 to 4 hours.
_Average cost_, 1s. 4d. to 1s. 6d. per lb.
_Sufficient_ for 10 or 12 persons.
_Seasonable_.--Buck venison, from June to Michaelmas; doe venison, from
November to the end of January.
[Illustration: THE ROEBUCK.]
THE ROEBUCK.--This is the _Certuscapreolus_, or common roe, and
is of a reddish-brown colour. It is an inhabitant of Asia, as
well as of Europe. It has great grace in its movements, and
stands about two feet seven inches high, and has a length of
about three feet nine. The extent of its horns is from six to
eight inches.
[Illustration: THE STAG. THE HIND.]
THE STAG.--The stag, or hart, is the male of the red deer, and
the hind is the female. He is much larger than the fallow-deer,
and his age is indicated by his horns, which are round instead
of being palmated, like those of the fallow-deer. During the
first year he has no horns, but a horny excrescence, which is
short and rough, and covered with a thin hairy skin. The next
year, the horns are single and straight; and in the third they
have two antlers, three the fourth, four the fifth, and five the
sixth year; although this number is not always certain, for
sometimes they are more, and often less. After the sixth year,
the antlers do not always increase; and, although in number they
may amount to six or seven on each side, yet the animal's age is
then estimated rather by the size of the antlers and the
thickness of the branch which sustains them, than by their
variety. Large as these horns seem, however, they are shed every
year, and their place supplied by new ones. This usually takes
place in the spring. When the old horns have fallen off, the new
ones do not make their appearance immediately; but the bones of
the skull ore seen covered with a transparent periosteum, or
skin, which enwraps the bones of all animals. After a short
time, however, the skin begins to swell, and to form a sort of
tumour. From this, by-and-by, rising from the head, shoot forth
the antlers from each side; and, in a short time, in proportion
as the animal is in condition, the entire horns are completed.
The solidity of the extremities, however, is not perfect until
the horns have arrived at their full growth. Old stags usually
shed their horns first, which generally happens towards the
latter end of February or the beginning of March. Such as are
between five and six years old shed them about the middle or
latter end of March; those still younger in the month of April;
and the youngest of all not till the middle or latter end of
May. These rules, though generally true, are subject to
variations; for a severe winter will retard the shedding of the
horns.--The HIND has no horns, and is less fitted for being
hunted than the male. She takes the greatest care of her young,
and secretes them in the most obscure thickets, lest they become
a prey to their numerous enemies. All the rapacious family of
the cat kind, with the wolf, the dog, the eagle, and the falcon,
are continually endeavouring to find her retreat, whilst the
stag himself is the foe of his own offspring. When she has
young, therefore, it would seem that the courage of the male is
transferred to the female, for she defends them with the most
resolute bravery. If pursued by the hunter, she will fly before
the hounds for half the day, and then return to her young, whose
life she has thus preserved at the hazard of her own.
[Illustration: ELAND (BULL). ELAND (COW).]
THE NEW VENISON.--The deer population of our splendid English
parks was, until a few years since, limited to two species, the
fallow and the red. But as the fallow-deer itself was an
acclimated animal, of comparatively recent introduction, it came
to be a question why might not the proprietor of any deer-park
in England have the luxury of at least half a dozen species of
deer and antelopes, to adorn the hills, dales, ferny brakes, and
rich pastures of his domain? The temperate regions of the whole
world might be made to yield specimens of the noble ruminant,
valuable either for their individual beauty, or for their
availability to gastronomic purposes.
During the last four or live years a few spirited English
noblemen have made the experiment of breeding foreign deer in
their parks, and have obtained such a decided success, that it
may be hoped their example will induce others to follow in a
course which will eventually give to England's rural scenery a
new element of beauty, and to English tables a fresh viand of
the choicest character.
A practical solution of this interesting question was made by
Viscount Hill, at Hawkestone Park, Salop, in January, 1809. On
that occasion a magnificent eland, an acclimated scion of the
species whose native home is the South African wilderness, was
killed for the table. The noble beast was thus described:--"He
weighed 1,176 lbs. as he dropped; huge as a short-horn, but with
bone not half the size; active as a deer, stately in all his
paces, perfect in form, bright in colour, with a vast dewlap,
and strong sculptured horn. This eland in his lifetime strode
majestic on the hill-side, where he dwelt with his mates and
their progeny, all English-born, like himself." Three pairs of
the same species of deer were left to roam at large on the
picturesque elopes throughout the day, and to return to their
home at pleasure. "Here, during winter, they are assisted with
roots and hay, but in summer they have nothing but the pasture
of the park; so that, in point of expense, they cost no more
than cattle of the best description." Travellers and sportsmen
say that the male eland is unapproached in the quality of his
flesh by any ruminant in South Africa; that it grows to an
enormous size, and lays on fat with as great facility as a true
short-horn; while in texture and flavour it is infinitely
superior. The lean is remarkably fine, the fat firm and
delicate. It was tried in every fashion,--braised brisket,
roasted ribs, broiled steaks, filet sauté, boiled aitchbone,
&c.,--and in all, gave evidence of the fact, that a new meat of
surpassing value had been added to the products of the English
park.
When we hear such a gratifying account of the eland, it is
pleasing to record that Lord Hastings has a herd of the Canadian
wapiti, a herd of Indian nylghaus, and another of the small
Indian hog-deer; that the Earl of Ducie has been successful in
breeding the magnificent Persian deer. The eland was first
acclimated in England by the late Earl of Derby, between the
years 1835-1851, at his menagerie at Knowsley. On his death, in
1851, he bequeathed to the Zoological Society his breed of
elands, consisting of two males and three females. Here the
animals have been treated with the greatest success, and from
the year 1853 to the present time, the females have regularly
reproduced, without the loss of a single calf.
ROAST WIDGEON.