From Mrs. Beeton's Household Management
Black-cock
butter
toast.
Mode.—Let these birds hang for a few days, or they will be tough and
tasteless, if not well kept. Pluck and draw them, and wipe the insides and
outsides with a damp cloth, as washing spoils the flavour. Cut off the heads,
and truss them, the same as a roast fowl, cutting off the toes, and scalding
and peeling the feet. Trussing them with the head on, as shown in the
engraving, is still practised by many cooks, but the former method is now
considered the best. Put them down to a brisk fire, well baste them with
butter, and serve with a piece of toast under, and a good gravy and bread
sauce. After trussing, some cooks cover the breast with vine-leaves and slices
of bacon, and then roast them. They should be served in the same manner and
with the same accompaniments as with the plainly-roasted birds.
Time.—45 to 50 minutes.
Average cost, from 5s. to 6s. the brace; but seldom bought.
Sufficient,—2 or 3 for a dish.
Seasonable from the middle of August to the end of December.
THE
BLACK-COCK, HEATH-COCK, MOOR-FOWL, OR HEATH-POULT.—This bird sometimes weighs
as much as four pounds, and the hen about two. It is at present confined to the
more northern parts of Britain, culture and extending population having united
in driving it into more desolate regions, except, perhaps, in a few of the more
wild and less-frequented portions of England. It may still be found in the New
Forest, in Hampshire, Dartmoor, and Sedgmoor, in Devonshire, and among the
hills of Somersetshire, contiguous to the latter. It may also be found in
Staffordshire, in North Wales, and again in the north of England; but nowhere
so plentiful as in some parts of the Highlands of Scotland. The males are
hardly distinguishable from the females until they are about half-grown, when
the black feathers begin to appear, first about the sides and breast. Their
food consists of the tops of birch and heath, except when the mountain berries
are ripe, at which period they eagerly and even voraciously pick the bilberries
and cranberries from the bushes. Large numbers of these birds are found in
Norway, almost rivalling the turkey in point of size. Some of them have begun
to be imported into London, where they are vended in the shops; but the flavour
of their flesh is not equal to that of the Scotch bird.
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