The Book of Household Management, page 639 by Isabella Beeton
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m so much per score for all ducklings properly raised. To be perfect, the Aylesbury duck should be plump, pure white, with yellow feet, and a flesh-coloured beak.
STEWED DUCK AND PEAS (Cold Meat Cookery).
936. INGREDIENTS.--The remains of cold roast duck, 1/2 pint of good gravy, cayenne and salt to taste, 1/2 teaspoonful of minced lemon-peel, 1 teaspoonful of pounded sugar, 2 oz, of butter rolled in flour, 1-1/2 pint of green peas.
Mode.--Cut up the duck into joints, lay it in the gravy, and add a seasoning of cayenne, salt, and minced lemon-peel; let tins gradually warm through, but not boil. Throw the peas into boiling water slightly salted, and boil them rapidly until tender. Drain them, stir in the pounded sugar, and the butter rolled in flour; shake them over the fire for two or three minutes, and serve in the centre of the dish, with the duck laid round.
Time.--15 minutes to boil the peas, when they are full grown.
Average cost, exclusive of the cold duck, 10d.
Seasonable from June to August.
FATTENING DUCKS.--Many duck-keepers give their birds nothing in the shape of food, letting them wander about and pick up a living for themselves; and they will seem to get fat even upon this precarious feeding. Unless, however, ducks are supplied with, besides chance food, a liberal feed of solid corn, or grain, morning and evening, their flesh will become flabby and insipid. The simple way to fatten ducks is to let them have as much, substantial food as they will eat, bruised oats and pea-meal being the standard fattening food for them. No cramming is required, as with the turkey and some other poultry: they will cram themselves to the very verge of suffocation. At the same time, plenty of exercise and clean water should be at their service.
AMERICAN MODE OF CAPTURING DUCKS.--On the American rivers, the modes of capture are various. Sometimes half a dozen artificial birds are fastened to a little raft, and which is so