Cookery
Through the Ages
Recipes
from the Medieval to the Victorian ages.
Roasting
a Pig over an Open Fire
Let
your fire be stronger at each end than in the middle, or otherwise
hang a flat iron, commonly called a pig-iron, in the centre
of the grate.
Put
into your pig a small piece of butter, some pepper, salt, and
sage cut fine.
Having
floured it well, put it to the fire, and continue flouring it
till the skin is quite crisp.
When
the gravy begins to run, put basins under the pig, and save
it to send to table.
When
you judge the pig to be almost done, put a piece of butter in
a coarse cloth, and rub it for a few minutes, till the crackling
grows hard, and then take it up.
Having
laid it in a dish without drawing out the spit, separate the
head from the body, and cut the pig in two equal pieces.
Cut
the under jaw in two, and lay at each side of it, and the ears
at each end.
Bruise
the brains fine, mix them with sage, and putting them into the
gravy which has been saved, and thereto some melted butter,
and send this sauce to the table with the pig.
It
is common custom in the country to eat current-sauce with pig,
and every country housewife knows how to make it.
from
The
Farmer's Wife
or, the Complete Country Housewife
London, c. 1780
