SCARY BOOKS, Then and Now . . . and BRITISH DUCKLING

 Contemporary book so HORRIFYING it kept me reading all night :

    
                                                               *****

                        18th century Gothic:  I read a chapter and my eyes start to close.

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What Ann Radcliffe might have eaten for dinner:

 Lizzie Boyd remarks in BRITISH COOKERY that DUCKLING with PEAS was a traditional and popular dish in the 17th and 18th centuries.

I made it on April 23, 1989, and marked it as excellent!

1 duckling

1 ounce flour

2 cups chicken stock (or use a bouillon cube)

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

¾ lb frozen peas

1 lettuce, finely chopped

⅛ tsp nutmeg

3 ounces cream

mint for garnish

• Joint the duck.  
• roast uncovered in oven in a Dutch oven for 30 minutes.
• Pour off the fat.
• Add stock, salt, and pepper to the Dutch oven.
• Bring slowly to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 F.
• Add the peas and lettuce.
• Cover and cook in the oven one hour until the duck is tender.
• Remove duck.
• Blend the cooking liquid.  Add the nutmeg and cream.
• Taste for seasoning.
• Reheat with duck, but do not boil.
• Garnish with mint and serve with small new potatoes and a side dish of peas.