o the favour of _refined
gourmands_, that they pay it the same honours as the grand Lama, making
a ragout of its excrements, and devouring them with ecstasy."--Vide
_Almanach des Gourmands_, vol. i. p. 56.

That exercise produces strength and firmness of fibre is excellently
well exemplified in the _woodcock_ and the _partridge_. The former flies
most--the latter walks; the wing of the woodcock is always very
tough,--of the partridge very tender hence the old doggerel distich,--

"If the _partridge_ had but the _woodcock's_ thigh,
He'd be the best bird that e'er doth fly."

The _breast_ of all birds is the most juicy and nutritious part.

FRYING.

_To clarify Drippings._--(No. 83.)

PUT your dripping into a clean sauce-pan over a stove or slow fire; when
it is just going to boil, skim it well, let it boil, and then let it
stand till it is a little cooled; then pour it through a sieve into a
pan.

_Obs._--Well-cleansed drippings,[147-*] and the fat skimmings[147-+] of
the broth-pot, when fresh and sweet, will baste every thing as well as
butter, except game and poultry, and should supply the place of butter
for common fries, &c.; for which they are equal to lard, especially if
you repeat the clarifying twice over.

N.B. If you keep it in a cool place, you may preserve it a fortnight in
summer, and longer in winter. When you have done frying, let the
dripping stand a few minutes to settle, and then pour it through a sieve
into a clean basin or stone pan, and it will do a second and a third
time as well as it did the first; only the fat you have fried fish in
must not be used for any other purpose.

_To clarify Suet to fry with._--(No. 84.)

Cut beef or mutton suet into thin slices, pick out all the veins and
skins, &c., put it into a thick and well-tinned sauce-pan, and set it
over a very slow stove, or in an oven, till it is melted; you must not
hurry it; if not done very slowly it will acquire a burnt taste, which
you cannot get rid of; then strain it through a hair-sieve into a clean
brown pan: when quite cold, tie a paper over it, and keep it for use.
Hog's lard is prepared in the same way.

_Obs._--The waste occasioned by the present absurd fashion of
over-feeding cattle till the fat is nearly equal to the lean, may, by
good management, be in some measure prevented, by cutting off the
superfluous part, and preparing it as above, or by making it into
puddings; see Nos. 551 and 554, or s