THE
CIVIL WAR : In 1846, Sarah Josepha Hale, editor of Godey’s Lady’s Book, began a campaign to make the last Thursday in November a national Thanksgiving Day. Her campaign bore fruit in 1863, when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a nationwide Thanksgiving Day. Every President since Lincoln has proclaimed a national Thanksgiving Day on a Thursday in late November. The effects of the Civil War were not just military and political. The War speeded the industrialization of food processing. It brought about widespread acceptance of canned foods and other newly commercial ingredients such as baking powder and yeast. The War also ushered in faster food transport, refrigeration, and the introduction of out-of-season ingredients.
To Roast a Turkey Prepare a stuffing of pork sausage meat, one beaten egg, and a few crumbs of bread; or, if sausages are to be served with the turkey, stuffing as for fillet of veal; in either, a little shred shalot is an improvement. Stuff the bird under the breast; dredge it with flour, and put it down to a clear brisk fire; a t a moderate distance the first half-hour but afterwards nearer. Baste with butter; and when the turkey is plumped up, and the steam draws towards the fire, it will be nearly done; then dredge it lightly with flour, and baste it with a little more butter, first melted in the basting-ladle. Serve with gravy in the dish, and bread sauce in a tureen. It may be garnished with sausages, or with fried forcemeat, if veal-stuffing be used. Sometimes the gizzard and liver are dipped into the yolk of an egg, sprinkled with salt and cayenne, and then put under the pinions, before the bird is put to the fire. Chestnuts, stewed in gravy, are likewise eaten with turkey. A very large turkey will require three hours’ roasting; one of eight or ten pounds, two hours; and a small one, an hour and a half. |
 |
 |
Updated 14 July, 1998
