USEFUL HINTS : COOKING AN OLD HEN

If you have a man who tends to your poultry, ask him to select you a fine old Brahms hen – never mind if she is moulting, as long as she has finished with her chicks – slaughter her, pick her at once while warm, then get a good bunch of vine leaves round her body, and wrap her in a clean napkin, and bury her for 20 to 24 hours; take her out of the ground, and hand her to the cook without further comment; then you beg of her, after she has dressed it, to boil the fowl slowly in a small quantity of water; and serve in any manner most preferred. You will agree that it is better than any young fowl, and carves quite as easily. If you can't see that your orders are carried out, don't attempt this dish, for the cook will tell you it is a nasty thing, and a lot more.