Stewed Duck with Chestnuts

Bacon-larded, roasted duck simmered with beef gravy, onions, chestnuts and sherry.

Draw and prepare a duck, lard the breast with bacon and roast it in the oven; put into a saucepan one pint of beef gravy, two dozen roasted and peeled chestnuts, two onions sliced and fried in butter, a small sprig of sage and thyme, and season with pepper and salt. Cut the duck up and put it in the saucepan, cover, and stand the pan by the side of the fire and simmer for twenty minutes; then dish it, skim the gravy, take out the herbs, add one teacupful of sherry wine, thicken with flour and butter, and boil. Then pour it over the duck, and serve with the chestnuts around it.