Chapter XVII.), and beat them together until they are well blended; next

throw into the mortar something less (in volume) of fresh butter than there was of the pheasant-flesh, with a high seasoning of mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, and a half-teaspoonful or more of salt; pound the mixture afresh for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, keeping it turned from the sides of the mortar into the middle; then add one by one, after merely taking out the germs with the point of a fork, two whole eggs and a yolk or two without the whites, if these last will not render the mixture too moist. Mould it into the form of a roll, lay it into a stewpan rubbed with butter, pour boiling water on it and poach it gently from ten to fifteen minutes. Lift it out with care, drain it on a sieve, and when it is quite cold cover it equally with beaten egg, and then with the finest bread-crumbs, and broil it over a clear fire, or fry it in butter of a clear golden brown. A good gravy should be made of the remains of the bird and sent to table with it; the flavour may be heightened with ham and eschalots, as directed in Chapter IV., page 96, and small mushrooms, sliced sideways, and stewed quite tender in butter, may be mixed with the _boudin_ after it is taken from the mortar; or their flavour may be given more delicately by adding to it only the butter in which they have been simmered, well pressed, from them through a strainer. The mixture, which should be set into a very cool place before it is moulded, may be made into several small rolls, which will require four or five minutes’ poaching only. The flesh of partridges will answer quite as well as that of pheasants for this dish. SALMI OF PHEASANT. (_See page 292._) PHEASANT CUTLETS. (_See page 275._) TO ROAST PARTRIDGES. [In season from the first of September to the second of February, and as long as they can be preserved fit for table from that time.] [Illustration: Partridge trussed. ] Let the birds hang as long as they can possibly be kept without becoming offensive; pick them carefully, draw, and singe them; wipe the insides thoroughly with a clean cloth; truss them with the head turned under the wing and the legs drawn close together, not crossed. Flour them when first laid to the fire, and baste them plentifully with butter. Serve them with bread sauce, and good brown gravy, a little of this last should be poured over them. In some counties they are dished upon fried bread-crumbs, but these are better handed round the table by themselves. Where game is plentiful we recommend that the remains of a cold roasted partridge should be well bruised and boiled down with just so much water, or unflavoured broth, as will make gravy for a brace of other birds: this, seasoned with salt, and cayenne only, or flavoured with a few mushrooms, will be found a very superior accompaniment for roast partridges, to the best meat-gravy that can be made. A little eschalot, and a few herbs, can be added to it at pleasure. It should be served also with boiled or with broiled partridges in preference to any other. 30 to 40 minutes. _Obs._—Rather less time must be allowed when the birds are liked underdressed. In preparing them for the spit, the crop must be removed through a slit cut in the back of the neck, the claws clipped close, and the legs held in boiling water for a minute, that they may be skinned the more easily. BOILED PARTRIDGES. This is a delicate mode of dressing young and tender birds. Strip off the feathers, clean, and wash them well; cut off the heads, truss the legs like those of boiled fowls, and when ready, drop them into a large pan of boiling water; throw a little salt on them, and in fifteen, or at the utmost in eighteen minutes they will be ready to serve. Lift them out, dish them quickly, and send them to table with white mushroom sauce, with bread sauce and game gravy (see preceding receipt), or with celery sauce. Our own mode of having them served is usually with a slice of fresh butter, about a tablespoonful of lemon-juice, and a good sprinkling of cayenne placed in a very hot dish, under them. 15 to 18 minutes. PARTRIDGES WITH MUSHROOMS. For a brace of young well-kept birds, prepare from half to three quarters of a pint of mushroom-buttons, or very small flaps, as for pickling. Dissolve over a gentle fire an ounce and a half of butter, throw in the mushrooms with a slight sprinkling of salt and cayenne, simmer them from eight to ten minutes, and turn them with the butter on to a plate; when they are quite cold, put the whole into the bodies of the partridges, sew them up, truss them securely, and roast them on a vertical jack with the heads downwards; or should an ordinary spit be used, tie them firmly to it, instead of passing it through them. Roast them the usual time, and serve them with brown mushroom sauce, or with gravy and bread sauce only. The birds may be trussed like boiled fowls, floured, and lightly browned in butter, half covered with _rich_ brown gravy and stewed slowly for thirty minutes; then turned, and simmered for another half hour with the addition of some mushrooms to the gravy; or they may be covered with small mushrooms stewed apart, when they are sent to table. They can also be served with their sauce only, simply thickened with a small quantity of fresh butter, smoothly mixed with less than a teaspoonful of arrow-root and flavoured with cayenne and a little catsup, wine, or store sauce. Partridges, 2; mushrooms, 1/2 to 3/4 pint; butter, 1-1/2 oz.; little mace and cayenne: roasted 30 to 40 minutes, or stewed 1 hour. _Obs._—Nothing can be finer than the game flavour imbibed by the mushrooms with which the birds are filled, in this receipt. BROILED PARTRIDGE. (_Breakfast Dish._) “Split a young and well-kept partridge, and wipe it with a soft clean cloth inside and out, but do not wash it; broil it delicately over a very clear fire, sprinkling it with a little salt and cayenne; rub a bit of fresh butter over it the moment it is taken from the fire, and send it quickly to table with a sauce made of a good slice of butter browned with flour, a little water, cayenne, salt, and mushroom-catsup, poured over it.” We give this receipt exactly as we received it from a house where we know it to have been greatly approved by various guests who have partaken of it there. BROILED PARTRIDGE. (_French Receipt._) After having prepared the bird with great nicety, divided, and flattened it, season it with salt, and pepper, or cayenne, dip it into clarified butter, and then into very fine bread-crumbs, and take care that every part shall be equally covered: if wanted of particularly good appearance dip it a second time into the butter and crumbs. Place it over a very clear fire, and broil it gently from twenty to thirty minutes. Send it to table with brown mushroom sauce, or some _Espagnole_. THE FRENCH, OR RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE. This is dressed precisely like our common partridge, and is excellent eating if it be well kept; otherwise it is tough and devoid of flavour. It does not, we believe, abound commonly in England, its hostility to the gray partridge, which it drives always from its neighbourhood, rendering it an undesirable occupant of a preserve. It was at one time, however, plentiful in Suffolk,[94] and in one or two of the adjoining counties, but great efforts, we have understood, have been made to exterminate it. Footnote 94: Brought there by the late Marquis of Hertford, to his Sudbourne estate. TO ROAST THE LANDRAIL OR CORN-CRAKE. This delicate and excellent bird is in its full season at the end of August and early in September, when it abounds often in the poulterers’ shops. Its plumage resembles that of the partridge, but it is of smaller size and of much more slender shape. Strip off the feathers, draw and prepare the bird as usual for the spit, truss it like a snipe, and roast it quickly at a brisk but not a fierce fire from fifteen to eighteen minutes. Dish it on fried bread-crumbs, or omit these and serve it with gravy round it, and more in a tureen, and with well made bread sauce. Three or even four of the birds will be required for a dish. One makes a nice dinner for an invalid. TO ROAST BLACK COCK AND GRAY HEN. In season during the same time as the common grouse, and found like them on the moors, but less abundantly. These birds, so delicious when well kept and well roasted, are tough and comparatively flavourless when too soon dressed. They should hang therefore till they give unequivocal indication of being ready for the spit. Pick and draw them with exceeding care, as the skin is easily broken; truss them like pheasants, lay them at a moderate distance from a clear brisk fire, baste them plentifully and constantly with butter, and serve them on a thick toast which has been laid under them in the dripping-pan for the last ten minutes of their roasting, and which will have imbibed a high degree of savour: some cooks squeeze a little lemon-juice over it before it is put into the pan. Send rich brown gravy and bread sauce to table with the birds. From three quarters of an hour to a full hour will roast them. Though kept to the point which we have recommended, they will not offend even the most fastidious eater after they are dressed, as, unless they have been _too long_ allowed to hang, the action of the fire will remove all perceptible traces of their previous state. In the earlier part of the season, when warm and close packing have rendered either black game or grouse, in their transit from the North, apparently altogether unfit for table, the chloride of soda, well-diluted, may be used with advantage to restore them to a fitting state for it; though the copious washings which must then be resorted to, may diminish something of their fine flavour. 3/4 to 1 hour. TO ROAST GROUSE. Handle the birds very lightly in plucking off the feathers; draw them, and wipe the insides with clean damp cloths; or first wash, and then dry them well; though this latter mode would not be approved generally by epicures. Truss the grouse in the same manner as the black game above, and roast them about half an hour at a clear and brisk fire, keeping them basted, almost without intermission. Serve them on a buttered toast which has been laid under them in the pan for ten minutes, or with gravy and bread sauce only. 1/2 hour to 35 minutes _Obs._—There are few occasions, we think, in which the contents of the dripping-pan can be introduced at table with advantage; but in dressing moor game, we would strongly recommend the toast to be laid in it under the birds, as it will afford a superior relish even to the birds themselves. A SALMI OF MOOR FOWL, PHEASANTS, OR PARTRIDGES. (ENTRÉE.) This is an excellent mode of serving the remains of roasted game, but when a superlative _salmi_ is desired, the birds must be scarcely more then half roasted for it. In either case carve them very neatly, and strip every particle of skin and fat from the legs, wings, and breasts; bruise the bodies well, and put them with the skin and other trimmings into a very clean stewpan. If for a simple and inexpensive dinner, merely add to them two or three sliced eschalots, a bay leaf, a small blade of mace, and a few peppercorns; then pour in a pint or rather more of good veal gravy or strong broth, and boil it briskly until reduced nearly half; strain the gravy, pressing the bones well to obtain all the flavour, skim off the fat, add a little cayenne and lemon-juice, heat the game very gradually in it, but do not on any account allow it to boil; place sippets of fried bread round a dish, arrange the birds in good form in the centre, give the sauce a boil, and pour it on them. This is but a homely sort of salmi, though of excellent flavour if well made; it may require perhaps the addition of a little thickening, and two or three glasses of dry white wine poured to the bodies of the birds with the broth, would bring it nearer to the French _salmi_ in flavour. As the spongy substance in the inside of moor fowl and black game is apt to be extremely bitter when they have been long kept, care should be taken to remove such parts as would endanger the preparation. FRENCH SALMI, OR HASH OF GAME. (ENTRÉE.) Prepare underdressed or half-roasted game by the directions we have already given, and after having stripped the skin from the thighs, wings, and breasts, arrange the joints evenly in a clean stewpan, and keep them covered from the air and dust till wanted. Cut down into dice four ounces of the lean of an unboiled ham, and put it, with two ounces of butter, into a thick well-tinned saucepan or stewpan; add three or four minced eschalots (more, should a high flavour of them be liked), two ounces of sliced carrot, four cloves, two bay leaves, a dozen peppercorns, one blade of mace, a small sprig or two of thyme, and part of a root of parsley, or two or three small branches of the leaves. Stew these over a gentle fire, stirring or shaking them often, until the sides of the saucepan appear of a reddish-brown, then mix well with them a dessertspoonful of flour, and let it take a little colour. Next, add by degrees, making the sauce boil as each portion is thrown in, three quarters of a pint of strong veal stock or gravy, and nearly half a pint of sherry or Madeira; put in the well-bruised bodies of the birds, and boil them from an hour to an hour and a half; strain, and clear the sauce quite from fat; pour it on the joints of game, heat them in it slowly; and when they are near the point of boiling, dish them immediately with delicately fried sippets round the dish. When mushrooms can be obtained, throw a dozen or two of small ones, with the other seasonings, into the butter. The wine is sometimes added to the vegetables, and one half reduced before the gravy is poured in; but though a sauce of fine colour is thus produced the flavour of the wine is entirely lost. TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES. [In season during the winter months, but not abundant until frost sets in.]. Handle them as little and as lightly as possible, and pluck off the feathers gently; for if this be violently done the skin of the birds will be broken. _Do not draw them_, but after having wiped them with clean soft cloths, truss them with the head under the wing, and the bill laid close along the breast; pass a slight skewer through the thighs, catch the ends with a bit of twine, and tie it across to keep the legs straight. Suspend the birds with the feet downwards to a bird-spit, flour them well, and baste them with butter, which should be ready dissolved in the pan or ladle. Before the trail begins to drop, which it will do as soon as they are well heated, lay a thick round of bread, freed from the crust, toasted a delicate brown, and buttered on both sides, into the pan under them to catch it, as this is considered finer eating even than the flesh of the birds; continue the basting, letting the butter fall from them into the basting-spoon or ladle, as it cannot be collected again from the dripping-pan should it drop there, in consequence of the toast or _toasts_ being in it. There should be one of these for each woodcock, and the trail should be spread equally over it. When the birds are done, which they will be, at a brisk fire, in from twenty to twenty-five minutes, lay the toasts into a very hot dish, dress the birds upon them, pour a little gravy round the bread, and send more to table in a tureen. Woodcock, 20 to 25 minutes; snipe, 5 minutes less. TO ROAST THE PINTAIL, OR SEA PHEASANT. [All wild-fowl is in full season in mid-winter: the more severe the weather, the more abundant are the supplies of it in the markets. It may be had usually from November to March.]. This beautiful bird is by no means rare upon our eastern coast, but we know not whether it be much seen in the markets generally. It is most excellent eating, and should be roasted at a clear quick fire, well floured when first laid down, turned briskly, and basted with butter almost without cessation. If drawn from the spit in from twenty-five to thirty minutes, then dished and laid before the fire for two or three more, it will give forth a singularly rich gravy. Score the breast; when it is carved sprinkle on it a little cayenne and fine salt, and let a cut lemon be handed round the table when the bird is served; or omit the scoring, and send round with it brown gravy, and Christopher North’s sauce made hot. (For this, see the following page.) 20 to 30 minutes. TO ROAST WILD DUCKS. A bit of soft bread soaked in port wine, or in claret, is sometimes put into them, but nothing more. Flour them well, lay them rather near to a very clear and brisk fire, that they may be quickly browned, and yet retain their juices. Baste them plentifully and constantly with butter, and, if it can be so regulated, let the spit turn with them rapidly. From fifteen to twenty minutes will roast them sufficiently for the generality of eaters; but for those who object to them much underdressed, a few additional minutes must be allowed. Something less of time will suffice when they are prepared for persons who like them scarcely more than heated through. Teal, which is a more delicate kind of wild fowl, is roasted in the same way: in from ten to fifteen minutes it will be enough done for the fashionable mode of serving it, and twenty minutes will dress it _well_ at a good fire. A SALMI, OR HASH OF WILD FOWL. Carve the birds very neatly, strip off the skin, and proceed as for the salmi of pheasants (page 292), but mix port or claret, instead of white wine, with the gravy, and give it a rather high seasoning of cayenne. Throw in the juice of half a small lemon before the salmi is served, place fried sippets round the dish, and send it to table as hot as possible. For a common hash boil the skin and trimmings of the wild-fowl in some good broth, or gravy (with a couple of lightly fried eschalots or not, at choice), until their flavour is imparted to it; then strain, heat, and thicken it slightly, with a little brown roux, or browned flour; add a wineglassful of port wine, some lemon-juice, and cayenne; or sufficient of Christopher North’s sauce to flavour it well; warm the birds slowly in it, and serve them as soon as they are thoroughly hot, but without allowing them to boil. -------------- [_The following receipt having, from inadvertence, been omitted from the chapter to which it properly belongs—as the reader has already been informed—a place is given to it here._] CHRISTOPHER NORTH’S OWN SAUCE FOR MANY MEATS. Throw into a small basin a heaped saltspoonful of _good_ cayenne pepper, in very fine powder and half the quantity of salt; add a small dessertspoonful of well-refined, pounded, and sifted sugar; mix these thoroughly; then pour in a tablespoonful of the strained juice of a fresh lemon, two of Harvey’s sauce, a teaspoonful of the very best mushroom catsup (or of cavice), and three tablespoonsful, or a small wineglassful, of port wine. Heat the sauce by placing the basin in a saucepan of boiling water, or turn it into a jar, and place this in the water. Serve it directly, it is ready with geese or ducks, tame or wild; roast pork, venison, fawn, a grilled blade-bone, or any other broil. A slight flavour of garlic or eschalot vinegar may be given to it at pleasure. Some persons use it with fish. It is good cold; and, if bottled directly it is made, may be stored for several days. It is the better for being mixed some hours before it is served. _The proportion of cayenne may be doubled when a very pungent sauce is desired._ _Good_ cayenne pepper in fine powder, 1 _heaped_ saltspoonful: salt, half as much; pounded sugar, 1 small dessertspoonful; strained lemon juice, 1 tablespoonful; Harvey’s sauce, 2 tablespoonsful; best mushroom catsup (or cavice), 1 teaspoonful; port wine, 3 tablespoonsful, or small wineglassful. (Little eschalot, or garlic-vinegar at pleasure.) _Obs._—This sauce is exceedingly good when mixed with the brown gravy of a hash or stew, or with that which is served with game or other dishes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------