Part 63

Stew.--(_a_) Pluck, singe, and truss 1 doz. fine larks; peel a large onion, stick 6 cloves into it, and put it into a stewpan with some melted fat bacon, toss it about a little, remove the onion, add some fresh mushrooms finely chopped, and some truffles; put in the larks, and toss all the ingredients together over the fire for a short time. Pour in some well made veal gravy and stew over the fire until the larks are quite tender. Chop a spoonful of parsley very fine, beat up the yoke of an egg in ¼ pint cream, and add to it by degrees the parsley; put this into the stewpan with the larks, stir it together, and then allow to stand; remove all fat, and squeeze in some lemon juice just before serving.

(_b_) (À la Florence).--Pluck, singe, and trim 8 larks; prepare a forcemeat of chopped mushrooms and parsley, grated ham and breadcrumbs, pepper and salt to taste--the mushrooms should predominate over the other ingredients; mix with butter. Place the larks in a stewpan, cover with rich veal stock, adding salt and pepper to taste, and a little colouring. Stew very gently for about ¾ hour. Have ready in a basin the following sauce: The yoke of an egg beaten up in a small glass of sherry, with the juice of half a lemon and a little cayenne, thicken with arrowroot or flour; rub some mashed potatoes through a sieve, make a wall of them round a rather deep dish, hold a salamander over for a few moments just to colour them, set the larks in the centre, place the dish in the oven to keep hot while you strain the stock, to which add the sauce, and stir over the fire in a lined saucepan until nearly boiling; then pour over the larks, garnish the dish with slices of lemon, and serve as hot as possible.

Stuffed. Baked.--Take 8-10 fine larks, pluck, singe, and draw them. Prepare the following stuffing: Mince very fine the white meat of a chicken, also a slice of boiled ham and a slice of raw bacon, chop some sage leaves, and mix all these ingredients together, with a little pepper and salt and some finely pounded mace. Divide this forcemeat into two parts, stuff the birds with one, and reserve the other to use in the following manner: Cut as many slices of bacon as there are birds, spreading over each slice some of the forcemeat; then place a lark on each slice of bacon and wrap it up in it. Lay them side by side in a baking-pan, put a cover over it, and bake in a moderate oven. When the larks are done, dish them on a very hot dish, pouring over them some rich veal gravy with a little lemon juice squeezed into it. Garnish with slices of lemon and serve.

Vol-au-vent.--For this dish the birds are boned and stuffed as if for serving in paper cases. They are then sent to table in a vol-au-vent case, with a rich white game sauce and mushrooms or truffles.

_Ortolans._ Fried.--Truss as for roasting; dip each bird in the yolk of eggs well beaten, and then sprinkle over thickly with breadcrumbs, fry in boiling lard, or butter, or oil. Serve on fried breadcrumbs mixed with a savoury powder made of mushrooms or truffles. The bread for the crumbs should have been soaked in lemon-juice and port wine.

In cases.--The birds for this dish are baked in paper cases. First pick, singe, and bone them, cut ¼ lb. bacon into small pieces, and put it in a sautépan with 2 shallots, 2 bay leaves, some parsley, thyme, and marjoram, 1 doz. whole peppercorns, and salt, fry until brown; then add ½ lb. calf’s liver, cut in pieces, cook this till brown; then turn the contents of the pan into a mortar and pound them, rub through a sieve, place back in the mortar and repound, adding the yolks of 3 hard-boiled eggs, when thoroughly mixed add 6 truffles chopped fine. Stuff the ortolans with this mixture, and place each bird in a well-oiled paper case, brush over with oil, and put into a quick oven. Make a rich sauce of the bones of the birds, half a pint of good gravy stock, and a glass of port wine, reduce to about a gill, and when the birds are ready to serve, pour a spoonful of this sauce over each, sending to table as hot as possible.

Roast.--Let the birds hang till quite tender, then pluck and singe, but do not draw, truss as you would quail, wiping them carefully all over first of all. Wrap each bird in a young, freshly-gathered vine leaf, and tie them on a bird spit, put down at a moderate distance from a brisk fire, and roast, according to size, 20-25 minutes. Place under the birds, in the dripping-pan, slices of toast to catch the trail, baste incessantly with butter during the time they are roasting, dish up on the toast, and serve on a very hot dish. Some people sprinkle the birds over with fine breadcrumbs just before serving, and serve on breadcrumbs, made from bread soaked in lemon-juice and port wine, instead of toast. Send to table with them a well-made orange or lemon gravy, prepared thus: Simmer in some good stock, about ½ pint, 4 or 5 strips orange or lemon peel (whichever flavour is preferred), a few basil leaves, the juice of the lemon or orange, salt and pepper to taste, and a glass of port wine; allow all these ingredients to simmer 15 minutes, strain, heat again, and serve as hot as possible in a sauce tureen with a cover. Bacon should never be wrapped round ortolans; it destroys their delicate flavour.

Stewed à la Provençale.--Cut off the feet and heads of the birds, provide the same number of large truffles as there are ortolans; cut a hole in each truffle and fill it with French forcemeat. Season the birds well, and lay them on their backs on the truffles. Set them in a deep stewpan, and cover with slices of bacon--in this method of cooking, bacon is admissible--and about ½ pint stock (veal) and ½ pint port wine. Stew for 20 minutes, or a trifle longer, closely covered. Take out the truffles and ortolans, strain the sauce through a hair sieve, and when cool remove every particle of fat; reduce it by gentle reboiling to about one half the quantity, then add ½ pint brown Spanish sauce; reduce again, and resoak toast in this sauce and arrange the truffles and ortolans on it, piling them up in the dish. Ortolans can be dressed in any of the ways suitable for other small birds, such as quails, larks, and wheat-ears, but, being so expensive, few people are disposed to other than cook them plainly without trying any experiments which may or may not answer. (E. J.)

_Partridges_ (Perdrix, perdreaux).--Partridges are excellent in pies and puddings, or _en salmis_, made as directed for grouse, and any fragments left over are well disposed of in _croustades_ and in little paper cases, while the carcases are invaluable for making stock.

Boiled.--(_a_) Take 2 partridges (not at all high), truss them as fowls are trussed for boiling, and put them into a panful of boiling water, salted to taste; let them boil slowly 15-20 minutes. Then serve on a bed of either celery, mushroom, onion, or tomato sauce.

(_b_) Put them in plenty of boiling water, boil them for 15 minutes, and serve with celery sauce made thus: Take the white part of 6 heads of celery, wash, pare, and cut it into pieces about 1 in. long; boil these in plenty of water until tender, and strain. Meanwhile, take 1 gill white gravy, ½ pint cream, and a little butter rolled in flour. Boil it up till it is thick and smooth, add a little grated nutmeg, put in the celery with a little salt, and give the whole a boil up. Stir in (off the fire) the yolks of 2 eggs beaten up with the juice of a lemon, pour some of the sauce over the birds, and serve the remainder in boats. It is perhaps an improvement to boil the celery in stock instead of water.

Braised.--(_a_) Truss 2 birds as for boiling, and lard their breasts very finely with fat bacon, put them into a small braising pan over 2 slices bacon, add 2 small onions stuck with 6 cloves, 2 carrots cut in pieces, a bundle of sweet herbs, pepper and salt to taste, a cupful of stock, and one of white wine; place a buttered paper over all, and braise them gently for 2 hours, keeping a few hot embers on the lid of the pan. Serve with their own liquor, strained, and well freed from fat.

(_b_) Aux choux.--To make this, truss a brace of partridges as fowls are trussed for boiling, mince about a ¼ lb. fat bacon, put it into a saucepan on the fire, and when it is quite hot put in the birds, and toss them in this till well coloured all over; meanwhile blanch a small cabbage or a savoy in salted water, drain it, squeeze all the water from it, chop it up, and put it into the saucepan with the birds; add pepper and salt to taste, a bundle of sweet herbs, and 2 or 3 pork sausages, moisten with a little stock, and let the whole simmer for 2 hours. Remove the bundle of herbs, and serve with the cabbage and the sausages each cut in two, round the birds.

Broiled.--Take a young partridge, by no means high, split it down the back, flatten it with the cutlet bat, brush it over with liquefied butter or olive oil, sprinkle it with pepper and salt, and put it into a double gridiron; broil over a brisk fire, first on one side and then on the other, just long enough to set the flesh; serve over a lump of _maître d’hôtel_ butter.

Pie.--Cut the breasts or fillets and the legs off 2 or 3 birds, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and cook them in the oven, smothered in butter and covered with a buttered paper. Pound the carcases and make of them some good gravy, but do not thicken it. Take the livers of the birds with an equal quantity of calf’s liver, mince both, and toss them in butter over the fire for a minute or two; then pound them in a mortar with an equal quantity of bacon, 2 shallots parboiled, with pepper, salt, powdered spice, and sweet herbs to taste. When this mixture is well pounded, pass it through a sieve. Put a layer of this forcemeat into a pie dish, arrange the pieces of partridge on it, filling up the interstices with the forcemeat. Then pour in as much gravy as is required, put on the cover of either puff or short paste, and bake for about an hour. When done, a little more gravy, boiling hot, may be introduced through a hole in the centre of the crust. If liked, the breasts of the birds may be larded with fat bacon, and truffles and mushrooms added, especially if to be eaten cold; also a little melted aspic or calves’-foot jelly may be added with the gravy. (The G. C.)

Pudding.--Skin a brace of birds, cut them up into comely pieces, and put them, with a few mushrooms, into a basin lined with suet paste, add 2 shallots and some minced parsley, season with pepper and salt, put in a very little stock or water, cover up the pudding, tie it up in a cloth, and boil it for about 3 hours.

Roast.--(_a_) Pick, draw, singe, and truss, placing a slice of bacon over the breast of each bird. Roast at a moderately brisk fire, removing the bacon a few minutes before the birds are done. Serve with plain gravy and bread sauce in boats. (_b_) Carefully drawn, singed, and trussed, the partridges should, with a piece of butter in the inside, be put down to a brisk fire, well basted with butter and dredged with flour to froth up well. Like grouse, they should be roasted quickly, and if in proper condition--that is to say, tender--not “high,” must not be overdone, or they will be frightfully dry. About 20 minutes, or a little less, if the birds are young, will suffice. Partridges should be served on a toast with gravy, fried crumbs and bread sauce, and may be garnished with watercress or lemon.

Salad.--Trim all pieces carefully, and remove the skin from them; beat up in a basin 3 parts olive oil and 1 of tarragon vinegar, with pepper and salt to taste, and some finely minced tarragon, chervil, or garden cress; dip the pieces of partridge in this, arrange them on a dish with some lettuce or endive dressed in the same sauce, and ornament the dish with hard-boiled eggs, pickled gherkins, anchovies (thoroughly washed), capers, &c. Mayonnaise sauce may be used instead of this plain dressing; and, if there is enough of the pieces of breast, they may be inclosed in a border of aspic jelly, and the salad put in the centre with the other pieces.

_Pheasant_ (Faisan).--The hen pheasant is esteemed the better bird. Great caution must be exercised in “hanging” the pheasant just long enough to become tender and develop its fine aroma without getting too high. Pheasants are trussed in the same manner as partridges, and it is no longer customary to serve them with the tail feathers. A slice of fat bacon is fastened over the breast, and is removed towards the close of roasting to allow the bird to take colour. Pheasants are also often larded, and roasted with a piece of paper over the breast. The fire should be clear, but not too fierce, as the white flesh of the pheasant requires somewhat slower cooking than the brown meat of the grouse and partridge. About 40 minutes will generally be found sufficient to roast a pheasant, which should be thoroughly done, as nothing is more detestable than white meat in the slightest degree undercooked.

Roast.--Pick, draw, singe, and truss, placing 2 shallots and 1 oz. butter inside the bird. Lard the breast very finely, tie a thin slice of bacon over the larding, and roast the bird at a moderate fire, basting it frequently with butter. A few minutes before the bird is done remove the slice of bacon so as to let the larding take colour. Serve with plain gravy, fried breadcrumbs, and bread sauce. Time, about 30 minutes.

With Truffles.--Bone a pheasant, stuff it with some sliced truffles, place some thin slices of fat bacon in a casserole, skin the bird, and place over it some more bacon, covering it thoroughly; add a little veal gravy, seasoned with pepper and salt. Cover close and simmer until done, taking care it does not burn. This is served cold, garnished with clear jelly, 2 or 3 hard-boiled eggs cut into shapes, and sliced gherkins.

_Pigeon_ and Beefsteak Pie.--Take 2 pigeons and ¾ lb. rump steak, quarter the pigeons and slice the steak very thin, put on each slice of steak a small piece of fat bacon, season it with pepper, and roll it up. Season the pigeon with pepper, salt, and powdered spices, and put a piece of butter on to each piece, then arrange the pigeons, and the rolls of steak in a pie dish with a few hard boiled yolks of eggs; pour in a small quantity of meat or calves’-foot jelly, just made liquid, cover over the pie, and bake for about 1 hour in a well heated oven.

_Plover_ (Pluvier, Vanneau). Fillets.--Take 3 plovers, and out of the breast of each skilfully cut 2 fillets, lay them in a buttered tin, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and cover them with a buttered paper. Cut up the carcases, and put them in a saucepan with a piece of bacon and a little butter, an onion, and a carrot, sliced; toss them on the fire for 5 minutes, moisten with stock, add any mushroom trimmings, and let the sauce simmer for 2 hours; strain off the liquor, and, having carefully removed all fat, thicken it with a little butter rolled in flour, adding at the time of serving a few drops of lemon juice. Put the tin containing the fillets in the oven for a short time just to set them; then turn them into the sauce, and keep them quite hot until the time of serving; arrange a neat border of sippets, fried in butter, round a dish, dispose the fillets in the centre, and pour the sauce over.

Roast.--Pluck, singe, and remove the gizzard, but nothing else. Tie a thin slice of bacon over each bird; put them to roast at a brisk fire over slices of toasted or fried bread laid in the dripping-pan, one for each bird; baste well with butter; remove the bacon just before serving, and sprinkle the birds with salt. When done lay them on the toast, serve with plain white sauce in a boat, and garnish with cut lemon.

Toast.--See Snipe.

_Quail_ (Caille).--Quail as seen in England, has generally been subjected to a process of artificial fattening, but the wild birds of the south--at least those taken in autumn--have some advantage in flavour over their semi-civilised compeers. The modes of dressing them are almost endless, but when simply roasted they are delicious. To roast quails, pluck, draw, singe, and truss them; then cover the breast of each bird with a vine leaf, and over that place a thin sheet of fat bacon; tie this on with thread, and put the quails on a long skewer, attach it to the spit, roast for 10-15 minutes before a clear fire, and serve (if preferred) on toast. The excessively delicate and ethereal aroma of the quail renders the addition of sauce not only unnecessary but injudicious.

In Cases.--Bone some quails, and divide each one in two; put the livers on one side, and set the bones and trimmings to boil in some good stock, broth, or even water, with carrots, onions, parsley, pepper, salt, a few cloves, a bay leaf, and a few pieces of ham or bacon. When well reduced, strain this gravy and put it by. Cut up the quails’ livers, as also some fowls’ livers, or some calves’ liver, all in small dice; do the same with half their quantity of bacon. Fry a few shallots a bright yellow in plenty of butter, then put in the liver and bacon with minced parsley, pepper, and salt, and a little powdered spices. Toss the whole on the fire for a few minutes, then turn out on a sieve and pass the mixture through while hot. Have some paper cases ready oiled, put a layer of this “farce” into each, then a moderate-sized piece into each half quail; roll it up neatly, and place in its case with a thin slice of fat bacon over it. Bake them in the oven not longer than 10-15 minutes. At the time of serving thicken the gravy mentioned above by mixing a little flour with some butter, and then adding the gravy to it. Fill with gravy, and strew a little finely-minced parsley over each case. The pieces of bacon may be removed or not at pleasure before serving.

Roast.--Pluck, draw, singe, and truss them; then cover the breast with a vine leaf (if obtainable), and over that place a thin sheet of fat bacon; tie this on with thread, and put the quails on a long skewer, attach it to the spit; roast for about 10 minutes before a clear fire, and serve (if preferred) on toast.

_Rabbits_ (Lapereaux).--In selecting rabbits for the table, the housekeeper should know that small claws and teeth denote youth, and that when the claws are long, thick, and curved, protruding far beyond the fur, the animal is generally more than 4 years old, and, of course, on this account less desirable than his offspring. The Belgian hare-rabbits are considered the best of all as food; and, whatever the preference of the consumer may be, it should never be forgotten that wild rabbits, if not usually so plump, are as a rule more gamey in their flavour, and are said to be far less subject to diseases of all kinds than the tame, bred and pampered as these are upon a more or less artificial diet. A wild rabbit, carefully roasted and served with all the accessories which are given to a roasted hare, becomes a very fair imitation of this latter dainty; and if it will not actually “jug,” it makes a most excellent curry, whilst the liver, properly fried, is a very toothsome little mouthful indeed.

Baked.--Open a 2 lb. tin of rabbit round the side (all tins should be opened in this way if the meat is required to be turned out without breaking); place the tin in boiling water to melt the jelly; pour the liquid into a saucepan, and add half a teacupful of gravy, which should be seasoned, but not thickened. Grate 3 oz. breadcrumbs; add a dessert spoonful of marjoram, a teaspoonful of thyme, a teaspoonful of chopped parsley, and ½ lb. minced ham or bacon. Mix together, and season with pepper and salt; put a thin layer of this mixture at the bottom of a pie dish well buttered, then a layer of rabbit and a layer of seasoning alternately until the dish is full. Pour the gravy over all and cover with a dish, and bake 15 minutes.

Boiled.--Truss the rabbits, and put them in cold water for 2 hours, changing the water 2 or 3 times. Put them into boiling water with a lump of stale crumb of bread, and boil them for 40-45 minutes. Have ready abundance of onion sauce made thus: take 2 doz. large, or 3 doz. small silver onions, peel them, take off the first coat, split them and throw them into cold water, and boil them till they are tender, changing the water twice, then squeeze and rub them through a colander. Put into a stewpan ½ lb. butter, or ¼ lb. butter and 1 gill cream, dredge in carefully a little flour and a little salt, throw in the onions, and shake them up gently till the mixture is smooth; keep stirring all the time.

Having the rabbits piping hot, smother them in the onion sauce, and garnish with lemon and sippets. An excellent sauce for boiled rabbit may also be made by boiling and pounding the liver. Add to this some good veal stock, or broth from the rabbit, season with mace and allspice, boil up and strain; then roll a piece of butter in flour, throw it into a stewpan, and before it colours pour in the previous mixture and add a little minced and blanched parsley.

Curried.--Place ¼ lb. butter into a stewpan on the fire, slice into it a good-sized onion or 2 small ones, and fry till they become a golden brown (being very careful not to let them burn); add one tablespoonful of curry powder, mix and fry lightly; then put the rabbit (which ought to be previously cooked and cut in pieces) in the pan; keep stirring a few minutes; throw in gently a little salt, and add slowly a teacupful of milk; stir it all well together on the fire, keeping it covered for ¼ hour, and, when it looks thick, squeeze the juice of a lemon into it. If it appears too rich, skim the butter off, and add a little more milk.

Cutlets.--Soak the rabbits all night, and pour boiling water over them before cooking. Cut cutlets out of the back and hindlegs. Roll these in egg and breadcrumbs, and serve with potatoes cut thin and fried in butter.

Fricassée.--Fry 2 onions cut in slices to a nice brown, and lay them at the bottom of a stewpan. Open a 2 lb. tin of rabbit, and set it in a saucepan of boiling water. Keep the tin in the water long enough to melt the jelly from the pieces of rabbit; pour the melted jelly among the fried onion, add ½ teacupful gravy, and simmer while the rabbit is being fried; thicken the gravy slightly, and slide the rabbit out gently on a plate. Egg, breadcrumb, and quickly fry each piece brown, or roll each piece well in flour and fry. Put the pieces carefully into the gravy and onion, leave them 5 minutes near the fire to imbibe the gravy and get thoroughly hot; toast some thin slices of bacon in a Dutch oven, put them round a hot dish, and place the rabbit in the centre. The stew must not simmer after the pieces of the rabbit are put in, else they will break from the bone. The difficulty lies in keeping the pieces of rabbit whole, as they are too much cooked in the tins, and when heated again they often present a jumbled appearance of strips of flesh and bleached-looking bones.

Pie.--Skin 2 rabbits, wash them thoroughly, and cut them into small joints. Have ready some lean bacon and 1 lb. rump or beef steak. Cut both in small pieces, and place them all on a large dish or a chopping board, sprinkle them well with salt, pepper, chopped parsley, and thyme. Mix all well together, put them in a pie dish, adding forcemeat balls or the yolks of hard-boiled eggs. Fill the dish with water, cover the whole with a light paste. Beat up an egg with a pinch of salt, glaze the pie with it, and bake in the oven for 2 hours.

Stewed.--Cut a rabbit in pieces, wash it in cold water, a little salted. Prepare in a stewpan some flour, and clarified dripping or butter; stir it up until it browns. Then put in the pieces of rabbit, and keep stirring and turning, until they are tinged with a little colour; then add 6 onions, peeled, but not cut up. Serve all together in a deep dish.