Dressed Game and Poultry a la Mode Part 5

Scalloped Partridges.

Take the fillets of a brace of partridges, saute them in b.u.t.ter till firm, drain them, and put in some good game stock and two tablespoonfuls of Allemagne sauce; when boiling put in the scalloped partridges, with two or three peeled mushrooms, a small piece of b.u.t.ter, and the juice of half a lemon. Dish up the scallops in a circle, and fill the same in the centre.

Partridges a la Sierra Morena.

Take a brace of partridges properly trussed; cut into dice one inch thick a little less than half a pound of bacon, and put them in the stewpan; cut two large onions in quarters, take six whole black peppers, a little salt, one bayleaf, half a gill of vinegar, one gill of port wine, one gill of water, one tablespoonful of salad oil, and put all these ingredients into the stewpan; put on the lid, and cover the stewpan with half a sheet of brown kitchen paper; put the stewpan on a slow fire to stew for two hours; then take out the partridges and dish them and put round some of the quarters of onions which have been stewed. Pa.s.s the gravy through a sieve and send to table.

Partridge Souffle.

Roast a partridge, chop and pound the flesh in a mortar with a few spoonfuls of Bechamel sauce and a small piece of b.u.t.ter. Season well; mix with this four eggs, and strain the whole through a sieve into a basin. Beat the whites of the eggs stiffly, and mix lightly with the puree. Put all into the souffle dish, and let it bake in the oven for twenty minutes. Cover the top with a piece of paper to prevent its burning.

Partridge Souffle.

Another way.

Skin a brace of cold roast partridges, cut off all the meat, and pound it in a mortar with the birds' livers; warm up in a saucepan with a little reduced stock, and pa.s.s through a tammy. Break up the bones and put them into a saucepan with a good brown sauce and stock, and reduce till nearly a glaze; add the partridge puree and half an ounce of b.u.t.ter, two yolks of eggs, and the two whites whipped, which must be stirred in gradually; pour into a souffle dish, and bake as soon as the souffle has risen sufficiently. Serve it _at once_.

Perdreaux en Surprise.

Take two roasted partridges, cut out the whole of the b.r.e.a.s.t.s in a square piece, so as to make a square aperture, clean away all the spongy substance from the interior, and make a _salpicon_ to be put inside the birds as follows:--Cut into very small dice the flesh taken out of the birds, also some truffles and pepper and salt. Put these into a little veloute sauce, and with this stuff the birds. Dip them into eggs and breadcrumbs put some bits of b.u.t.ter all over, and fry them of a nice colour. Dish up and serve with Espagnole sauce.

Stewed Partridges.

Lard a brace of partridges, and place them in a stewpan with onions, carrots, rashers of bacon, a bouquet garni, and equal quant.i.ties of stock and light claret, and simmer over a slow fire, skimming constantly. When done, dish up the partridges, reduce the sauce, and pa.s.s through a sieve and pour over the birds.

Partridge a la Toussenel.

Take a brace of partridges, stuff them with the livers of the birds minced up together with b.u.t.ter and some truffles which have been cooked in champagne; wrap each bird up in a figleaf or vineleaf, and over these place a sheet of b.u.t.tered paper. Then put the birds on the spit, and roast till about three-fourths cooked; then take off the spit, and under the four members of each bird spread a mixture of breadcrumb worked into a farce with pepper, b.u.t.ter, parsley, shalot, and grated nutmeg. Replace the birds on the spit, and let them finish roasting, basting them continually alternately with broth and champagne. These drippings, to which the grated peel of one lemon and the juice of a Seville orange are added, form the sauce to be served with it.

Partridge Tartlets.

Bouchees de Perdreaux.

Take the b.r.e.a.s.t.s of two cooked partridges, about six ounces, and cut into very small pieces. Mince two ounces of lean ham, one truffle, and six mushrooms; stir this mixture into a gill of white sauce. b.u.t.ter nine small moulds, line them neatly with this mixture, smooth well over with a hot wet knife, fill in with minced partridge, coat them neatly over the top with the quenelle meat, steam them for twenty minutes; dish on a circle of mashed potato, pour good white sauce over and round them, and serve French beans or tomatoes in the centre.

Partridge a la Venitienne.

Put a brace of partridges into a stewpan with b.u.t.ter, two gla.s.ses of Chablis, and two gla.s.ses of stock, add a bouquet garni, very little garlic, two cloves, salt and pepper; let them simmer gently. Take them off when done, pa.s.s the gravy through a sieve, add a little b.u.t.ter and flour to thicken it, a small piece of glaze, a little cayenne and salt.

Pour the sauce over the partridges, and cover over all with two spoonfuls of grated Parmesan cheese; put a few breadcrumbs and pieces of clarified b.u.t.ter on this, and set the whole on a baking sheet in the oven. Brown the birds well, and serve with sauce espagnole or sauce piquante.

Pintail.

This bird should be roasted at a clear quick fire, well floured when first laid down, turned briskly, and basted with b.u.t.ter _constantly_. It takes about twenty-five minutes to roast, and then it should be laid down before the fire for two or three more, when it will yield a very rich gravy. Score the breast, and sprinkle a little cayenne on it, and send cut lemon up to table to hand with it.

Boiled Pheasant.

Cover with b.u.t.tered paper and simmer as gently as possible till it is done enough. Pour either celery, horseradish, oyster, or soubise sauce over it, and serve more in a tureen.

Boudins of Pheasant a la Richelieu.

Take a cold pheasant and pick the meat from it; remove the skin and sinews, and pound the flesh in a mortar to a smooth paste. Mix its weight with the same quant.i.ty of pounded potatoes or panada and six ounces of fresh b.u.t.ter. Mix these thoroughly, pound them together, and season highly with salt and cayenne, and a trifle of mace. Bind together with the yolks of four eggs, one at a time, two tablespoonfuls of white sauce, and last of all two tablespoonfuls of boiled onions chopped small. Spread this mixture out on a dish, and make it up into small cutlets about three inches long, two inches wide, and a quarter of an inch thick. Drop these carefully into very hot water, and poach them gently for a few minutes. The water must not boil. Take them up, drain, and let them get cold; then egg and breadcrumb them, and fry them in hot b.u.t.ter a nice pale colour. Make a gravy by peeling and frying four onions in b.u.t.ter till lightly browned, dredge an ounce of flour over them, and pour upon them half a pint of stock, a gla.s.sful of claret, the bones of the pheasant, and pepper and salt. Simmer over fire for twenty minutes, strain through sieve, and it is ready for use. Serve the boudins in a circle with the gravy round.

Pheasant a la Bonne Femme.

Put a well-hung pheasant in a b.u.t.tered stewpan with three ounces of good beef dripping and six ounces of ham cut into dice. Let the pheasant fry over fire till it is nicely and lightly browned, then add a tablespoonful of chutnee and three large Spanish onions cut in rings; cover the saucepan, and let it simmer till all are cooked. Take up the bird and put it on a dish, beat the onions over the fire for ten minutes, season with pepper and salt, and serve round the pheasant.

Pheasant a la Brillat-Savarin.

Hang a pheasant till tender, pluck, draw, and lard it carefully. Bone and draw two woodc.o.c.ks, keep the trail separate, throw away the gizzards, chop up the meat with beef marrow which has been cooked by steam, sc.r.a.ped bacon, pepper, salt, mixed herbs and truffles; fill the pheasant with this stuffing, which fix in with a piece of bread the shape of a cork and tie it round with fine thread. Lay a thick slice of bread two inches broader than the pheasant in the dripping pan; pound the tail of the woodc.o.c.k in a mortar with truffles, add anchovy, a little sc.r.a.ped bacon, and a lump of fresh b.u.t.ter; spread a thick layer on the bread, roast the pheasant over it so as to catch all the dripping and dish up on it.

Creme of Pheasants a la Moderne.

Take two pheasants, remove the skin from the breast, and cut from each the two large fillets and the two under ones; remove every particle of the white flesh that did not come away with the fillets, leaving the legs and pinions on the carcases.

Spread each fillet on a board and with a knife sc.r.a.pe the flesh from the skin of the fillet. When the flesh is removed from the four large fillets and from the four smaller ones, and little remnants gathered from the carcases, place them in a mortar and pour in a gill of cream and pound well for a few minutes, then rub through clean wire sieve, place it back in the mortar and keep adding, a gill at a time, more cream until one pint of cream is used up; now take two plain cylinder moulds, well b.u.t.tered and ornamented according to fancy with truffles (or small dariole moulds may be used), fill carefully and place a piece of b.u.t.tered paper on the top of the mould or moulds, and place them in a stewpan with about a pint of boiling water and let them simmer very gently for twenty minutes and turn out. Make a sauce to serve with this dish of the carcases, &c., mixed with rich Bechamel sauce, and when dished there should be a garnish of peas, mushrooms, or shred truffles.

Pheasant Cutlets.

Take a well-hung young pheasant, cut it when prepared into neat joints.

Take out the bones carefully and shape the joints into cutlets; flatten these with the cutlet-bat, season rather highly and cover them thickly with egg and finely-grated breadcrumbs. Put the bones and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs into a saucepan with a carrot, a turnip, an onion, a handful of parsley, a bouquet garni, a bayleaf, pepper, salt, and as much water as will cover them. Let them stew slowly till the flavour of the herbs is drawn out, then thicken gravy and strain. Fry the cutlets in hot fat till a bright brown. Serve on a hot dish in a circle with one of the small bones stuck into each cutlet; pour the gravy round.

Galantine of Pheasant a la Mode.

Bone a pheasant, cut off the legs and press what is left of the leg inside, and cut away any sinews. Take three-quarters of a pound of sausage meat, a dozen oysters, three or four truffles, a slice of tongue, and three rashers of fat bacon. Cut the truffles into _small_ dice, also the tongue and bacon. Mix all together with the sausage meat, adding a little cayenne pepper, half a teaspoonful of herbs mixed, half an ounce of melted gelatine, and two yolks of eggs. Mix well together, and spread over the pheasant evenly. Then roll it up lengthways and tightly in a cloth and place it in saucepan to boil for an hour, then take it out and remove the cloth carefully. To serve this dish, cut it up into thin slices and dish them in a circle, letting one piece overlap the other uniformly all round. Place a little cress salad compressed into a ball on the top, and at the base a few croutons of aspic jelly at an equal distance apart, and a little chopped aspic between. Sprinkle a little over the salad ball at the top.

Fritot of Creme of Pheasant.

Take eight tartlet tins, not too large, b.u.t.ter them, and fill about three parts full of creme of pheasant and place them in the oven for a few minutes. When quite firm to the touch, remove them from oven, and when cold dip each one into a light batter and fry in clean lard of a light brown. The batter should be made with half a pound of Vienna flour, the half of a yolk of egg, a dessertspoonful of salad oil, and a gill of pale ale. Mix all these together lightly till it will mask the point of one's finger; if too thick, add a drop or two more ale. Serve with brown or mushroom sauce. Send this dish very hot to table.