Dressed game and poultry à la mode

From the librarian's dossier · AI-generated, grounded in the scanned text

This 1888 volume by Harriet Anne de Salis is a specialized Victorian cookbook devoted entirely to the preparation of game and poultry. Rather than a general household manual, it offers an extensive repertoire of recipes for chicken, duck, goose, grouse, hare, partridge, rabbit, snipe, teal, turkey, venison, widgeon, wild ducks, and woodcock, ranging from simple roasts to elaborate composed dishes involving aspics, forcemeats, and rich sauces. The recipes draw heavily on French culinary technique while also noting dishes credited to American, Spanish, Indian, and German sources, reflecting the cosmopolitan tastes of upper-class English dining in the late nineteenth century. Readers will find methods for braising, larding, glazing, making pies and puddings, and constructing elaborate presentations such as chartreuses, salmis, and croustades. The book assumes a well-stocked kitchen with access to good meat stock and specialty ingredients like truffles, and it is aimed at cooks already familiar with more basic culinary skills. With over 130 anchored food entries and a closing alphabetical index, this is a focused technical reference for preparing feathered and furred game in the fashionable manner of its era, offering a window into the elaborate multi-course dining culture of well-to-do Victorian households.

The book is organized as a continuous sequence of recipes grouped loosely by animal or bird type, beginning with poultry and common game (chicken, duck, goose, grouse) in section 1, moving to hare and partridge with more elaborate French-style preparations in section 2, and concluding in section 4 with rabbit, snipe, teal, turkey, venison, widgeon, wild ducks, and woodcock. The book closes with a comprehensive alphabetical index of all recipes from blackbird pie through woodcock, suggesting the collection functions as a reference work meant to be consulted by dish rather than read straight through. A preface opens the volume, indicating the author's intent to introduce the collection's scope and approach.