Dressed game and poultry à la mode

Carve the birds very neatly, and strip every particle of skin and fat from the legs, wings, and breasts, braise the bodies well and put them with the skin and other trimmings into a very clean stewpan. Add two or three sliced shalots, a bayleaf, a small blade of mace and a few peppercorns, then pour in a pint of good veal gravy, and boil briskly till reduced nearly half, strain the gravy, pressing the bones well, skim off the fat, add a dust of cayenne and squeeze in a few drops of lemon ; heat the game very gradually in it, but it must not be allowed to boil. Place sippets of fried bread round the dish, arrange the birds in a pyramid, give the same a boil and pour over. A couple of wineglasses of port or claret should be mixed with the gravy. Ortolans in Cases. Bone as many ortolans as are required, have ready about three rashers of bacon chopped fine, which must be put into a saute-pan with two shalots, one bay leaf, a bouquet garni, half a teaspoonful of black pepper and salt to taste. These must be fried till coloured ; then add half a pound of calf's liver, cut small, and fried till brown ; next place them in a mortar and pound them well, add the yolks of three hard boiled eggs and some truffle cuttings, pound again, and pass through a sieve ; stuff the ortolans with this forcemeat, roll them up, and place them in a well-oiled paper case, and then bake in a quick oven. Pour over each case before serving a gravy made from the bones and trimmings of the birds, half a pint of rich gravy and a glass of claret, which should be reduced one half : send to table as hot as possible. Ortolans a la Perigourdine. Cover the ortolans with slices of bacon, and cook them in a bain-marie moistened with stock and lemon juice. Take as many truffles as there are ortolans, scoop out the centres and boil them in champagne (Saumur will do). When done, pour a little puree of game into each truffle, add the ortolans, warm for a few seconds in the oven, and serve. Ortolans aux Truffes. Take as many even large-sized truffles as ortolans ; make a large round hole in the middle of each truffle, and put in it a little chicken forcemeat. Cut off the heads, necks, and feet of the birds, season with salt and pepper, and lay each bird on its back in one of the truffles. Arrange them in a stewpan, lay thin slices of bacon over them, pour over them some good stock, into which a gill of Madeira has been poured, and then simmer them very gently for twenty-five minutes. Dish the ortolans on toast, and strain the gravy over them. Partridges a la Barbaric. Truss the birds, and stuff them with chopped truffles and rasped bacon, seasoned with salt and pepper and a tiny dust of cayenne. Cut small pieces of truffles in the shape of nails ; make holes with a penknife in the breasts of the birds ; widen the holes with a skewer, and fill them with the truffles ; let this decoration be very regular. Put them into a stewpan with slices of bacon round them, and good gravy poured in enough to cover the birds. When they have been stewed for twenty minutes glaze them ; dish them up with a Financiere sauce (see 'Entrees a la Mode'). Partridge Blancmanger aux Truffes.