A guide to modern cookery

Raise the young partridge’s fillets, leaving the wing-bone attached to the carcass, and put them aside. From the minion fillets and the meat of the legs, prepare a mousseline forcemeat ; mould the latter in very small buttered cutlet moulds, and set to poach. Roll the fillets in melted butter and bread-crumbs, and grill them gently. Dip the cutlets in beaten egg; roll them in finelychopped truffles; press upon the latter with the flat of a knife, that they may combine with the egg; adjust the shape of the cutlets, and toss them in butter. Dish in the form of a circle, alternating the fillets and the cutlets; pour in their midst a cullis prepared from the partridge’s carcasses, and serve a chestnut purée separately. 1872—TIMBALE DE PERDREAU DIANE Line a liberally-buttered, shallow mould with crescents of truffle arranged in superposed rows, and then completely cover the bottom and sides of the mould with a layer, two-thirds in. thick, of raw partridge forcemeat. Place the mould in the front of the oven that the forcemeat may be poached; and then spread another layer of gratin forcemeat of game. Fill the utensil with a garnish of small quenelles consisting of truffled partridge forcemeat, mushrooms and slices of truffles, cohered with a reduced Madeira sauce. Cover the garnish with a small coat of forcemeat, and poach in the bain-murie for from thirty to thirty-five minutes. When about to serve, turn out on a dish, and deck the timbale with a crown of partridges’ suprémes, raised from birds fresh from the spit or the oven. Surround the base of the timbale with a thread of Diane sauce, and send a sauceboat of the latter separately. 1873—PERDREAUX FROIDS The various recipes given for cold pheasant also suit cold partridge; it is only necessary therefore to replace the word ‘‘pheasant’’ by ‘“‘ partridge’’ in the formule referred to. 1874—WOODCOCK AND SNIPE (BECASSE ET BECASSINES) If grouse, which can only be thoroughly appreciated in its native country, were extinct, woodcock would be the leading feathered game. But the latter have this advantage over the former, namely: that their fumet is not so fugitive, and that they may be kept much longer. Woodcock does not yield its full quality unless it be moderately high. 1875—BECASSE DE CAREME Sprinkle the woodcock with a few drops of oil, and roast it, keeping it underdone. As soon as it is cooked, divide it into two lengthwise, and cut each half of the breast into two collops. Mix half a coffeespoonful of French mustard in a small vegetable-pan, with a few drops of lemon juice. Roll the pieces of woodcock in this mustard, and keep them hot. Chop up the carcass and the intestines; sprinkle with a glassful of burnt liqueur brandy; reduce; add a tablespoonful of game fumet, and cook for five minutes. Strain through a strainer, pressing on the pieces of woodcock in so doing, and rock the saucepan, that the pieces may be coated with the cullis. Dish in a hot timbale, and, upon the pieces, set the woodcock’s head. N.B.—Beécasse a la fine Champagne is prepared in the same way, but without mustard. Cut it into six pieces: wings, legs and two halves of the breast, and put these pieces into a round cocotte. Swill the saucepan with burnt liqueur brandy; add the chopped intestines, mixed with the juices of the pressed carcass; add a tablespoonful of fumet, a little lemon juice, and a little cayenne, and pour this cullis (heated but not boiled) over the pieces. Bécasse a la Riche is prepared in the same way, but :—(1) the pieces are dished on a crotton of fried bread, coated with gratin forcemeat of game; (2) the sauce is thickened with a little foie-gras purée and one oz. of butter, and then strained over the pieces through a coarse strainer, during which process the operator should press with a spoon or a whisk. 1876—BECASSE A LA FAVART