All game requires a brisk fire, and plenty of basting,
It is the custom among French cooks to fasten a thin
slice of bacon over the breast, in order to prevent the
bird being too dry. Indeed, they go so far as to send
the bird to table with the bacon still on. In my opinion,
this spoils the fiavour of the bird altogether, giving it
what may be termed a greasy taste. If bacon is fast-
ened on at all, it should then be taken off before the
bird is taken down ; the breast should be basted with
a little butter, and frothed and browned before it is
sent up.
With regard to the time that it takes to cook game,
it is difficult to lay down any general rule. The time
of course varies with the size of the birds. Young,
small partridges want about twenty-five minutes ;
good-sized partridges as much as thirty-five minutes ;
small grouse will take a little over half an hour, and
good-sized ones require three-quarters ; pheasants
require from thirty-five minutes to an hour ; or even
more, according to the size.
The principal thing, however, for the cook to bear
in mind is to adapt the time to the period of dinner
when the game wiU be required. Herein lies the great
secret of game being badly cooked. Have you not
often at a large dinner-party had game completely
dried up, the outside skin being quite hard ? The
reason of this is that the game was ready for table
about the period you were finishing your soup. The
fact is, cooks, especially young and inexperienced, get
nervous about time, forgetting that it is quite as bad
to have things dried up as to have them underdone.
It would be a good plan were the housekeeper to give
the following directions to the cook ; — Do not begin
to cook the game until you send up the soup. Suppose
the dinner to consist of soup, fish, entrees, and joint,
followed by game, there is ample time to cook grouse,
GAME AND GRAVY.
127
or even a small pheasant, by putting them down as
soon as the soup is served. In any case tell the cook
never to put down game until they know that dinner
may be served. The late arrival of some important
guest should never be the excuse of over-cooked game.
It would be far better to have a shght pause in the middle
of the dinner than to have things spoilt. Besides, a
pause after soup, fish, entrees, and joint is never objec-
tionable.
Another important point is the basting. Game
should be basted directly it is put down. Ordinary
dripping is quite good enough to commence with, but
it will be found an improvement if during the last five
minutes a httle butter is used instead. Baste quickly
with a httle butter, and froth it at the same time,
shaking a little fine dried flour over the breast out of a
flour-dredger. When this is done, let the game be
sent up immediately. Treat it, in fact, like a souffle,
which everybody knows, or ought to know, requires a
running-man for a waiter to be served properly.
In making bread sauce, it will be generally found
that cooks make it a long time before dinner — in fact,
putting in the bread-crumbs, so to speak, to soak in a
saucepan, with an onion, in a httle milk. The result
often is that the milk all dries up, and the sauce gets
burnt ; a fresh lot has to be made in a hurry, and a sort
of bread poultice is sent to table. There is, however,
a good deal of difference between bread sauce and a bread ✪ Bread Sauce
Page 66 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1906. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
All game requires a brisk fire, and plenty of basting, It is the custom among French cooks to fasten a thin slice of bacon over the breast, in order to prevent the bird being too dry. Indeed, they go so far as to send the bird to table with the bacon still on. In my opinion, this spoils the flavour of the bird altogether, giving it what may be termed a greasy taste. If bacon is fastened on at all, it should then be taken off before the bird is taken down ; the breast should be basted with a little butter, and frothed and browned before it is sent up.
With regard to the time that it takes to cook game, it is difficult to lay down any general rule. The time of course varies with the size of the birds. Young, small partridges want about twenty-five minutes ; good-sized partridges as much as thirty-five minutes ; small grouse will take a little over half an hour, and good-sized ones require three-quarters ; pheasants require from thirty-five minutes to an hour ; or even more, according to the size.
The principal thing, however, for the cook to bear in mind is to adapt the time to the period of dinner when the game will be required. Herein lies the great secret of game being badly cooked. Have you not often at a large dinner-party had game completely dried up, the outside skin being quite hard ? The reason of this is that the game was ready for table about the period you were finishing your soup. The fact is, cooks, especially young and inexperienced, get nervous about time, forgetting that it is quite as bad to have things dried up as to have them underdone. It would be a good plan were the housekeeper to give the following directions to the cook ; — Do not begin to cook the game until you send up the soup. Suppose the dinner to consist of soup, fish, entrees, and joint, followed by game, there is ample time to cook grouse,
or even a small pheasant, by putting them down as soon as the soup is served. In any case tell the cook never to put down game until they know that dinner may be served. The late arrival of some important guest should never be the excuse of over-cooked game. It would be far better to have a slight pause in the middle of the dinner than to have things spoilt. Besides, a pause after soup, fish, entrees, and joint is never objectionable.
Another important point is the basting. Game should be basted directly it is put down. Ordinary dripping is quite good enough to commence with, but it will be found an improvement if during the last five minutes a little butter is used instead. Baste quickly with a little butter, and froth it at the same time, shaking a little fine dried flour over the breast out of a flour-dredger. When this is done, let the game be sent up immediately. Treat it, in fact, like a souffle, which everybody knows, or ought to know, requires a running-man for a waiter to be served properly.
In making bread sauce, it will be generally found that cooks make it a long time before dinner — in fact, putting in the bread-crumbs, so to speak, to soak in a saucepan, with an onion, in a little milk. The result often is that the milk all dries up, and the sauce gets burnt ; a fresh lot has to be made in a hurry, and a sort of bread poultice is sent to table. There is, however, a good deal of difference between bread sauce and a bread
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Bread Sauce