The European cookbook for American homes (from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France)

Salt and pepper il/2 pounds sauerkraut 2 partridges or 1 pheasant 1 cup peeled and sliced apples Bacon slices l/2 cup white wine 3 tablespoons goose fat or butter 1 tablespoon flour Salt and pepper birds. Wrap in bacon slices and tie securely with twine. Heat fat and brown bacon-wrapped bird lightly. Wash sauerkraut in cold water, drain and wring dry. Place a layer of kraut with several apple slices in bottom of a deep fire- proof dish or casserole and imbed the birds. Cover with kraut and rest of apple slices. Pour the wine over, adding a little water. Cover closely and let simmer and steam for iJ^-2 hours. Take up birds. Thicken kraut with flour. Make nests in the kraut and replace birds. Serve in same dish. M. Andre Simon, chief fork of the London Wine and Food Society, says: "A partridge, in French gastronomic parlance, is always masculine, whatever its sex, when young and tender: un perdreau. When no longer young nor quite so tender, it is in- variably feminine, une perdrix. The spit and an open fire and its own juice suit the perdreau admirably, but the perdrix is at her best in a soft nest of well-cooked cabbage." Alsace ALSATIAN SAUERKRAUT {Choucroute Alsacienne) l/2 pound goose fat 1 large carrot, chopped 2 pounds sauerkraut l/z pound bacon, thick slices 1 large onion, minced Vi pound ham, thin slices FRENCH 339 Vz pound smoked sausage Juniper berries (optional) 2 apples, peeled and sliced i pint white wine i dozen peppercorns i pint meat broth Arrange ingredients in a casserole in alternating layers. Cover with buttered paper, then fit the cover on, making as nearly air-tight as possible. Set in moderate oven (3500 F.) and bake il/2 hours. Serve sauerkraut very hot, with meats laid on top. Brasserie Lipp, Boulevard St. Germain, the Alsatian center of Paris, makes a great specialty of sauerkraut cooked in this manner, and qualifies the bad reputation of French beers by drawing an excellent Alsatian brew which invariably accom- panies the dish. Champagne YOUNG RABBIT CHAMPAGNE STYLE (Lapereau Saute au Champagne) % pound butter 2 cups champagne or white wine 2 tablespoons minced ham Half a bay leaf 1 young rabbit, quartered 2 sprigs parsley Salt and pepper 1 sprig thyme 3 shallots, sliced thin Heat butter, add ham and seasoned rabbit. Slowly and lightly brown. Take up rabbit, add champagne, herbs and shallot. Cover and heat. Put back rabbit and simmer until tender, keeping closely covered, basting and turning occasionally. An earthenware casserole is best for the second process. 340 THE EUROPEAN COOKBOOK Languedoc CASSOULET A LA LANGUEDOCIENNE i pound white haricot beans Fresh pork rind Confit d'oie (potted, braised, boned goose, sealed with fat) i onion, chopped 2 tablespoons well-reduced tomato puree i cup white wine l/i cup meat broth 2 garlic cloves, crushed i teaspoon minced parsley Salt and pepper *4 cup mixture bread crumbs and garlic with parsley minced together Soak beans over night, parboil with pork rind, and drain. Heat fat from confit d'oie, and brown wings and legs; lay in a casserole. Mix onion, tomato puree, wine, broth, garlic cloves, parsley and seasonings. Put beans and pork rind on top; then turn upside down into the casserole on top of browned goose. Sprinkle with crumb-garlic mixture, cover and bake; uncover and brown. Languedoc CASSOULET DE CASTELNAUDARY