Pheasant Soup

Ingredients

• a quart of veal or beef stock
• an ounce of butter
• an ounce of the lean of an unboiled ham finely minced
• a small sprig of thyme
• a bay-leaf
• a handful of parsley
• half a blade of mace
• three dozen cloves
• half a dozen peppercorns
• a shallot
• three or four of the outer sticks of a head of celery
• a small pinch of cayenne
• a glassful of sherry

Method

1. 1

   Flour a well-hung pheasant thickly, put it down to a brisk fire, and roast it for a quarter of an hour, basting it plentifully all the time.

2. 2

   Take it from the fire, let it get nearly cold, then take off the flesh from the breast and the upper part of the wings, skin it, and put it aside.

3. 3

   Cut up the rest of the bird, and bruise the bones.

4. 4

   Scrape a small carrot finely, put it into a stewpan with the other ingredients, stir until browned, add the pheasant, pour over stock, boil, and stew gently for half an hour.

5. 5

   Strain the soup, rub the meat through a sieve, mix with the soup, add cayenne, sherry, and fillets of pheasant, stir until hot, and serve.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Cassell's dictionary of cookery (1892) by Cassell & Company, page 1163. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

a small sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, and a dozen pepi^ercorns. Boil this down quickly until it is reduced to a glaze {see Glaze), then strain through a fine hair sieve, and mix with the meat. Add five or six ounces of clarified butter, and a little salt, and cayenne. Pound these ingredients together, and press the mixture into small potting- jars. Pour over them clarified butter to the thickness of half an inch, and store in a cool, dry place. Probable cost, 4s., with pheasants at 3s. each. Pheasant, Roast. — Pluck, draw, and singe a brace of jilicasants. Wipe them with a di-y cloth, truss them firmly, and either lard them or tie round the breasts a slice of fat bacon. Flour them well, put them before a clear fire, and baste liberally. When they are done enough, remove the bacon, serve the birds on a hot dish, and garnish with watercresses. Send good brown gravy and bread sauce to table with them. If the fashion is liked, half a dozen of the best of the tail- feathers may be stuck into the bird when it is dished. Time, three-quarters of an hour to I'oast a good-sized pheasant. Probable cost, 3s. each when in full season. Sufficient for four or five persons. Pheasant, Roast, To Carve.— Fix the fork in the centre of the breast, and cut slices ROAST PHEASANT. off evenly on either side. Should there be more guests to partake of the roast pheasant than these slices will satisfy, disengage the legs and wings in the same manner as is done when carving boiled fowl. In taking ofl: the wings, be careful not to cut too near the neck ; if you do, you will hit upon the neck-bone, from which the wing must be separated. Out off the merry- thought by passing the knife under it towards the neck. Cut the other parts as in a fowl. The breast, wings, and merry-thought of a pheasant are the most highly prized ; but the log has a superior flavour. Pheasant, Salmi of. — Roast a well-hung pheasant until it is a little more than half- dressed, then take it from the tire, and when it is almost cold, cut it into neat joints, and carefully remove the skin and fat. Put the meat aside until wanted, and place the bones and trimmings in a saucepan with an ounce of fresh butter, a sprig of thjTne, and a bay- leaf, and stir th(_'se ingredients over a slow fire until they are lightly browned ; then pour over them half a pint of good browr^ sauce, and a glassful of sherry. Let them siinmer gently for a quarter of an horn- ; strain the gravy, skim it carefully, add a pinch of cayenne, and the juice of half a lemon, and put it back into the saucepan with the pieces of game. Let them heat very gradually, and on no account allow them to boil. Pile them on a het dish, pour the hot sauce over them, and garnish with fried sippets. If there is no brown sauce at hand, it may be prepared as follows : — Mince finely a quarter of a pound of the lean of an unboiled ham, and put it into a saucepan, wdth two ounces of fresh butter, a shallot, a large scraped carrot, two or three mushrooms (if at hand), a blade of mace, a small sprig of thyme, a handful of parsley, two cloves, and half a dozen l^eppercorns. Stir these over a slow fire until they are brightly browned ; then di-edge a table- spoonful of flour over them, and let it colour also. Pour in gradually three-quarters of a pint of water, and a glassful of sherry, and add a little salt, and the bones and trimmings of the pheasant ; let the sauce boil up, then draw the saucepan to the side of the tire, and let it keep simmering for an hour and a half. Strain the gravy, and skim carefully. Put it back into the saucepan with the joints of meat, a lump of sugar, and a little lemon-j nice, or Seville orange-juice; heat slowly, and serve as above. Time, twenty to thirty minutes to roast the pheasant, a quarter of an hour in the first instance, or an hour and a half in the second, to simmer the sauce. Probable cost. Is., exclusive of the pheasant. Sufficient for five or six persons Pheasant, Sea (v'c Pintail or Sea Phcds mt) Pheasant Soup.— Flour a well-hung ])h( ismt 1 itht 1 thickly, put it down to a brisk liK, lud loist it for a quarter of an hour, bisting it plnitifully all the time. Take it fiom the fii'c. and let it get nearlycold ; then take oft' the flesh from the lavast and the upper part of the wings, skin it, and put it aside. Cut up the rest of the bird, and bruise the bones. Scrape a small carrot finely, put it into a stewpan with an ounce of butter, an ounce of the PHE ( 545 ) PIC lean of an unboiled ham finely minced, ii small S23iig of thyme, a bay -leaf , a handful of parsley, half a blade of mace, thi-ee dozen cloves, half a dozen peppercorns, a shallot, and three or four of the outer sticks of a head of eelerj-. Stir these ingredients over a gentle fire until they are brightly browned, jiut in the tiesh and the bruised body of the bird, pom- over them a quart of veal or beef stock, and after boiling, stew gently for half an hoiu-, and bo careful to remove the scum as it rises. Strain the sou^j, and rub the meat through a tamis or sieve. Mix the puree with the soup, add to it a small pinch of cayenne, a little salt, a glassful of sherry

Cook this with the app: pantry check, scaling, and the assistant.