Quail

Ingredients

• quail
• oiled paper case
• a vine-leaf
• a thin envelope of bacon

Method

1. 1

   Cook the quail in a paper case or wrapped in bacon with a vine-leaf underneath.

2. 2

   Roast to preserve flavor.

As published

This recipe was extracted from The spirit of cookery (1895) by Johann Ludwig Wilhelm Thudichum, page 319. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

quails, a remarkable illustration of the differences in the views of things at which men may arrive under different circumstances. In this country, and on the Continent, many persons strongly object to the killing and eating of larks, while in the South of Europe these birds are such a nuisance at certain times, that they have to be killed in numbers in order to reduce the damage which they inflict on agriculture. Migratory birds, they collect in the southern peninsulas which project into the Mediterranean, and are dying, or being killed by birds of pi'ey and men, in enormous numbers. The ancient- Athenians ate many larks, as do the southern Spaniards of the present day, when quails are not plentiful. They were preserved, and it was forbidden to kill them on the island of Lemnos, as it was erroneously believed that they had saved it from the locusts. The lark in the French language has a commonplace name besides a special culinary one ; it remains an aloiiette until it is plucked, trussed, and ready to be spitted, and then it becomes a mauviette. The English physician Lister, of the time of Queen Anne, laid it down as a principle concerning the culinary use of larks, that unless of twelve larks each did weigh at least 7 drachms, they were not eatable; if they weighed as much they were passable, and if they weighed together 100 drachms, or 12i oz., or more, they were excellent. The preparations of larks are roasting in the plain or egged and crumbed state, fnjing and braising in the stuffed or empty state. A good mode is to bed the larks on some farce on a silver dish or in a braising-pan, to cover them 5o8 THE SPIRIT OF COOKERY with slices of bacon and an oiled paper, and bake them in a French field or country stove so called { fourde cainpagne), or in an oven. Various other preparations are characterized by a ragout or sauce only. Buffs, the males, and reeves, the females, of the species tringa (in French le combattant), are best towards the end of May. They are caught in nets, kept in boxes and fattened, and then roasted or fried like larks. Quails, French cailles, are also migratory birds, breeding in temperate latitudes, and wintering in more southerly climes. The European quails spend the winter mainly in Africa. When in early autumn they arrive from the north in the southern parts of Europe, they are mostly in excel- lent condition. The flocks, which comprise thousands of individuals, consist mainly of young birds. After their arrival they are chased by sportsmen as well as the people, •and thousands are slain, with sticks or shot, and snared or netted ; and it is for this wholesale destruction that the German peasant unwittingly preserves and surrounds with a halo of sanctity the nests and young of the revered Wachtel. Again, when the quails return from Africa and land exhausted on islands or peninsulas of the northern Mediterranean, they meet with the same reception. In the spring of 1894 a steamer of the French Messageries from Alexandria carried 90,000 quails in boxes. The ship being delayed by adverse weather, the food provided proved insufficient, and several thousands of birds died of starvation before reaching Marseilles. By the common consent of gastronomers, quail is never cooked in any other way than as roast in a paper case {rotie en papillote) ; its flavour is very volatile, and when- ever the bird is brought in contact with liquid, the perfume evaporates and is lost. For the oiled paper case a thin envelope of bacon may be substituted, with a vine-leaf

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