Roast Pheasant

Ingredients

• One pair of pheasants
• one quarter of a pound of butter
• one tea-spoonful of salt
• one half tea-spoonful of pepper
• six table-spoonfiils of bread crumbs
• one table-spoonful of chopped parsley

Method

1. 1

   Pluck, singe, and draw the pheasants.

2. 2

   Chop off the claws and dip them in boiling water.

3. 3

   Skewer the wings and legs for roasting.

4. 4

   Prepare dressing with bread crumbs, parsley, pepper, salt, and 2 ounces of butter.

5. 5

   Stuff the birds, sew the neck, place in a roasting pan, and distribute remaining butter.

6. 6

   Roast in a moderate oven for 1.5 hours, basting constantly.

As published

This recipe was extracted from Handbook of practical cookery (1886) by Matilda Lees Dods, page 60. The excerpt below is the record exactly as published.

Roast Pheasant. — One pair of pheasants, one quarter of a pound of butter, one tea-spoonful of salt, one half tea- spoonful of pepper, six table-spoonfiils of bread crumbs, one table-spoonful of chopped parsley. PARTRIDGE PIE. 83 "When the pheasants have been plucked, singed, and drawn, chop off the claws, and dip them into boiling water in order that the skin may be pulled easily from them. "Which do. Twist then the point of the wings behind the neck, pass a skewer through them at the first joint, piercing the top of both legs and straight through the body in the process, to hold the bird in proper form for roasting and serving. Tie the legs together just above the claws ; after which prepare the dressing by placing the bread crumbs into a bowl, to- gether with the chopped parsley, pepper, and salt, and knead all together with two ounces of the butter. Stuff the breast of each bird with this dressing, sew to- gether the incision at the neck, when this is done, with a needle and piece of thread, and place the pheasants side by side in a roasting-pan ; distribute the remaining butter in small pieces over the breast of each, and putting the pan in a moderate oven, roast the birds therein for an hour and a half, basting them constantly with the butter as it melts. Serve the pheasants upon a hot platter, and with bread and brown sauce sent to the table in separate gravy-boats. NOTE. — Bread and brown sauces, see page 176. Partridge Pie. — One brace of partridges, one pound of fillet of veal, one table-spoonful of chopped parsley, three gills of brown stock, four ounces of butter, one dessert-spoon- ful of salt, one-half tea-spoonful of pepper. Pluck, draw, and singe the partridges ; after which split each in halves. Put into each half a piece of butter, sprink- ling them also with a little pepper and salt. Place then in the bottom of a deep pie-dish the fillet of veal, sprinkle over it the chopped parsley, and putting the halves of partridge upon this, line the edge of the dish with a strip of puff paste (see page 195) ; pour over all the stock, and cover over all a blanket of the paste rolled to half an inch in thick- ness. Bake the pie in a quick oven for an hour and a half. NOTE. — If desired, half a pound of lean bacon may be placed upon the veal as a flavouring ingredient. 84 MEATS. Roasts-rouse. — Two brace of grouse, one half pound of butter, one dessert - spoonful of salt, one tea-spoonful of pepper. The birds should hang in a cool place at least three days after being shot, when they should be plucked, singed, and drawn, and wiped outside and inside with a clean cloth. Sprinkle them each then thoroughly inside with the pep- per, divide the butter into f our equal parts, and place one of these inside each as well. Place the birds then side by side in a baking-pan, and putting this into a quick oven, let all bake for half an hour. When the grouse are roasted, arrange some slices of but- tered toast upon a platter ; place the birds upon these, and pouring over them the gravy from the pan, serve very hot. Bread sauce should be served with roast birds. (See page 176.) Wild Ducks. — One pair of wild ducks, one quarter of a pound of butter, one tea-spoonful of salt, one half tea- spoonful of pepper. Carefully pluck, draw, and singe the fowls; wash them slightly, and dry them in and outside with a towel. Sprinkle inside of each the pepper and salt, spread the butter well over the breasts, and placing them side by side upon a drip- ping-pan, bake in a very quick hot oven fifteen minutes. The blood should follow the knife when carved, if the duck be properly cooked. Cut into slices some cold boiled hominy, fry them to a light brown in butter, and arranging these upon a platter, serve the fowl upon this with an accompaniment of currant jelly. NOTE. — Canvas -back duck, now sent largely to this country from Baltimore, ought to be cooked in the same way as our English wild duck. Larks. — Six or eight larks, one quarter pound of fat bacon, one dessert-spoonful of -salt, one tea-spoonful of pepper. PIGEONS WITH GREEN PEASE. 85 When the birds are plucked, singed, and drawn, they should be carefully cleansed inside and out with a dry towel. Cut the bacon then into very thin slices, and folding one of these slices over the breast of each bird, securing it there with a wrapping of twine, string the birds upon a spit with the breasts all turned the same way, and broil over an open fire for twenty minutes. Serve upon a hot platter, garnished with fresh sprigs of parsley or with water-cresses. Woodcock on Toast.— Two brace of woodcock, four ounces of butter, one tea-spoonful of salt, one tea-spooiiful of pepper. When plucked and singed the woodcock should be drawn, cutting out the neck, but leaving the head, which must be drawn around, and the long bill passed through the legs, wings, and body as a trussing skewer. Season each by rubbing a little pepper and salt inside, sti-iug them upon a spit, rub over each breast a portion of the butter, and broil the birds over an open fire for twenty minutes. The livers should now be boiled for five minutes, pounded in a mortar or chopped very finely ; and this paste being spread over two slices of butter toast, the toast should be placed upon a hot platter, and the woodcock served thereon. NOTE. — Quail and snipe may be served and prepared as prescribed for woodcock. Pigeons with Green Pease. — One pair of pigeons, one pint of shelled green pease, two ounces of butter, one gill of stock, one tea-spoonful of salt, one half tea-spoonful of pepper

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