No. 547. Faisans à l’Extravagante.
This is a very elegant remove, and can be made where woodcocks are plentiful, but to the economiser it would appear a most extravagant extravaganza; procure two large pheasants and six woodcocks, fillet the woodcocks and cut each fillet in halves lengthwise, put two ounces of scraped bacon in a sautépan with a tablespoonful of chopped eschalots and half a pottle of chopped mushrooms; lay the fillets over them, season with pepper and salt, set them over the fire five minutes, turn the fillets, set them again on the fire five minutes longer, add twenty tablespoonfuls of bechamel sauce (No. 7), half a pound of cockscombs previously cooked, a little grated nutmeg, and half a spoonful of sugar; it must be rather highly seasoned; add three yolks of eggs, stir a minute over the fire till the egg sets, then put it on a dish to cool; when firm divide it in two, and stuff the pheasants with it, having previously extracted all the breast bone, sew the skin of the neck over on the back, but do not draw it too tight, or it would burst on the breast; surround with fat bacon, and tie them in oiled paper; roast them one hour, but just before they are done take off the paper and bacon; shake flour over, and they will become brown and crisp; have ready prepared the following sauce: put the remainder of the woodcocks in a stewpan, with two glasses of sherry, a pint of white stock, two eschalots (cut in slices), a little parsley, thyme, and bay-leaf, two cloves, and half a blade of mace, let simmer a quarter of an hour, add a quart of brown sauce, let the whole boil together twenty minutes at the corner of the stove, take out the pieces of woodcock, and pass the sauce through a tammie into a clean stewpan, take the flesh and trails of the woodcocks from the bones, which pound well in the mortar, then put it in the sauce, boil it up again, season with a little pepper, salt, and half a teaspoonful of sugar, and rub it through a tammie with two wooden spoons, the sauce is then ready; for garniture cut twenty-four pieces of bread in the form of hearts, cover them on one side with forcemeat (No. 123) rather thick in the middle, and fix a cockscomb ready dressed upon each; butter a sauté-pan, and lay them in it; cover them over with a sheet of buttered paper, and place them half an hour in a moderate oven; make a border of forcemeat (No. 120), poached in pieces an inch broad and half an inch thick, which lay on your dish, upon which dress them, place the pheasants in the centre, pour the sauce round, glaze the birds and cockscombs, and serve.
The way to carve pheasants dressed this way is as follows: the breast being free from bone, detach the legs with a knife, and cut the breast in slices in a slanting direction; the scraped bacon will escape in roasting, keeping the birds moist; they will not cut greasy, but will have a marbled appearance like gallantine.
No. 548. Grouse à la Rob Roy.
Grouse are the most favourite birds in this country, and certainly the most welcome; they make their first appearance on the 12th of August, a time when most delicate palates are fatigued with domestic volatile productions, at that period they are very properly used for roasts only; but when more plentiful they are very excellent dressed in the manners I have here described, though seldom or ever used for removes; I have, for the sake of variety which is said to be charming, given a few new methods. Pick, draw, and truss four grouse, make a stuffing like for the pheasants (No. 544), using the liver of the grouse, stuff and place them on the spit, surrounded with fat bacon and sprigs of heather, moistened with a glass of whiskey, tie them up in paper and roast three quarters of an hour, dress on a dish in the form of a cross, and have ready the following sauce: put a quart of good melted butter in a stewpan on the fire, and just as it begins to boil, add a quarter of a pound of butter; stir the sauce till the butter is melted, season rather high, and pour over your birds; (the sauce must be rather thick, but not too thick;) under each bird place a piece of toasted bread well glazed; serve very hot.
No. 549. Grouse à la Corsaire.
See Faisan (No. 544).
No. 550. Grouse à la Piémontaise.
See Faisan (No. 546).