Require a brisk fire. All are trussed in the same way, and the heads left on. Make a slit in the back of the neck to take out the craw; do not turn the head under the wing, but truss it like a fowl, and fasten the neck to its side with a skewer. Thirty minutes will roast a young pheasant, and forty or fifty minutes a full grown one. Good sized partridges take nearly as long. Baste with butter, and froth them. Clear, well-flavoured gravy, in which there should be a tea-spoonful of the essence of ham. Also bread sauce.
French cooks lard all these. (See to Lard.) They also have a method of dressing them thus: lay slices of lemon over the breast, and upon these, slices of fat bacon, cover with paper, and roast them. Another way is to fill the bird with a delicate stuffing of veal, grated ham, lemon grated, and spice; then roast it.
Woodcocks, Snipes, and Ortolans,
Should be kept as long as they are good. Do not draw woodcocks, for the trail is considered a delicacy, nor cut off their heads. They should be tied to a bird spit, or dangled singly. The fire must be clear. Twenty or thirty minutes is enough for woodcocks, and less for the rest, in proportion to their size. Lay some slices of toasted bread, the crust cut off, in the dripping-pan, to dish them on. Serve melted butter. Garnish with slices of lemon.—In France they stuff woodcocks with truffles, and other things, then roast, or stew them.
Grouse, Black Game, Plovers, Rails, Quails, Widgeons and Teal,
Are roasted the same as partridges, the head of grouse twisted under the wing. Do not let them be over-done. A rich gravy, and bread sauce. Garnish with fried bread-crumbs.
Pigeons.
Clean them as soon as killed, and the sooner they are dressed the better. Wash them very well, stuff each with a piece of butter the size of an egg, a few bread-crumbs, a little parsley, and the liver chopped, if you like: season well with pepper and salt. Roast twenty-five or thirty minutes. Pour into the dish a little thin melted butter, with or without the parsley, to mix with their own gravy. Serve bread or rice sauce, or parsley and butter. They may be served on a thin toast. Wood-pigeons should hang till tender, then roasted and served in rich gravy. They require less roasting than tame pigeons.
Larks, Wheat-ears, and other Small Birds.
Some of these are nice eating, particularly the Wheat-ear, which, from its superior flavour, has been called the English ortolan. A roast of small birds is so much the fashion in France, that you seldom travel many days together without finding it one of the principal dishes of the supper table. In the autumn, and, indeed, through the winter, you will constantly see a partridge, or a woodcock, served up in the midst of a numerous company of blackbirds, thrushes, larks, and a variety of such small birds; a truly "dainty dish to set before a king." This custom is remarkable because there is a comparative scarcity of small birds in France, whilst we in England are overstocked with them. The sparrow-pudding is known in many country places, but is not often seen. Indeed, in this land of beef and mutton, it would be hard if these little creatures could not be left to sing and build their nests in peace. With the French there is such an avidity for all sorts of small birds, that a string of them is one of the most ordinary articles in the larder. Nothing that flies in France above the order of humming-birds in its size, is too insignificant to come within the scope of the sportsman's ambition, and the purveyor's nets and springes. I am not sure whether our exquisite neighbours ever proceed so far as to devour sweet Philomel herself; but they certainly do what would be deemed still more shocking in England, making no exception in favour of that little bird, to injure which is here a sort of crime; they kill the robins and cook them by dozens at a time. The Forest of Ardennes abounds in them, and in the season the traveller may fare sumptuously upon these pretty little creatures, without being aware of what he is eating. Lovers of delicacies might find it worth their while to travel in the countries where the vine and the fig-tree abound. There the small birds feed and fatten on the grapes, even in the winter, for, long after the conclusion of the vintage, refuse grapes may always be found hanging. This food, so superior to our blackberries, hips and haws, may well cause the flavour of the birds to be in the highest perfection: for the fruit is so nutritious that the labouring people almost entirely live upon it through one whole season of the year. In Sicily the grapes will keep for months after they are quite ripe, hanging on the vines in the open air. There is a little bird, about the size of the nightingale, called the fig-pecker, from its feeding upon the figs. This is one of the most prized delicacies of the south of France and Italy.—All the above-named birds require to be well cleaned. Then put them on a bird-spit or skewer, and tie that on another spit, or dangle it before the fire. Baste constantly with good butter, and strew sifted bread-crumbs over as they roast. French cooks generally put a thin small slice of bacon over the breast of each bird, bringing it over each wing. Fifteen minutes will roast them. Serve larks on bread-crumbs, and garnish with slices of lemon.—Or: dip the birds into a batter, then roll them in bread-crumbs.