[In season from the beginning of October to the end of January. The licensed term of pheasant shooting commences on the 1st of October, and terminates on the 2nd of February, but as the birds will remain perfectly good in cold weather for two or three weeks, if from that time hung in a well-ventilated larder, they continue, correctly speaking, in season so long as they can be preserved fit for table after the regular market for them is closed: the same rule applies equally to other varieties of game.]
Pheasant trussed
without the head.
Unless kept to the proper point, a pheasant is one of the most tough, dry, and flavourless birds that is sent to table; but when it has hung as many days as it can without becoming really tainted, and is well roasted and served, it is most excellent eating. Pluck off the feathers carefully, cut a slit in the back of the neck to remove the crop, then draw the bird in the usual way, and either wipe the inside very clean with a damp cloth, or pour water through it; wipe the outside also, but with a dry cloth; cut off the toes, turn the head of the bird under the wing, with the bill laid straight along the breast, skewer the legs, which must not be crossed, flour the pheasant well, lay it to a brisk fire, and baste it constantly and plentifully with well flavoured butter. Send bread-sauce and good brown gravy to table with it. The entire breast of the bird may be larded by the directions of Chapter [IX] When a brace is served, one is sometimes larded, and the other not; but a much handsomer appearance is given to the dish by larding both. About three quarters of an hour will roast them.
3/4 hour; a few minutes less, if liked very much underdone; five or ten more for thorough roasting, with a good fire in both cases.
BOUDIN OF PHEASANT À LA RICHELIEU. (ENTRÉE.)
Take, quite clear from the bones, and from all skin and sinew, the flesh of a half-roasted pheasant; mince, and then pound it to the smoothest paste; add an equal bulk of the floury part of some fine roasted potatoes, or of such as have been boiled by Captain Kater’s receipt (see Chapter [XVII].), and beat them together until they are well blended; next throw into the mortar something less (in volume) of fresh butter than there was of the pheasant-flesh, with a high seasoning of mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, and a half-teaspoonful or more of salt; pound the mixture afresh for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour, keeping it turned from the sides of the mortar into the middle; then add one by one, after merely taking out the germs with the point of a fork, two whole eggs and a yolk or two without the whites, if these last will not render the mixture too moist. Mould it into the form of a roll, lay it into a stewpan rubbed with butter, pour boiling water on it and poach it gently from ten to fifteen minutes. Lift it out with care, drain it on a sieve, and when it is quite cold cover it equally with beaten egg, and then with the finest bread-crumbs, and broil it over a clear fire, or fry it in butter of a clear golden brown. A good gravy should be made of the remains of the bird and sent to table with it; the flavour may be heightened with ham and eschalots, as directed in Chapter [IV.], page [96], and small mushrooms, sliced sideways, and stewed quite tender in butter, may be mixed with the boudin after it is taken from the mortar; or their flavour may be given more delicately by adding to it only the butter in which they have been simmered, well pressed, from them through a strainer. The mixture, which should be set into a very cool place before it is moulded, may be made into several small rolls, which will require four or five minutes’ poaching only. The flesh of partridges will answer quite as well as that of pheasants for this dish.
SALMI OF PHEASANT.
(See page [292].)
PHEASANT CUTLETS.