TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES.—
Be very careful in plucking these to pull out the feathers as carefully and handle them as lightly as possible; for the skin is very easily torn or broken. Do not draw them, for epicures have decided, that the trail, (as they call the intestines,) is the most delicious part of the bird, and should by all means be saved for eating. Having wiped the outside carefully with a soft cloth, truss them with the head under the wing, and the bill laid along upon the breast. Keep the legs bent from the knees, retaining that posture by means of a splinter skewer. Suspend the birds to a bird-spit, with their feet downward. Melt some fresh butter in the dripping-pan, and baste them with it, having first dredged the birds with flour. Before the trail begins to drop, (which it will do as soon as they are well heated,) lay a thick round of very nice toast, (with the crust pared off,) buttered on both sides, and placed in the dripping-pan beneath, so as to catch the trail as it falls; allowing a slice of toast to each bird, with the trail spread equally over it. Continue the basting, letting the butter fall back from them into the basting spoon. When the birds are done, which will be in less than half an hour at a brisk fire—carefully transfer the toasts to a very hot dish; place the birds upon them, and pour some gravy round the toast.
Snipes require less cooking than woodcocks. These birds are very fashionable; but we do not think either of them superlative. They seldom appear except at supper parties.
PLOVERS.—
This is a very nice bird, with a peculiar and pleasant flavor. They abound near our large bays and estuaries in the vicinity of the ocean. There are two sorts, the green plover and the gray. Roast them plain; basting them only with butter. Or fill them with a forcemeat, and go entirely over the outside, first with beaten egg, and then roll each plover in finely grated bread-crumbs.
If very fat, stew them plain in butter rolled in flour. Then serve them up in their own gravy, enriched with a beaten egg. They make a nice breakfast dish, either roasted or stewed. And are excellent in pies.
REED BIRDS.—
Reed birds and rice birds are the same. They are very small, (only a mouthful on each side of the breast,) but very delicious, and immensely fat in the summer and autumn. They are brought to market with a lump of fat skewered on the outside, and are sold by the dozen strung on a stick like cherries.