Pheasant en Surprise.
Take a pheasant, remove the skin from the breast and take away all the meat, removing any gristle there may be, and place it in a mortar. Have ready half a pint of good cream, and begin by pouring half the quantity over the pheasant and pound together for a few minutes, then rub it through a clean wire sieve. When passed, put it back into the mortar, add the remainder of the cream gradually into the fowl, stirring it round so that they blend together perfectly. Fill a mould with this mixture and twist a bit of buttered paper round the top; then fold a sheet of paper several times and place it in a stewpan, put about half a pint of boiling water into the stewpan, or more according to size of it, and let all simmer gently for twenty minutes. Add a little salt and a dust of cayenne pepper. Turn this out and mix with it half a pint of white aspic jelly. Have ready some very clear aspic jelly, and colour it red. Take a pretty shaped jelly mould, pour in a little of the red aspic to about rather more than a quarter of the mould. When this is cool, put in the pheasant and aspic mixture, and place on ice for four hours; when properly frozen, turn out, and garnish the top with a wreath of fresh chervil leaves. Serve chopped aspic in little mounds round the base alternately with mounds of mayonnaise salad or tomatoes.
Pheasant à la Suisse.
Take the remains of a cold pheasant, cut it into neat joints. Salt and pepper these highly, and strew over it finely chopped onion and parsley. Cover them with oil, and squeeze over them the juice of a lemon. Turn the pieces every now and then, and let them remain till they have imbibed the flavour, then dip the pieces in a batter made of four ounces of flour, with as much milk added as will make a thick batter. Stir into it half a wineglassful of brandy and an egg, the white and yolk beaten to a froth. This batter should rest for an hour in a warm place before using. Fry the pieces of chicken in the batter, and send it up piled on a dish garnished with fried parsley.
Pheasant à la Tregothran.
Bone a pheasant and stuff it with the meat from four woodcocks or six snipe, cut it up, and chop up some truffles and make it into forcemeat. Fry the trail of the woodcock or snipe in a little butter, and place on little rounds of fried bread and arrange round the dish. Stew the bones of the woodcocks or snipe to make the gravy, reduce it, and add a glass of Marsala to the broth and serve in a boat.
Pheasant à la Victoria.
Take a quarter of a pound of bacon, cut it up in pieces (frying the bacon first), add a small clove of garlic, a small shalot, a bayleaf, half a carrot, half a turnip, half a dozen stewing oysters, and salt and pepper to taste. Stew over the fire, and when cooked pound it all together with a few more oysters and pass through a wire sieve. Stuff a pheasant with this, and place it in a stewpan with carrots and turnips; let all stew till tender, well basting it with its own stock. Serve with rich Espagnole sauce or oyster sauce on a croustade of potato.