Cut four snipes in two lengthwise, remove the gizzards, put the trails aside, and season the birds with salt and cayenne. Fry the birds in butter for ten minutes and then stand them to drain in the cool till wanted. Make a forcemeat of four ounces of calf's liver, four ditto fat bacon cut small, melt the latter over a quick fire, and then add the liver and season the mixture with pepper, salt, and herbs. When these are cooked, let them get cold, and then pound them in the mortar with the trails of the birds. Now pass all through a sieve. Line a buttered pie-mould with raised crust paste, and put in a layer of the forcemeat at the bottom of the mould, leaving it hollow in the centre. Put half the pieces of snipe in a circle upon the forcemeat, and place a little ball of forcemeat upon them, put in the rest of the birds and put a layer of forcemeat over all. Fill the hollow in the centre with bread which has been covered with fat bacon, put the pastry cover on, and bake. When done, take off the cover, remove bread and fill its place with scallopped truffles. Pour good brown sauce over all, pile truffles on the top, and serve. This can also be made in a china raised pie-case.
Snipe Soufflé.
Roast three or four snipe, remove all the meat from the bones, put it into a mortar, and pound it well with two ounces of cooked rice, one ounce of butter, a little pepper and salt, and one gill and a half of glaze. Pass through hair sieve and add the yolks of four eggs whipped to a stiff froth; put it into a mould and bake in a quick oven. Serve with a good gravy round, made from the bones and trimmings, the juice of half a lemon, and a glass of port wine; thicken with butter and cornflour.
Snipes à la Superlative.
Make a forcemeat of three ounces of fat bacon, three ounces of fowl's liver, and cut both into pieces an inch square. Fry the bacon over a sharp fire, move it about constantly, and in three or four minutes add the liver. When it is half done, mince it with the bacon, season, and add half a clove of garlic and pound all smoothly in a mortar. Pass through wire sieve. When quite cold, roll out half of it with a little flour, form it into a thick band, and arrange it in a circle at the bottom of a dish. Take four partially roasted snipes, split them open down the back, and spread the forcemeat a quarter of an inch thick over the inside of each. Place the birds in the middle of the dish, and cover them with some of the forcemeat, smooth with a hot knife and put the dish into a quick oven, wipe away all fat, pour truffle sauce over the snipe, and serve.
Teal Pudding.
Take three teal, season the birds with salt and cayenne, and divide them into neat pieces. Cut up a pound of rump steak into pieces about an inch in size, season, and dredge them lightly with flour. Line a pudding-basin with good suet paste rolled out to half an inch thickness. Place in a layer of steak and a layer of teal, and repeat till the dish is full, then fill in with three-quarters of a pint of good gravy, and put the cover on in the usual way. Plunge it into boiling water and keep it boiling till done. Serve it in the basin it is cooked in, with a napkin pinned round it.
Salmi of Teal.
Put in a stewpan three ounces of butter and one good spoonful of flour, let them melt together, stirring till it becomes a nice brown; add by degrees a gill of good stock and as much red wine, two whole shalots (taken out after), a full bouquet, pepper, and a little salt; put in the body and bones of the bird, from which you have previously detached the limbs and meat. Let all boil slowly for half an hour, pass all through colander, and put gravy alone back in stewpan on the fire, and just when on the point of boiling put in the pieces of teal and take the stewpan off the fire; add a little lemon juice, put the lid on, and leave it on the hob for half an hour.