Larks (Mauviettes).—The following recipes for cooking larks are mainly from the pen of A. G. F. Eliot-James:—
Broiled.—Chop some parsley very fine, mixing it with butter, pepper, and salt. Stuff the birds with this, tie them at both ends, and broil on a gridiron over a clear fire or gas. Serve on slices of fried bread on a very hot dish, and send melted butter to table with them.
Croustade.—A favourite entrée. The birds are prepared by being boned and stuffed (q.v.), after which they are baked in a croustade of fried bread, with a rich sauce.
In Cases.—Bone the larks skilfully, put the livers on one side, and set the bones and trimmings to boil in some good stock, broth, or even water, with carrots, onions, parsley, pepper, salt, a few cloves, a bay leaf, and a few pieces of ham or bacon. When well reduced, train this gravy, and put it by. Cut up the larks’ livers, as also some fowls’ livers, or some calf’s liver, all in small dice; do the same with half their quantity of bacon. Fry a few shallots a light yellow in plenty of butter, then put in the liver and bacon, with minced parsley, pepper, and salt, and a little powdered spices. Toss the whole on the fire for a few minutes, then turn out on a sieve, and pass them through while hot. Have some paper cases ready oiled, put a layer of this farce in each, then a moderate-sized piece in each lark, roll up the birds neatly, and place one in each case, with a thin slice of fat bacon over it. Bake them in the oven not longer than 10-15 minutes. At the time of serving, thicken the gravy by mixing a little flour with some butter, and then adding the gravy to it. Fill the cases with gravy, and stew a little finely-minced parsley over each. The pieces of bacon may be removed or not before serving.
Pie.—Pluck, singe, draw, and truss 1 doz. larks, save the trails, chop them fine, mixing with them some scraped bacon, 6 mushrooms, some sage, parsley, and sweet herbs, all finely chopped, with pepper, salt, nutmeg, and mace. Mix all thoroughly well together, divide into 12 portions, and stuff the birds with it. Spread over the bottom of a pie dish fat bacon pounded to a paste, with a seasoning of pepper, salt, and sweet herbs, with a little mace and nutmeg. Put in the larks, sprinkling some more seasoning over them. Fill up any hollows with scraped or pounded bacon; lay some thin slices of fresh butter, and then over them some very thin slices of fat bacon. Have ready some rich pastry, of which form the top crust; egg it over and bake. When ready, lift the crust, remove the bacon, and pour in some rich gravy; replace the crust, heat up again, and serve.
Potted.—An excellent breakfast dish. The birds must be very carefully picked, singed, and drawn, dried well, and seasoned inside and out with pepper, salt, and mace, then put into a stone jar with plenty of butter, tied down, and baked in a moderate oven. When quite cooked, the gravy should all be drained off, and the larks put into potting jars. Have clarified butter poured over them, be closely tied down, and kept in a dry place.
Roast.—The most usual method of dressing larks is, of course, by roasting. For plain roasting, they are simply plucked, singed, drawn, and trussed, have thin slices of bacon pinned over their breasts, and are set down before a brisk fire, being basted the whole time. The last 5 minutes or so the bacon is removed, and bread crumbs sprinkled over them until they are well covered. They are, of course, tied to the spit or else strung on a wooden skewer. The best way is to put each bird on a separate skewer, as they then get more thoroughly basted than when several are close together on one stick. They should be served on a layer of well-fried breadcrumbs, and the dish prettily garnished. Some people omit the breadcrumbs while roasting. The bacon should in that case be left on until quite the last thing, and the breast just frothed up with a little flour before serving. Either butter or bacon fat can be used for basting; if the latter, substitute butter for it for the last five minutes.
Stew.—(a) Pluck, singe, and truss 1 doz. fine larks; peel a large onion, stick 6 cloves into it, and put it into a stewpan with some melted fat bacon, toss it about a little, remove the onion, add some fresh mushrooms finely chopped, and some truffles; put in the larks, and toss all the ingredients together over the fire for a short time. Pour in some well made veal gravy and stew over the fire until the larks are quite tender. Chop a spoonful of parsley very fine, beat up the yoke of an egg in ¼ pint cream, and add to it by degrees the parsley; put this into the stewpan with the larks, stir it together, and then allow to stand; remove all fat, and squeeze in some lemon juice just before serving.
(b) (À la Florence).—Pluck, singe, and trim 8 larks; prepare a forcemeat of chopped mushrooms and parsley, grated ham and breadcrumbs, pepper and salt to taste—the mushrooms should predominate over the other ingredients; mix with butter. Place the larks in a stewpan, cover with rich veal stock, adding salt and pepper to taste, and a little colouring. Stew very gently for about ¾ hour. Have ready in a basin the following sauce: The yoke of an egg beaten up in a small glass of sherry, with the juice of half a lemon and a little cayenne, thicken with arrowroot or flour; rub some mashed potatoes through a sieve, make a wall of them round a rather deep dish, hold a salamander over for a few moments just to colour them, set the larks in the centre, place the dish in the oven to keep hot while you strain the stock, to which add the sauce, and stir over the fire in a lined saucepan until nearly boiling; then pour over the larks, garnish the dish with slices of lemon, and serve as hot as possible.
Stuffed. Baked.—Take 8-10 fine larks, pluck, singe, and draw them. Prepare the following stuffing: Mince very fine the white meat of a chicken, also a slice of boiled ham and a slice of raw bacon, chop some sage leaves, and mix all these ingredients together, with a little pepper and salt and some finely pounded mace. Divide this forcemeat into two parts, stuff the birds with one, and reserve the other to use in the following manner: Cut as many slices of bacon as there are birds, spreading over each slice some of the forcemeat; then place a lark on each slice of bacon and wrap it up in it. Lay them side by side in a baking-pan, put a cover over it, and bake in a moderate oven. When the larks are done, dish them on a very hot dish, pouring over them some rich veal gravy with a little lemon juice squeezed into it. Garnish with slices of lemon and serve.