[Modern cookery, in all its branches

thighs, wings, and breasts, arrange the joints evenly in a clean stewpan, and keep them covered from the air and dust till wanted. Cut down into dice four ounces of the lean of an unboiled ham, and put it, with two ounces of butter, into a thick well-tinned saucepan or stewpan ; add three or four minced eschalots (more, should a high flavour of them be liked), two ounces of sliced carrot, four cloves, two bay leaves, a dozen peppercorns, one blade of mace, a small sprig or two of thyme, and part of a root of parsley, or two or three small branches of the leaves. Stew these over a gentle fire, stirring or shaking them often, until the sides of the saucepan appear of a reddish-brown, then mix well with them a dessertspoonful of flour, and let it take a little colour. Next, add by degrees, making the sauce boil as each portion is thrown in, three quarters of a pint of strong veal stock or gravy, and nearly half a pint of sherry or Madeira ; put in the well -bruised bodies of the birds, and boil them from an houi to an hour and a half ; strain, and clear the sauce quite from fat ; pour it .on the joints of game, heat them in it slowly ; and when they are near the point of boiling, dish them immediately -with delicately fried sippets round the dish. When mushrooms can be obtained, throw a dozen or two of small ones, with the other seasonings, into the butter. The wine is sometimes added to the vegetables, and one half reduced before the gravy is poured in ; but though a sauce of fine colour is thus produced the flavour of the wine is entirely lost. TO ROAST WOODCOCKS OR SNIPES. [In season during the winter months, but not abundant until frost sets in.] Handle them as little and as lightly as possible, and pluck off the feathers gently ; for if this be violently done the skin of the birds will be broken. Do not draw them , but after having wiped them with clean soft cloths, truss them with the head under the wing, and the bill laid close along the breast ; pass a slight skewer through the thighs, catch the ends with a bit of twine, and tie it across to keep the legs straight. Suspend the birds with the feet downwards to a birdspit, flour them well, and baste them with butter, which should be ready dissolved in the pan or ladle. Before the trail begins to drop, which it will do as soon as they are well heated, lay a thick round of bread, freed from the crust, toasted a delicate brown, and buttered on both sides, into the pan under them to catch it, as this is considered finer eating even than the flesh of the birds ; continue the basting, letting the butter fall from them into the basting-spoon or ladle, as it cannot be collected again from the dripping-pan should it drop there, in consequence of the toast or toasts being in it. There should be one of these for each woodcock, and the trail should be spread equally over it. When the birds are done, which they will be, at a brisk fire, in from twenty to twenty -five minutes, lay the toasts into 294 MODERN COOKERY. [chap. xv. a very hot dish, dress the birds upon them, pour a little gravy round the bread, and send more to table in a tureen. Woodcock, 20 to 25 minutes ; snipe, 5 minutes less. TO ROAST THE PINTAIL, OR SEA PIIEASANT.