Mrs. Roundell's Practical cookery book

for if allowed to boil the gravy will not be clear. After an hour’s cooking in this manner the gravy may be strained off into a bowl in which it must rest till the fat can be taken off and the sediment has settled. This having been done, the gravy only requires to be heated in the bain-marie when it is wanted. This gravy is of course handed in a sauce-boat. It may seem a great deal of trouble to follow this and similar recipes exactly, but it is by attention to these niceties (which are by no means trifles) that good cooking can be distinguished. It is not by dissolving a spoonful or two of Bovril in hot water — excellent as Bovril is in its way — that such gravy as Wyverns can be made. Grouse. — Grouse are in season from the twelfth of August till the tenth of December. Allow thirty minutes for roasting a Grouse, being careful to follow the directions already given. Hand bread sauce, fried breadcrumbs, and brown gravy. In Scotland gravy is never served with Grouse, and if it were it would be made from another Grouse, as meat gravy is considered to spoil the flavour. Scotch cooks put toast under the Grouse to catch the dripping, and serve the birds on it, handing thin melted butter instead of bread sauce. Partridges. — Partridges are in season from the first of September to the end of February. Allow from twenty to twenty-five minutes for roasting a Partridge. Hand bread sauce, fried crumbs, and brown gravy. Partridges au Chou.— This is an excellent way of cooking old and tough Partridges. Truss them as for boiling, and put an onion inside each bird. Cut a savoy cabbage into four, blanch each piece in boiling water, and steep them in cold salt and water for one hour. Lay at the bottom of a roomy stewpan slices of fat bacon, two carrots, and two large onions sliced in rings, add a sprinkling of herbs, and a dusting of salt and pepper. Lay the Partridges on this bed, divide and surround them with the pieces of cabbage, and add one or two slices of streaky bacon. Make a strong broth of a pound of fowl giblets, the giblets of the Partridges, one or two sheep’s feet, and an ounce of glaze, seasoning with herbs, pepper, and salt. Let this cover the birds. Put a buttered paper over them, cover the pan closely, bring it to the boil once, and then let it PARTRIDGES AU CHOU simmer for an hour and a half. Take out the Partridges and the bacon, cover them up and keep them hot. Strain the broth, take away the onion altogether, and put the cabbage into a stewpan over a moderate fire, stirring it about till the moisture is expelled from it. Take the fat off the broth, add any spare broth there may be to bring it to a full pint. Thicken this with an ounce of butter and an ounce of flour, and keep it hot in the bain-marie. Dish with the cabbage in the centre, and the Partridges, divided in half, laid neatly upon it, with the pieces of bacon as a garnish all round. On no account pour the gravy into the dish, but hand it very hot in a boat. A much more delicate flavour is given if cos lettuces are used instead of savoy cabbage. For this, prepare the lettuces as for stewing (see page 347), and then proceed as above. Bordeaux Pigeons make an excellent dish done au chou. Pheasant. — Pheasants are in season from the first of October until the first of February.