Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Remove the fillets from the partridge. Free the second joints of the legs of skin and bone, and place them on the dish with the fillets. Cut all the tender bits of meat from the birds, and place them beside the second joints. Put the fillets and other portions of clear meat in a cold place until it is time to heat them. Break up the bones of the three birds, and put them in a stew-pan with the water and any tough pieces of meat, such as the drumsticks and wings. Cover, and simmer gently for two hours. At the end of that time strain off the liquor and set it away to cool. When cold, skim off the fat. Now put the butter and chopped vegetables in a stew-pan, and cook slowly for half an hour. At the end of that time draw forward to a hotter part of the stove, and stir until the vegetables get browned slightly. Now add the flour, and stir until it turns a dark brown ; then draw to a cooler place, and gradually add one pint of the liquor in which the bones were boiled. Now add the spice, a grain of cayenne, one-fourth of a teaspoonful of white pepper, and a level teaspoonful of salt. Simmer for half an hour, and then skim off the fat that will rise to the top. Add the mushrooms and all the partridge meat except the fillets, first seasoning the meat with salt and pepper. Cook gently for ten minutes; then add the lemon juice and half the claret, and cook two minutes longer. As soon as the mushrooms and meat have been put on to heat in the sauce, put the fillets into a stew-pan with one teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper, half a cupful of the stock from the bones, and half the claret. Cook gently for ten minutes. Now heap the mushrooms and the meat in the centre of a warm dish. Arrange the fillets around this mound. Pour the sauce in which the fillets were warmed into the other sauce. Stir well, and pour over the mixture in the centre of the dish. A circle of stoned olives makes a pretty garnish for this dish. Serve very hot. Fillets of Partridge a la Jardiniere. Fillet three partridges, and separate the minion fillets from the large ones. Season the fillets with salt and pepper, and then dip them in a mixture consisting of one table-spoonful of chopped parsley, one table-spoonful of lemon juice, and half a cupful of melted butter. Let the butter cool on them. Now dip them in two beaten eggs and then in bread crumbs. Be sure that they are well covered with the egg and crumbs. Fry them in boiling fat. The large fillets will cook in six minutes, and the small ones in four. Drain them on brown paper. Have a dish of vegetables prepared a la jardiniere and arranged in the centre of a large dish. Kest the fillets against the mound of vegetables, and pour Bechamel cream sauce around the base. Serve very hot. Fillets of Grouse. Fillets of grouse may be prepared the same as fillets of partridge. All the small birds may be filleted in the same way, but the time of cooking is only two-thirds as long as for the large ones. Pigeon Cutlets.