Practical household cookery

Select two young and plump pheasants, and draw them, in the same way as a turkey. Peel two pounds of fresh trufRes, cut them into small filbert shaped-pieces, and put them in a stewpan; pound the trimmings in a mortar, with a quarter of a pound of chopped pickled cooked oxtongue and the same quantity of fat bacon ; add this to the truffles with one pound of sausage-meat ; season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg; set it to simmer for about ten minutes; stir frequently; then moisten it with a gill of either rum, Madeira, or broth ; mix well together, and let it cool. When properly set stuff the pheasants with it; sew up the vents and breast- skin ; truss them for roasting ; wrap in a sheet of paper and put them by in a small box or jar tightly shut, in a cool place for two or three days ; or better still, bury them (folded in the paper) a foot deep in the ground for the same number of days, when the truffles will have imparted their aroma and flavour, to the flesh of the birds. Three-quarters of an hour before serving, bring the birds out ; remove the paper ; lay on each breast a thin slice of fat bacon; tie these round with twine, and set them to roast before an even fire for thirty-five minutes, frequently basting them. When done (see note on Pheasants a la Napolitaine) remove the string, dish up the birds with good brown gravy, and serve with Bread sauce in a boat apart. ' Note. — When pheasants are roasted without stuffing, sei-ve then with seasoned watercress. 666. BOUDINS AND QUENELLES OF PHEASANT. Follow the same directions as given for boudins of chicken a la Bichelieu and quenelles a la Toulouse. 667. SALMI OF PARTRIDGES. Roast for twenty minutes, let cool, and cut up two pai-tridges as in salmi of pheasants. Pound the liver and trimmings of the birds in the usual way, and add them to the Salmis sauce (No. 199)} together with half a pint of button champignons or fresh mushrooms nicely shred ; simmer and stir till the mushrooms are done, then pour the sauce over the pieces of partridge, and warm the contents of the stewpan, gradually, by the side of the fire, without boiling; squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, and then dish up the pieces in a pyramidal form, pour the sauce over, garnish with croutons fried in butter, and serve. 668. STEWED PARTRIDGE WITH CABBAGE. After having picked, drawn, singed, and trussed two partridges, with the legs tucked in as for boiling, ivy them to a nice colour all round in a sautd-pan with an ounce of butter. Cut a good cabbage (savoy preferred) into quarters and blanch it for five minutes; then steep it in cold water, cut off the cores, press the water out, and put it in a stewpan with the partridges nicely imbedded in it ; season with a ** bouquet garni," two medium carrots, two onions with two cloves stuck in each, salt and pepper to taste; moisten with enough broth to cover the cabbage, add half a pound of streaky bacon, and cover the whole with a buttered sheet of paper ; close the stewpan tightly, and set it to simmer for an hour and a half. When done tiike out the birds and bacon, and put them in the oven to keep hot ; remove the " bouquet garni " and onion ; put the carrots apart ; drain and press the cabbage in a colander, and lay it on a dish ; untie the partiidges and place them on the cabbage; cut the bacon in thin slices and the carrots in fancy shape, garnish the dish I'ound alternately with them, and serve with some good brown gravy in a sauce-boat 669. BRAIZED PARTRIDGES A LA PERIGUEUX.