Cold Preparations of Hare

1822—LIÈVRE EN DAUBE

Take a fresh hare, and bone it from the back without emptying it, that the skin of the belly may be untouched.

Detach the shoulders and the legs; do not touch the head; season with salt and pepper; sprinkle with a few drops of brandy, and leave to _marinade_. With the hare’s liver, some fat bacon, and some truffle parings, prepare a _gratin_ forcemeat. Prepare another forcemeat with the meat of the shoulders and the legs, an equal weight of fat bacon, one egg, a pinch of wild thyme, salt, pepper, spices, and the brandy of the _marinade_. Rub this forcemeat through a sieve, and add to it the _gratin_ forcemeat, one-half lb. of fat bacon, and five oz. of truffles cut into dice.

Fill the boned hare with this preparation; sew it up, and tie the head to the back in such wise as to give the piece the appearance of the animal at rest.

Wrap it in slices of bacon, and set it in a _terrine_ lined with the latter; sprinkle with a glassful of brandy, and place in the oven for thirty minutes with lid off.

Then pour into the _terrine_ a _fumet_ prepared with red wine from the hare’s bones; cover, and then cook in the oven gently for three hours.

Leave to half-cool; drain away the cooking-liquor, and carefully remove the slices of bacon. Strain the cooking-liquor through muslin; return it to the _terrine_, and fill up the latter with savoury jelly.

Keep in the cool for two hours before serving.

1823—PAIN DE LIÈVRE

This “Pain” is prepared according to No. 1689, and it may be served in “Belle-vue,” after the manner described for cold pieces prepared in this way.

1824—PÂTÉ DE LIÈVRE

Clear the fillets, the minion fillets, and the legs of all tendons; moderately lard them; season them; set them in a dish with an equal quantity of truffles and fat bacon strips; sprinkle with some brandy, and leave to _marinade_ for one hour. With what remains of the meat, some fillets of veal and pork, in the proportion of six oz. per lb. of hare; fresh, fat bacon in the proportion of one and one-half lbs. per lb. of hare; and spiced salt, prepare a forcemeat, and finish it with one egg and three tablespoonfuls of brandy per lb. of forcemeat.

Rub through tammy, and add a portion of the hare’s blood.

Line a round or oval buttered mould with raised-pie paste, and completely cover the paste with slices of bacon. Then coat inside with forcemeat, and fill up the mould with alternate layers of forcemeat, hares’ fillets, truffle, and fat bacon strips.

Finish with a layer of forcemeat; cover with a slice of bacon; sprinkle a pinch of powdered thyme and bay over the latter; close the pie with a layer of paste, which should be sealed down round the moistened edges; pinch the crest inside and out, and finish off the pie by means of imitation leaves made from paste.

_Gild_; bake in a moderate oven, and, when the pie is almost cold, pour some jelly flavoured with hare _fumet_ into it.

1825—TERRINE DE LIÈVRE

A “Terrine” or Patty is only a pie without a crust, and it allows of the same forcemeat and of the same garnish of bacon strips as the latter. The _terrine_ should first be lined with slices of bacon, whereupon it is garnished like the pie with alternate layers of forcemeat, bacon strips, hares’ fillets, and truffles.

Cover with a slice of bacon; sprinkle the centre of the latter with a little powdered thyme and bay, and a little spice. Put the lid on the _terrine_, place it in a saucepan containing a little water, and set it to cook in the oven.

The time allowed for cooking is naturally subject to the size of the _terrine_. It is known to be quite cooked when the grease which rises to the surface is quite clear.

As long as this grease is turbid, raw juices are still issuing from the forcemeat and the garnish inside. Another method of telling is by the insertion of a needle. If the latter withdraws evenly heated throughout its length, the _terrine_ is cooked.

If the patty is to be served immediately, add some aspic to it when it is just tepid, and set it to cool under slight pressure. When quite cold, clear it of grease; trim its surface, and cut it up in the utensil.

If it is to be served whole and presented, set it to cool under greater pressure; turn it out, and trim it all round. This done, cause a layer of jelly to set on the bottom of the _terrine_; return the trimmed patty to the latter, and surround it with melted aspic jelly.

When about to serve, turn it out after the manner of an aspic; set it on a long dish, and border the latter with jelly _croûtons_.

If it have to be kept some time, proceed as above, but use lard instead of aspic, and keep it well covered and in the cool.

1826—YOUNG WILD RABBIT (LAPEREAUX)

Use the wild rather than the tame young rabbit, and test its age after the manner described in regard to the hare, and also by means of a little lentil-shaped bone, which is to be found in the region of the patella.

As the wild rabbit ages, this bone shrinks and finally combines with the other bones of the articulation.

When the wild rabbit is old, it is tough, and can only be used for stock or forcemeats.

All the recipes given for “Poulet Sauté,” and those given for hare, may be applied to wild rabbit; the reader is, therefore, begged to refer to these.

1827—FEATHERED GAME

Feathered game comprises all esculent birds that live in freedom.

The number of species involved, therefore, is considerable, but from the culinary standpoint they may be grouped into ten principal classes, which are:—

1. The various pheasants, grey and red partridges, the Tetras Californias. 2. The hazel-hen, grouse, prairie fowls, ganga, sand-grouse. 3. The various wild ducks and teals. 4. The woodcocks and snipes. 5. The various plovers, lapwings, sandpipers, water-rails, water-hens. 6. The quails, land-rails, Virginia quails. 7. The various thrushes, Corsican blackbirds. 8. The various larks. 9. The warblers. 10. The ortolans.

The birds of Classes 1 and 4 are better high—that is to say, they should be hung for a few days, before being plucked, in a moderate draught, that they may begin to decompose, and that the particular flavour of their flesh may be accentuated, a process which increases their culinary value. Whatever opinion may be held in regard to the gaminess of these birds, one thing is quite certain—namely, that the meat of a fresh pheasant and that of a high one are two totally different things. When fresh, the meat is flavourless, whereas when it is reasonably high it is tender, full of taste, and of an incomparable flavour.

Formerly, it was the custom to lard the birds of Class 1, especially when they were to be roasted. But this practice should be resolutely discarded, for, if the bird be young, it can only impair the latter’s flavour, and, if it be old, it cannot possibly restore those qualities to it which it has already lost.

Besides, an old bird should never be served; it ought only to be used in the preparation of game stock or forcemeats.

The birds belonging to the remaining classes are prepared fresh; or, if it be thought necessary to let them hang for a few days, at least they should not be allowed to get high, more particularly the aquatic ones, because gaminess is, if anything, deleterious to the flavour of their flesh.

1828—PHEASANT (FAISAN)

When this bird is young, its legs are grey and the ventral end of the sternum is tender and flexible. But with pheasants, as with partridges, an infallible sign of youth may be discovered at the extremity of the last large feather in the wing. If this feather be pointed, the bird is young; if it be round, the reverse is the case.

1829—FAISAN A LA MODE D’ALCANTARA

This recipe comes from the famous Alcantara convent. History tells us that at the beginning of the Portuguese campaign in 1807 the convent’s library was pillaged by Junot’s soldiers, and its precious manuscripts were used in the making of cartridges.

Now it happened that an officer of the commissariat who was witnessing the event found, among a collection of recipes selected by the monks, the particular one now under our notice, which was applied only to partridges.

It struck him as interesting, and after trying it when he returned to France in the following year, he surrendered it to the Duchess of Abrantès, who noted it in her memoirs.

It represents, perhaps, the only good thing the French derived from that unfortunate campaign, and it would tend to prove that foie gras and truffles, which had been known for so long in Languedoc and Gascony, were also known in Estremadura, where, even at the present day, tolerably good truffles are to be found.

The procedure is as follows:—

Empty the pheasant from the front; bone its breast, and stuff it with fine ducks’ foies gras, mixed with quartered truffles, cooked in port wine.

_Marinade_ the pheasant for three days in port wine, taking care that it be well covered therewith. This done, cook it “_en casserole_” (the original recipe says on the spit, but the saucepan is more suitable). Reduce the port wine of the _marinade_; add to it a dozen medium-sized truffles; set the pheasant on these truffles, and heat for a further ten minutes.

N.B.—This last part of the recipe may be advantageously replaced by the “à la Souvaroff” treatment—that is to say, having placed the pheasant and the truffles in a _terrine_, sprinkle them with the reduced port combined with slightly buttered game glaze; then hermetically seal down the lid of the _terrine_, and complete the cooking in the oven.

1830—FAISAN A L’ANGOUMOISE

Stuff the pheasant with a preparation consisting of two-thirds lb. of very fresh pork fat, rubbed through a sieve; four oz. of raw, peeled, and quartered truffles, and four oz. of fine chestnuts, cooked in consommé.

This preparation, which should be seasoned as for the ordinary truffling (No. 1956), ought to be quite cold when inserted into the pheasant.

Wrap the bird in slices of bacon; roast it gently for three-quarters of an hour, and take care to remove the slices of bacon seven or eight minutes before the cooking is completed, that the outside of the piece may be coloured.

Set on a long dish, and serve a Périgueux sauce at the same time.

1831—FAISAN A LA BOHÉMIENNE

Season a small foie gras with salt and paprika; stud it with raw quartered truffles, and poach it in Madeira for twenty minutes.

When it is cold, insert it into the pheasant, which should be high. Truss the bird, and cook it in butter in a saucepan or a _cocotte_ for forty-five minutes. When about to serve, remove some of the butter used in cooking; sprinkle the pheasant with a glassful of burnt brandy, and add a few tablespoonfuls of reduced game gravy to the cooking-liquor.

Serve the pheasant in its cooking utensil.

1832—FAISAN EN CASSEROLE

Truss the pheasant as for an entrée, and _poële_ it in butter only. This done, swill the saucepan with a few drops of brandy and a tablespoonful of game gravy.

Cover the utensil, and serve the dish burning hot.

1833—FAISAN EN COCOTTE

Proceed exactly as for pheasant “_en casserole_,” and, when the cooking is two-thirds done, surround it with a garnish of small onions cooked in butter; small, cooked mushroom-heads and olive-shaped truffles, the latter taking the place of the potatoes, which are one of the garnishing ingredients of fowls “_en cocotte_.”

1834—FAISAN EN CHARTREUSE

Parboil a fine, round-headed, quartered cabbage, and braise it as directed under No. 2100, adding thereto an old, oven-browned pheasant.

The _chartreuse_ may be made with the pheasant kept whole or cut into pieces, but in any case, roasted or _poëled_, it should be very tender and only just cooked. The old pheasant put in with the cabbage only serves in imparting its flavour to the latter, but it must not and cannot be used for the _chartreuse_.

If the _chartreuse_ be made with a cut-up pheasant, proceed as in the case of No. 1778. If whole, line an oval mould _chartreuse_-fashion; coat the inside with a portion of the braised cabbage, which should be slightly pressed; set the pheasant, breast undermost, in the mould; cover it with what remains of the cabbage, and then turn it out on a dish.

Send a sauceboat of excellent half-glaze, flavoured with pheasant _fumet_, separately.

1835—FAISAN A LA CHOUCROÛTE

Prepare the sauerkraut after No. 2097, and bear in mind that when it is specially prepared to accompany a pheasant, it is considerably improved by being braised with foie-gras fat.

_Poële_ a very tender pheasant, and only just cook it. Lay the well-drained sauerkraut on a long dish; set the pheasant upon it, and surround it with a border consisting of rectangles of bacon, cooked in the sauerkraut.

Serve separately the _poëling_-liquor combined with a little game _fumet_, strained, and kept somewhat greasy.

1836—FAISAN A LA CRÈME

Cook the pheasant in butter, in a saucepan, with a medium-sized, quartered onion. When the cooking is three-parts done, sprinkle the bird with one-quarter pint of cream (sour if possible), or with ordinary cream, acidulated by means of a few drops of lemon juice.

Finish the cooking, basting the piece the while with cream and serve in the saucepan.

1837—FAISAN DEMIDOFF

Proceed exactly as directed under “Poulet à la Demidoff” (No. 1464).

1838—FAISAN A LA GEORGIENNE

Truss the pheasant as for an entrée, and put it into a saucepan with thirty fresh, halved, and well-peeled walnuts; the juice of two lbs. of grapes and of four oranges, pressed on a sieve; a wineglassful of Malmsey wine; a glassful of strong, green tea; one and one-half oz. of butter, and the necessary seasoning.

Poach the pheasant in this preparation for about thirty minutes, and colour it when it is almost cooked.

When about to serve, dish it and surround it with fresh walnuts.

Strain the cooking-liquor through a napkin; add thereto one-third pint of game Espagnole, and reduce to half.

Slightly coat the pheasant and its garnish with the sauce, and serve what remains of the latter separately.

1839—FAISAN GRILLÉ DIABLE

For this preparation only young pheasants are used; although, provided they be tender, adult pheasants will answer the purpose. The procedure is precisely the same as that described under “Poulet Grillé” (No. 1636).

1840—FAISAN KOTSCHOUBEY

Cook the pheasant “_en casserole_,” and add to it, when it is almost done, two oz. of fine, raw truffle slices, and a little excellent game glaze, clear and well buttered.

Serve the following garnish separately:—Fry in butter four oz. of _blanched_, fresh breast of bacon, cut into dice. When the pieces are properly frizzled, add to them one lb. of freshly-cooked, well-drained, uncooled, and roughly-chopped Brussels sprouts. Add two oz. of fresh butter, a little pepper and grated nutmeg, and stew gently for one-half hour, that the garnish may just be ready in time for dishing.

1841—FAISAN A LA NORMANDE

Colour the pheasant in butter.

Meanwhile quarter, peel, mince, and slightly toss in butter six medium-sized apples.

Garnish the bottom of a _terrine_ with a layer of these apples; set the browned pheasant thereon; surround it with what remains of the apples; sprinkle it with a few tablespoonfuls of fresh cream; cover the _terrine_, and cook in the oven for from twenty to twenty-eight minutes.

Serve the preparation in the _terrine_.

1842—FAISAN A LA PÉRIGUEUX

Stuff the pheasant with truffles, proceeding as for ordinary truffling (No. 1956). _Poële_ it in Madeira; dish, and surround it with a border of quenelles consisting of truffled game forcemeat, moulded by means of a coffeespoon, and poached at the last moment.

Serve separately a Périgueux sauce combined with the reduced _poëling_-liquor, cleared of all grease.

1843—FAISAN A LA RÉGENCE

_Poële_ the pheasant, and dish it on a low _croûton_, carved from a sandwich-loaf and fried in butter.

Surround it with small, decorated, round game quenelles; large, grooved, cooked mushrooms; and cocks’ kidneys; all three arranged alternately.

Serve separately a Salmis sauce, flavoured with truffle essence, and combined with the strained and reduced _poëling_-liquor, cleared of all grease.

1844—FAISAN A LA SAINTE-ALLIANCE

Bone two woodcocks, and put their livers and intestines aside.

Chop up their meat, together with a quarter of its weight of poached and cooled beef-marrow, and as much fresh, fat bacon; salt, pepper, and herbs. Add to this hash six oz. of raw, peeled, and quartered truffles, slightly cooked in butter.

Stuff the pheasant with this preparation; truss it; wrap it in slices of bacon, and keep it in the cool for twenty-four hours, that the aroma of the truffles may be concentrated.

Roast the pheasant on the spit, or, if in the oven, set it on a somewhat high stand in a baking-pan. Cut a large _croûton_ from a sandwich-loaf, and fry it in clarified butter.

Pound the woodcocks’ livers and intestines with an equal weight of grated fresh fat bacon, the well-washed fillets of an anchovy, one oz. of butter, and one-half oz. of raw truffle. When this forcemeat is very smooth and all its ingredients thoroughly mixed, spread it over the fried _croûtons_.

When the pheasant is two-thirds cooked, set this coated _croûton_ under the bird in such wise as to allow the juices escaping from the latter to drop upon the _croûton_. Complete the cooking, and dish the pheasant on the _croûton_. Surround with slices of bitter orange, and send the gravy separately.

When serving, accompany each piece of pheasant with a slice of orange and a small slice of the coated _croûton_.

1845—FAISAN SOUVAROFF

Cook six fair-sized truffles for five minutes in a glassful of Madeira and an equal quantity of light meat glaze. Withdraw the truffles and put them in the _terrine_ in which the pheasant will complete its cooking.

Cut one-half lb. of foie gras into large dice; stiffen these in the truffles’ cooking-liquor, and stuff the pheasant therewith. Truss the latter; wrap it in slices of bacon, and two-thirds _poële_ it.

This done, put it into the _terrine_ containing the truffles; add the _poëling_-liquor, a small glassful of Madeira, and the same quantity of game gravy; hermetically close the _terrine_, and continue cooking for about a quarter of an hour.

Serve the preparation as it stands.

1846—SUPRÊMES, CÔTELETTES ET FILETS DE FAISAN

Pheasant Suprêmes, Cutlets and Fillets, allow of the same garnishes as those of fowl. But, whereas in the case of the latter, they are raised raw, and then poached, my advice in regard to pheasant is, that it should be previously roasted or _poëled_ (keeping it just underdone) and that the _suprêmes_ be only raised at the last moment.

By this means, a much better result is obtained than by the poaching of raw fillets; which, once cooked, are generally dry if they have to wait but a few seconds.

I also advise, when the garnish consists only of foie-gras collops and truffles (as in the case of the _Rossini_ garnish), the sending separately of a small timbale of noodles with cream.

1847—SALMIS DE FAISAN

Salmis is perhaps the most delicate and most perfect of the game preparations bequeathed to us by old-fashioned cookery. If it be less highly esteemed nowadays, it is owing to the fact that this recipe has been literally spoiled by the haphazard fashion in which it has been applied right and left to game already cooked, and cooked again for the purpose.

But the Salmis given above may always be included in any menu, however sumptuous. It is applied more particularly to game of the 1st and 2nd classes, which should be somewhat high when treated.

The recipe I give may be applied to all the birds in the two classes referred to.

Roast the pheasant, keeping it moderately underdone. Quickly cut it into eight pieces, thus: two legs, two wings (separated from the pinions), and the breast cut into four lengthwise. Skin the pieces; trim them neatly, and keep them at a temperate heat in a covered vegetable-pan, with a few drops of burnt brandy and a little clear melted meat glaze.

Pound the carcass and the trimmings, and add to them half a bottleful of red wine (almost entirely reduced), three chopped shallots and a few mignonette pepper. Add one-quarter pint of good game Espagnole sauce; cook for ten minutes; rub through a sieve, pressing well the while, and then strain through a strainer.

Reduce this sauce to about one-third, and despumate it; strain it once more through a close strainer; add a small quantity of butter, and pour it over the pieces of pheasant, to which add a fine, sliced truffle and six grooved mushroom-heads.

I advise the discarding of the old method of dishing upon a cushion of bread fried in butter, as also of the triangular _croûtons_ fried in butter and coated with _gratin_ forcemeat, which usually accompanied the Salmis.

A speedy preparation and a simple method of dishing, which facilitate the service and allow of the Salmis being eaten hot, are the only necessary conditions. Moreover, the goodness of the preparation is such as to be independent of a fantastic method of dishing.

1848—SAUTÉ DE FAISAN

Unless it be prepared with the greatest care, _sautéd_ pheasant is always dry. I therefore do not recommend it; but, should it be necessary to make a dish of it, care should be observed in selecting a young, plump bird. It should be cut up like a fowl, cooked in butter on a moderate fire and kept somewhat underdone.

Dish it after the manner of a “poulet sauté” and cover it. Swill the sautépan and prepare a sauce after the recipe in common use.

This sauce must always be short, and it should be poured over the pheasant just before serving it.

1849—PÂTÉ CHAUD DE FAISAN

The preparation of hot, raised pheasant pies is the same as usual; the ingredients alone changing. The reader will, therefore, kindly refer to “Pâté chaud de Canard” (No. 1752), and duly note the following modifications:—

(1) Use a _gratin_ forcemeat (No. 202) prepared from game livers and meat.

(2) Roast the pheasant, keeping it underdone, and mix the pieces of cooked mushroom with the sliced truffles.

(3) Accompany the pie by a Salmis sauce, prepared from the pheasant’s carcass and remains.

1850—MOUSSES ET MOUSSELINES DE FAISAN

As already stated in various parts of this work, the constituents and their quantities are the same for _mousses_ and _mousselines_, and but for the basic ingredient, which is pheasant in this case, the procedure does not differ from that already described.

The base of the sauces served with these _mousses_ and _mousselines_ is a _fumet_ made from the carcasses and remains.

1851—SOUFFLÉ DE FAISAN

Prepare a very light, _mousseline_ forcemeat of pheasant.

Set in a buttered _soufflé_ saucepan, and cook in a moderate oven.

Send a fine, half-glaze sauce, flavoured with game essence, at the same time.