Farce for Potting Game
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 350°F (175°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the farce
Chop equal parts of lean veal and fat bacon together and season with the seasoning mixture.
Heat the mixture in a large stewpan over medium heat, stirring until hot, then pound it in a mortar.
Fill and line the pots
Bone the game birds thoroughly and fill each with a little of the farce, shaping them properly.
Line the bottom and sides of pots with fat bacon and sprinkle with more seasoning.
Place the birds breast down in the pots, cover with more farce, and press it closely around them.
Bake and seal
Cover the birds with more fat bacon, tie strong paper over the pots, and bake in a 350°F (175°C) oven for two hours.
Once cooled, fill the pots with melted lard and seal with bladders.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Lean veal
- Provides the lean body and firm texture of the farce.
- Fat bacon
- Adds fat and moisture, keeping the farce from drying out as it cooks.
- Melted lard
- Forms a fat layer over the cooled pots that helps seal and preserve the contents.
The step that matters
Pressing the farce closely around the birds. Air pockets left between the birds and the farce leave gaps that weaken the set and let the surface dry out during baking.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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