Roast Woodcock and Snipe
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare the birds
Pluck the birds carefully, leaving the skin intact.
Cut off the wings at the first joint, leaving the head and feet on.
Do not draw the birds; press the legs to the side and pass the beak through them and the body.
Roast
Brush the birds with butter or dripping and place a piece of slit bacon on each breast.
Roast in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 15 minutes.
Place toast under the birds to catch the gravy.
Serve
Serve the birds on the toast and garnish with fresh water-cress.
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
- Woodcock or snipe
- Provides the main meat, which cooks quickly and stays moist when the skin is left intact.
- Butter or dripping
- Adds fat that helps the skin brown and carries flavour over the birds.
- Bacon
- Lays fat over the breast, basting the meat and adding savoury flavour as it renders.
- Toast
- Soaks up the juices and drippings that fall from the birds during roasting.
The step that matters
Roast in a 400°F (200°C) oven for about 15 minutes. Small birds dry out quickly, so timing matters. Leaving the skin intact and the bacon in place helps protect the meat while the fat renders and the skin browns.
“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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