Lares in Onions
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the larks
Stuff the boned larks with minced fowl and herbs.
Place the larks on slices of bacon in a stewpan and cover with stock.
Simmer for 15 minutes.
Prepare the onions
Partly boil the onions, then cool and cut each in half.
Remove enough onion from the inside to fit a lark.
Line each onion with a little forcemeat, place a lark on top, and cover with more forcemeat.
Ensure the head of the lark protrudes through the forcemeat.
Bake and serve
Cover each onion with a slice of lard, wrap in white paper, and bake until the forcemeat is cooked.
Carefully remove the paper and drain off the fat before serving.
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
- Larks
- Provide the lean meat that forms the centre of each onion.
- Minced cooked fowl
- Adds savoury, moist filling that bulks out the forcemeat around the lark.
- Spanish onions
- Act as edible cups that hold the filling and soften as they cook.
- Bacon
- Adds fat and savoury flavour to the stewing liquid and larks.
- Lard
- Covers the onions, adding fat that keeps the filling moist while baking.
The step that matters
Ensure the head of the lark protrudes through the forcemeat. If the lark is fully buried, the forcemeat insulates it and the bird may stay underdone while the onion overcooks. Keeping the head exposed gives a visible sign that the lark is cooked through and helps the filling set evenly around it.
“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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