Roasted Snipe and Woodcock
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the birds
Pluck the birds and remove the skin from the head and neck.
Truss the birds with the head under the wing.
Twist the legs at the first joint, pressing the feet against the thigh.
Do not draw the birds; tie a slice of bacon around each.
Run a small iron skewer through the birds and tie it to a spit at both ends.
Roast and serve
Roast the birds over a good fire, placing a dripping pan with buttered toast underneath to catch drippings.
Baste the snipe often with a brush dipped in melted butter.
Roast for twenty minutes, then salt the birds and serve immediately on toast.
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
- Bacon
- Its fat bastes the lean birds as it renders, keeping the meat moist and adding savoury flavour.
- Butter
- Melted butter brushed on the birds adds richness and helps the surface brown.
- Toast
- Catches the drippings in the pan, so it soaks up the fat and juices and serves as the base.
The step that matters
Basting the snipe. Small birds dry out quickly over a hot fire. Frequent brushing with melted butter keeps the surface moist and promotes even browning.
“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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