Roast Snipe
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the birds
Pick the snipe thoroughly and remove the skin from the head.
Cut off the wings.
Twist the legs to bring the feet behind the thighs.
Pass the bill through the thighs and body.
Singe the snipe carefully.
Wrap the snipe in rashers of fat bacon and tie them around.
Roast
Roast the snipe before a clear fire for 20 to 25 minutes.
Place toasted bread under each bird to catch the gravy.
Baste the birds frequently.
Serve
Serve on a dish with a piece of toast under each bird and garnish with watercresses.
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
- Snipe
- The main meat, which cooks through over the fire to form the dish.
- Bacon
- Fat wrapped around the birds that keeps the lean meat moist and adds flavour.
- Toast
- Soaks up the drippings and gravy that fall from the roasting birds.
The step that matters
Roast the snipe before a clear fire for 20 to 25 minutes.. Small lean birds dry out quickly, so the bacon wrap and frequent basting protect moisture. Overcooking toughens the meat, so timing and regular basting matter.
“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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