Cut cold roast partridges, grouse, or quails into joints, and lay aside
while you prepare the gravy. This is made of the bones, dressing, skin,
and general odds and ends, after you have selected the neatest pieces
of the birds. Put these—the scraps—into a saucepan, with one small
onion, minced, and a bunch of sweet herbs; pour in a pint of water,
and whatever gravy you may have, and stew, closely covered, for nearly
an hour. A few bits of pork should be added if you have no gravy. Skim
and strain, return to the fire, and add a little brown Sherry and
lemon-juice, with a pinch of nutmeg; thicken with brown flour, if the
stuffing has not thickened it sufficiently, boil up, and pour over the
reserved meat, which should be put into another saucepan. Warm until
all is smoking-hot, but do not let it boil. Arrange the pieces of bird
in a symmetrical heap upon a dish, and pour the gravy over them.
GAME PIE—(_Very fine_).
This may be made of any of the birds named in the foregoing receipts.
Grouse and quails together make a delightful Christmas pie. Clean and
wash the birds; cut the quails in half, the grouse into four pieces.
Trim off bits of the inferior portions, necks, lower ribs, etc., and
put them with the giblets into a saucepan, with a pint and a half of
water, if your pie requires six birds. While this is stewing make a
good puff-paste and line a large pudding-dish, reserving enough for
a lid half an inch thick. When the livers are tender, take them out,
leaving the gravy to stew in the covered saucepan. Lard the breasts of
the birds with tiny strips of salt pork, and mince a couple of slices
of the same with the livers, a bunch of parsley, sweet marjoram, and
thyme, also chopped fine, the juice of a lemon, pepper, and a very
small shallot. Make a force-meat of this, with bread-crumbs moistened
with warm milk. Put some thin strips of cold corned (not smoked) ham in
the bottom of the pie, next to the crust; lay upon these pieces of the
bird, peppered and buttered, then a layer of the force-meat, and so on,
until you are ready for the gravy. Strain this, return to the fire,
and season with pepper and a glass of wine. Heat to a boil, pour into
the pie, and cover with the upper crust, cutting a slit in the middle.
Ornament with pastry leaves, arranged in a wreath about the edge, and
in the middle a pastry bird, with curled strips of pastry about it.
This last should be baked separately and laid on when the pie is done,
to cover the hole in the middle.
Bake three hours if your pie be large, covering with paper if it
threaten to brown too fast.