Is also a very favourite dish for second course, and when well prepared
stands high in the estimation of a gourmet; the following receipt is
exactly as they are prepared at Pithiviers: pluck and bone six dozen of
larks, take out the interior, extract the gizzard, and pound the
intestines with two pounds of forcemeat (No. 123), place a little in
each bird, roll them up, and envelope them in very thin slices of fat
bacon; you have lined a raised pie-mould with paste as for pâté de veau
(No. 999), which again line with the forcemeat, place a layer of the
larks at the bottom, then a layer of forcemeat, then larks again, till
quite full, and finish with a quarter of a pound of maître d’hôtel
butter (No. 79), a thin slice of fat bacon, and three bay-leaves, cover
with paste and bake in a moderate oven two hours and a half, place it
by, and when half cold add a pint of good game sauce (No. 60), shake it
well in; when quite cold take off the lid, and garnish with some fresh
sprigs of parsley. At Pithiviers the pies are made square, and crimped
from top to bottom, but the shape has nothing to do with the quality,
and I consider those made in moulds look the handsomest.
Pâtés as above may be made of all small birds that are eatable.