Page:Art of Cookery 1774 edition.djvu/131

 an egg, in order to shape them; bread them neatly, and bake them a quarter of an hour in a quick oven: observe that the truffles and morels are boiled tender in the gravy your soak the bread in. Serve them up for the side-dish, or they will serve to garnish the above dish, which will be a very fine one for a first course.

Note, When you have cold fowls in the house, this makes a pretty addition in an entertainment.

PICK and draw your pheasants, and singe then, lard one with bacon, but not the other, spit them, roast them fine, and paper them all over the breast; when they are just done, flour and baste them with a little nice butter, and let them have a fine white froth; then take them up, and pour good gravy in the dish and bread-sauce in plates.

Or you may put water-cresses nicely picked and washed, and just scalded, with gravy in the dish, and lay the cresses under the pheasants.

Or you may make celery-sauce stewed tender, strained and mixed with cream, and poured into the dish.

If you may have but one pheasant, take a large fine fowl about the bigness of the pheasant, pick it nicely with the head on, draw it and truss it with the heat turned as you do a pheasant's, lard the fowl all over the breast and legs wit ha large piece of bacon cut into little pieces; when roasted put them both in a dish, and no body will know it. They will take an hour doing, as the fire must not be too brisk. A Frenchman would order fish-sauce to them, but then you quite spoil your pheasants.

TAKE your pheasant and stew it in veal gravy, take artichoke-bottoms parboiled, some chesnuts roasted and blanched: when your pheasant is enough (but it must stew till there is just enough for sauce, then skim it) put in the chesnuts and artichoke-bottoms, a little beaten mace, pepper, and salt just enough to season it, and a glass of white wine, and if you don't think it thick enough, thicken it with a little piece of butter rolled in flour: squeeze in a little lemon, pour the sauce over the pheasant, and have some force-meat balls fried and put into the dish.

Note, A good fowl will do full as well, trussed with the head on like a pheasant. You may fry sausages instead of the force-meat balls.