Dressed Game and Poultry a la Mode Part 8

Rabbit Fritters.

Cut the meat from a cold rabbit into small pieces, put them in a pie-dish and sprinkle over them parsley, chives, thyme, and a clove of garlic, all chopped very fine, salt, pepper, and a bayleaf; pour over all a gla.s.s of Chablis and the juice of a lemon. Let the pieces of rabbit soak in this for two hours, then take them out, dredge them well over with flour, and throw them into boiling fat till of a nice golden colour. Remove and drain them, pile them high in an entree dish, and pour round the following sauce. Take the liquor the rabbit has been soaked in, add half a pint of stock and a little thickening of flour and b.u.t.ter, and let it boil well. Then strain through a sieve, put in a tablespoonful of piccalilli chopped fine, or some chutnee, give another boil, and serve.

Rabbit Klosse.

Take a cold dressed rabbit, mince all the meat, mix in with it an equal quant.i.ty of bread soaked in milk squeezed dry. Cut two slices of bacon into small squares, and fry slowly. Add the minced meat and stir in two eggs, and let it cook a few minutes. Turn it out on a dish to cool, and add one more egg. Form it into b.a.l.l.s the size of an egg, then drop them into boiling water, and boil until set. Lift them out very tenderly, pile them up in a pyramid on a dish, and garnish them with fried potatoes. Send a sharp sauce to table with them.

Rabbits en Papillote.

Mince up some parsley, mushrooms, shalot, a clove of garlic, a slice of bacon, with salt and pepper to taste. Mix this in a little gravy on the fire to form a paste. Cut a rabbit into neat fillets and joints. Cover each with the paste, then wrap a thin slice of fat bacon and fix each piece neatly in an oiled paper. Cook them slowly in the oven, and serve in papers.

Rabbit Pie a la Provencale.

Take two small rabbits, cut them into joints, and lay them in a saucepan with two carrots, two onions, a clove of garlic, a bunch of herbs, and a pound of pickled pork (the belly). Boil in a very little water for half an hour, take out the rabbits and drain them, also drain the pork and place it at the bottom of a well-b.u.t.tered pie-dish, and then lay the pieces of rabbit on it. Pour on a wine-gla.s.sful of Sauterne or vin de Grave, and strew over it some Spanish pimento. Pour in some good batter, and bake in a quick oven for half an hour. Reduce the liquor in which it was cooked and add the strained juice of a lemon. The sauce should be handed with it.

Rabbit Pilau.

Cut up a young rabbit into ten or twelve pieces. Rub each piece into a savoury pudding made as follows. Extract the juice of two onions, mix a teaspoonful of salt with it, half a teaspoonful of powdered ginger, and the juice of a lemon. Boil half a pound of rice in a quart of broth till it is half cooked. Have ready four ounces of good dripping, and fry the pieces of rabbit in it, with two sliced onions. When they are brown remove them. Place the meat into a deep jar. Lay the onions on it and cover with the rice, add four cloves, eight peppercorns, some salt, and a little lemon peel cut very thinly, and pour half a pint of milk over; place some folds of paper over the jar and bake in the oven, adding a little broth when the rabbit is half cooked. When done, pile the rice on a dish, and lay the pieces of rabbit on the top and serve very quickly.

Rabbit Pudding.

Cut a rabbit into ten or twelve pieces, put these into a stewpan with a little pepper and salt, pour on as much boiling water as will cover them, and let them simmer for half an hour. Take them up and put in their place the head and liver of rabbit with some bacon rind and simmer for an hour, strain and skim it, and let it get cool. Line a pie-dish with suet crust, and then put in the pieces of rabbit with four ounces of fat bacon cut into narrow strips, pour in a cupful of the cool gravy, lay on the cover, and boil in the usual way. N.B.--The brains may be mixed in with the liver.

Rabbit a la Tartare.

Bone a rabbit, cut it into pieces, and let it marinade for six hours in parsley, mushrooms, a clove of garlic, chives, all chopped very fine, with pepper, salt, and the best salad oil. Dip each piece of rabbit in breadcrumbs and broil, sprinkling the pieces with the marinade. Serve Tartare sauce over it or with it.

The Wanderer's Rabbit.

No. 1.

Divide a rabbit into pieces of convenient size, put them into a saucepan in which half a dozen slices of bacon are cooking. As soon as the meat is beginning to brown, pour a winegla.s.s and a half of brandy into the saucepan, and set fire to it. When the fire has burnt out, add a little pepper, salt, a bayleaf, and a bit of thyme, and let it simmer by the side of the fire till the brandy has nearly dried up, then serve.

The Wanderer's Rabbit.

No. 2.

Divide a couple of rabbits into quarters, adding plenty of pepper and salt. Slightly fry them in a saucepan in bacon fat and flour. Add sufficient stock and two gla.s.ses of Sauterne, and let it stew on a moderate fire. When done, squeeze an orange over the dish just before serving up.

Stewed Roebuck Cutlets.

Sprinkle the cutlets with salt and pepper, cook them in a saucepan with melted b.u.t.ter. When half done, turn them, add a little flour, moisten with equal quant.i.ties of white wine and stock, season with chopped eschalots, parsley, and blanched mushrooms; remove the cutlets when done, place them round an entree dish, reduce the sauce, pa.s.s it through a tammy, and pour over the cutlets.

Snipe a la Minute.

Pluck three snipes and truss them for roasting. Put the snipes head downwards in a saucepan with two ounces of melted b.u.t.ter, two finely chopped shalots, a dessertspoonful of chopped parsley, pepper and salt to taste. Shake the saucepan over the fire till the birds are lightly browned, pour over them as much good stock and sherry as will just cover them. Add the strained juice of half a lemon and a small piece of finely grated crust. Simmer till birds are done, dish them, and pour over them some good strong beef gravy, and serve quickly.

Snipe Pie.

Take eight snipe for a moderately sized pie; cut them into neat pieces.

Make a forcemeat of ham, chicken, tongue, seasoned with a little sweet herbs, pepper, salt, cayenne, some breadcrumbs, and mushrooms chopped fine. Mix all together with the yolks of a couple of eggs, then place in the pie-dish a layer of snipe, then forcemeat, then snipe again, and then forcemeat, till the dish is full. Pour in some good gravy, and put it in the oven to bake. When it is done, raise the paste cover and pour in some more gravy. This pie may be eaten hot or cold.

Snipe Pie a la Danoise.

Parboil the birds in broth and Chablis, seasoned with pepper, salt, a grated onion, and a grate of nutmeg. Make a forcemeat of finely sc.r.a.ped beef, say one pound, also four ounces of fat pork. Pound and mix well together with a little b.u.t.ter and the crumb of a roll soaked in broth, season with grated onion, pepper, mushrooms and gherkins chopped fine, and add a little broth. Line a dish with this forcemeat, put in the snipe, and bake it for an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes. Serve with a sauce made of half a pint of good stock, a gill of Chablis, a little water, and a piece of b.u.t.ter rolled in flour, and stirred till smooth; when it begins to boil slice in pickled gherkins.

Snipe Raised Pie (Hot).

Cut four snipes in two lengthwise, remove the gizzards, put the trails aside, and season the birds with salt and cayenne. Fry the birds in b.u.t.ter for ten minutes and then stand them to drain in the cool till wanted. Make a forcemeat of four ounces of calf's liver, four ditto fat bacon cut small, melt the latter over a quick fire, and then add the liver and season the mixture with pepper, salt, and herbs. When these are cooked, let them get cold, and then pound them in the mortar with the trails of the birds. Now pa.s.s all through a sieve. Line a b.u.t.tered pie-mould with raised crust paste, and put in a layer of the forcemeat at the bottom of the mould, leaving it hollow in the centre. Put half the pieces of snipe in a circle upon the forcemeat, and place a little ball of forcemeat upon them, put in the rest of the birds and put a layer of forcemeat over all. Fill the hollow in the centre with bread which has been covered with fat bacon, put the pastry cover on, and bake. When done, take off the cover, remove bread and fill its place with scallopped truffles. Pour good brown sauce over all, pile truffles on the top, and serve. This can also be made in a china raised pie-case.

Snipe Souffle.

Roast three or four snipe, remove all the meat from the bones, put it into a mortar, and pound it well with two ounces of cooked rice, one ounce of b.u.t.ter, a little pepper and salt, and one gill and a half of glaze. Pa.s.s through hair sieve and add the yolks of four eggs whipped to a stiff froth; put it into a mould and bake in a quick oven. Serve with a good gravy round, made from the bones and tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs, the juice of half a lemon, and a gla.s.s of port wine; thicken with b.u.t.ter and cornflour.

Snipes a la Superlative.

Make a forcemeat of three ounces of fat bacon, three ounces of fowl's liver, and cut both into pieces an inch square. Fry the bacon over a sharp fire, move it about constantly, and in three or four minutes add the liver. When it is half done, mince it with the bacon, season, and add half a clove of garlic and pound all smoothly in a mortar. Pa.s.s through wire sieve. When quite cold, roll out half of it with a little flour, form it into a thick band, and arrange it in a circle at the bottom of a dish. Take four partially roasted snipes, split them open down the back, and spread the forcemeat a quarter of an inch thick over the inside of each. Place the birds in the middle of the dish, and cover them with some of the forcemeat, smooth with a hot knife and put the dish into a quick oven, wipe away all fat, pour truffle sauce over the snipe, and serve.

Teal Pudding.

Take three teal, season the birds with salt and cayenne, and divide them into neat pieces. Cut up a pound of rump steak into pieces about an inch in size, season, and dredge them lightly with flour. Line a pudding-basin with good suet paste rolled out to half an inch thickness.

Place in a layer of steak and a layer of teal, and repeat till the dish is full, then fill in with three-quarters of a pint of good gravy, and put the cover on in the usual way. Plunge it into boiling water and keep it boiling till done. Serve it in the basin it is cooked in, with a napkin pinned round it.

Salmi of Teal.

Put in a stewpan three ounces of b.u.t.ter and one good spoonful of flour, let them melt together, stirring till it becomes a nice brown; add by degrees a gill of good stock and as much red wine, two whole shalots (taken out after), a full bouquet, pepper, and a little salt; put in the body and bones of the bird, from which you have previously detached the limbs and meat. Let all boil slowly for half an hour, pa.s.s all through colander, and put gravy alone back in stewpan on the fire, and just when on the point of boiling put in the pieces of teal and take the stewpan off the fire; add a little lemon juice, put the lid on, and leave it on the hob for half an hour.

Stewed Teal.