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Blackcock, Stewed
Joint the blackcock in the same way as an ordinary fowl, and fry in plenty of butter until nicely browned, with a clove of garlic, which should be removed before the stewing is commenced. Put a small wine-glassful of stock and two of port wine, and a seasoning of salt and pepper into the frying-pan with the butter, make a nice gravy, then put the blackcock into a stew-pan, throw the gravy over, and simmer very gently about half an hour, or until tender. Serve the meat high on the dish, and the gravy, with sippets of toast around it. Old birds are best done in this way; they require more time. Probable cost, 5s. to 6s. per brace.
A straightforward brown braise, but the timing in the last two sentences contradicts itself and the bird itself is the hard part to source.
- The birdBlackcock is the male black grouse, a bird of British moorland edges, now scarce enough that shooting it is widely discouraged and in many areas voluntarily suspended; you are unlikely to buy one. Red grouse, guinea fowl, or a couple of pheasants take the recipe well, as does an older free-range chicken if you want the same fibrous, slow-yielding meat.
- Wine-glassfulA Victorian wine glass is roughly 2 fl oz, so this is about 1/4 cup stock and 1/2 cup port. That is a small amount of liquid for a stew-pan; keep the lid on and the heat very low, or add a little more stock.
- Half an hour is for a young birdThe recipe admits at the end that old birds need longer, and it means considerably longer. Jointed legs and thighs of an old grouse want 1 1/2 to 2 hours at a bare simmer. Add the breast pieces for the last 20 minutes only, or they will be dry before the legs give in.
- The garlicOne clove, fried in the butter and then lifted out, is there for perfume rather than flavour in the modern sense. Do not let it blacken while you are browning the joints or the whole gravy will taste scorched.
- Making the gravy in the panAfter the port and stock go into the frying-pan, scrape the browned butter and fond off the base and let it reduce a minute before it goes over the bird. This is the step that carries the dish; skipping it leaves a thin, winey liquid.
- SippetsSmall triangles or fingers of bread fried in butter or toasted dry, arranged round the edge of the dish. They are meant to soak up gravy at the table, so cut them thick enough to hold together.
- "Serve the meat high"Pile the joints in a mound in the centre of a hot dish. The recipe does not say where the gravy goes at table; pouring it round rather than over keeps the browned surfaces visible.
- Yield and costA brace of grouse serves three or four; one bird is dinner for two at most. The "5s. to 6s. per brace" is a game-dealer price of the book's own period and is no guide to present cost.
Cassell's gives blackcock its own entries because in the 1870s and 80s British game came to town in quantity by rail, and a household cook was expected to know what to do with birds a modern kitchen never sees. Blackcock (Lyrurus tetrix, long known as Tetrao tetrix) is darker and drier than red grouse, and the book's remark that "old birds are best done in this way" reflects the standard game-cook's division of labour: young birds roasted plain and served on toast, old ones jointed and braised with wine to break down the muscle. The port is characteristic of the period's treatment of dark game. The bird has declined steeply since then, which is why a recipe once printed as routine now reads as a historical document.