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PARTRIDGES, BRAISED (a la Reine)
Truss a brace of partridges as if for boiling. Tie thin a slices of fat bacon over them, and fill them with good game forcemeat, in which there are two or three truffles cut into small pieces. Slice a small carrot into a stewpan, with an onion, four or five sticks of celery, two or three sprigs of parsley, and an ounce of fresh butter. Place the partridges on these, breasts uppermost, pour over them half a pint of good stock, cover with a round of buttered paper, and simmer as gently as possible, until the partridges are done enough. Strain the stock, free it carefully from grease, thicken it with a little flour, add as much browning as is necessary, and flavour with cayenne, half a dozen drops of the essence of anchovy, and a table-spoonful of sherry. Stir this sauce over a gentle fire until it is on the point of boiling, then pour it over the partridges, already dished upon toast, and serve immediately. Time, about an hour and a half or less, to simmer the partridges. Probable cost of partridges, 3s. per brace. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A straightforward pot braise dressed up with forcemeat and truffle. The one thing to change is the timing: an hour and a half suited tough old wild birds and will reduce a modern partridge to dry fibre.
- Time the birds, not the clockFarmed grey or red-legged partridge of roughly 12-16 oz need about 25-35 minutes of the barest simmer, and a stuffed bird should read 165F/74C in the centre of the forcemeat. The recipe allows "about an hour and a half or less", which suits an older wild bird of uncertain age; check at half an hour and keep going only if the leg still resists.
- A braceTwo birds. Partridge was sold and counted in pairs, which is why the cost here is quoted per brace.
- Trussed as for boilingLegs pressed close and drawn inside the skin rather than extended, so the bird sits compactly. Simple kitchen string round the body and legs achieves the same thing.
- Half a pint of stockAn imperial half-pint, 10 fl oz or about 1 1/4 US cups. It should come partway up the birds, not cover them; this is a braise, not a poach.
- The buttered paperA cartouche, a round of parchment buttered and laid directly on the birds under the lid. It keeps the exposed breast from drying and stops the liquid reducing too fast. If you prefer the oven, a low oven in a covered pan does the same work more evenly.
- Fat baconThe fat part of the bacon, used here as barding. Unsmoked fatback or fat trimmed from a pork belly, cut thin, is the safer modern choice; a heavily smoked bacon will dominate the game.
- Game forcemeatA pounded mixture of raw game or liver, fat, breadcrumbs and egg. Modern practice is a coarse pate mix: partridge or chicken livers, minced pork fat, crumbs soaked in cream, egg, thyme, salt. Fresh truffle can be replaced by a dried mushroom duxelles with a few drops of truffle oil if you would rather not spend the money.
- Browning and essence of anchovyBrowning is caramel colouring, sold now as gravy browning; a teaspoon of dark soy or a spoonful of well-reduced stock does the job. Essence of anchovy was a thin bottled sauce, close to modern anchovy paste thinned with water, or Worcestershire sauce at the same half-dozen drops.
- The sauceBring it only to the point of boiling as directed. Hard boiling after the sherry goes in will drive off the wine and split any butter left in the strained stock.
Dishes labelled a la reine in Victorian cookery books rarely refer to a specific queen; the phrase functioned as shorthand for a refined treatment of poultry or white meat, often in a cream sauce, and it attached itself to chicken, rice soup and game alike. Cassell's belongs to the era when partridge was a genuinely seasonal item governed by the British game laws, on sale from the first of September and priced by the brace, and the three shillings quoted here places it among the more expensive things a middle-class household would buy for a dinner party. The braise itself is a practical response to wild birds of unknown age: barding fat, a paper cartouche and a long gentle simmer in aromatic vegetables were, by all appearances, the defence relied on against a partridge that might have been two seasons old. Truffle in the forcemeat marks the dish as company food rather than an everyday roast.