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Pheasant and Macaroni

Pick the meat from the remains of a cold roast pheasant; carefully remove the skin and sinews, and with two forks pull the flesh into pieces about half an inch long. Weigh it, and put it aside until wanted. Place the bones and trimmings in a saucepan with as much water as will cover them, and let them simmer gently until all the goodness is drawn out, and the sauce is so much reduced that it will merely moisten the meat; then, supposing that the latter weighs about half a pound, put with the gravy two shallots, a little salt and pepper, half a salt-spoonful of grated nutmeg, a table-spoonful of mushroom ketchup, and a table-spoonful of sherry. Thicken with a table-spoonful of flour, mixed smoothly with two ounces of butter, and let the gravy simmer gently twenty minutes longer. Strain it, put it back into the saucepan, and let it boil up. A few minutes before the pheasant is to be served put the meat into the gravy, let it warm through without boiling, then pour it into the centre of a hot dish, and place round it some macaroni prepared as follows. Throw six ounces of good macaroni into three pints of boiling water, add a little pepper and salt, and simmer gently for twenty minutes. Drain well, and put it back into the saucepan with a pint of good stock, a small tea-spoonful of salt, a tea-spoonful of unmixed mustard, half a salt-spoonful of grated nutmeg, a pinch of cayenne, and a salt-spoonful of pepper. Let the mixture boil until the macaroni is tender, then add a table-spoonful of grated Parmesan and an ounce of butter. Simmer a quarter of an hour longer, shaking and tossing the saucepan to mix the macaroni thoroughly with the cheese; then serve. Time, three hours. Probable cost, 1s. 4d., exclusive of the cold meat. Sufficient for three or four persons.