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Pheasant, Braised, and Rump Steak

Pick, draw, and singe a pheasant, and truss it as for boiling. Put into it a little forcemeat made with three ounces of finely-grated bread-crumbs, two ounces of fresh butter, the eighth part of a nutmeg, grated, and a little salt, pepper, and cayenne. Cover the breast with slices of fat bacon, and fasten them on securely with twine. Though this bacon is not served with the pheasant, it will be found excellent for breakfast if it is boiled two or three minutes before being used. Take two pounds of good rump-steak, three-quarters of an inch thick. Lay two or three slices of fat bacon on this. Rub the inside of a good-sized saucepan with a clove of garlic. Dissolve two ounces of fresh butter in it, put in the beef, and round it a dozen chestnuts which have been skinned and scalded. Lay the pheasant upon it, breast uppermost, add a scraped carrot, three or four of the outer sticks of a head of celery cut into small pieces, four shallots, a good-sized lump of sugar, a small tea-spoonful of pepper, half a tea-spoonful of mustard, a tea-spoonful of anchovy sauce, a tea-spoonful of soy, and a dessert-spoonful of mushroom ketchup. Pour over these rather less than a pint of boiling stock or water, cover the saucepan closely, bring the contents to a boil, then draw the pan to the side, and let them simmer as gently as possible for quite three hours. Serve the beef and the pheasant on separate dishes, and as hot as possible, with a little of the gravy strained over the pheasant, and the rest in a tureen. The nuts should be used to garnish the beef. If an acid flavour is liked, the juice of half a lemon may be added to the gravy, and a little salt put in if necessary, but this will depend upon the quality of the bacon. Probable cost, about 8s., with the pheasant at 3s., and the rump-steak at 1s. 4d. per pound. Sufficient for seven or eight persons.