Home › The Principles of Cookery › Pheasant Soup

Pheasant Soup

Flour a well-hung pheasant rather thickly, put it down to a brisk fire, and roast it for a quarter of an hour, basting it plentifully all the time. Take it from the fire, and let it get nearly cold; then remove the flesh from the breast and the upper part of the wings, skin it, and put it aside. Cut up the rest of the bird, and bruise the bones. Scrape a small carrot finely, put it into a stewpan with an ounce of butter, an ounce of the lean of an unboiled ham finely minced, a small sprig of thyme, a bay-leaf, a handful of parsley, half a blade of mace, three or four cloves, half a dozen peppercorns, a shallot, and three or four of the outer sticks of a head of celery. Stir these ingredients over a gentle fire until they are brightly browned, put in the flesh and the bruised body of the bird, pour over them a quart of veal or beef stock, and after boiling stew gently for half an hour, and be careful to remove the scum as it rises. Strain the soup, and rub the meat through a tamis or sieve. Mix the puree with the soup, add to it a small pinch of cayenne, a little salt, a glassful of sherry, and the fillets of the pheasant cut into thick slices; stir over the fire until it is quite hot, and serve. Time, an hour and a half or more. Probable cost, 5s. This soup may be made with the remains of dressed pheasant.