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Ptarmigan Salad

Take the remains of cold roast ptarmigan, or, if liked, roast a bird specially for the purpose, and in this case let it be slightly underdone. Cut it into neat joints, and lay these aside until wanted. Wash in salted water any fresh salad that may be in season, and dry it carefully by putting it after it has been washed, a small quantity at a time, into a dry napkin, and then taking this up by the corners and shaking the moisture from the leaves. Put a layer of the salad at the bottom of a dish, lay the inferior joints of the bird upon it, and cover each piece with sauce. Cover these with the remainder of the salad, and lay the rest of the bird upon it; pour sauce over the whole, and serve. The sauce may be made as follows. Beat the yolk of an egg for a minute. Mix with it a large pinch of salt, half a tea-spoonful of powdered sugar, a tea-spoonful of finely-minced shallot, and the same of chopped parsley, tarragon, or chervil. Stir in, first in drops and afterwards in tea-spoonfuls, four table-spoonfuls of best salad-oil, and beat the sauce briskly between each addition. Add gradually two table-spoonfuls of chilli vinegar, and set the sauce in a cool place till it is wanted. Before using, mix with it a quarter of a pint of thick cream. The salad should not be arranged upon the dish until just before it is wanted. It may be garnished in any way that fancy dictates. It looks very pretty as follows. Place a thin flat rim of butter round the dish on which the salad is to be served. Cut four hard-boiled eggs into eighths lengthwise, and stick the pieces upon the butter, placing the yolk and the white alternately to the outside. Arrange round the salad, and resting upon the top of the eggs, a sort of trelliswork of beetroot cut into thin slices. Pour the white sauce over the salad, and sprinkle over it half a dozen parsley-leaves broken into small pieces. Serve as soon as possible after the sauce is poured on. A salad garnished in this way would have to be served on a flat dish, and not in a salad-bowl. Time, half an hour to roast the bird. Sufficient for five or six persons. Probable cost of ptarmigan, 1s. 6d. to 2s. 6d. each.