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Snipes, Pudding of, Superior

Take four or six fresh snipes, pluck them, and cut them in halves. Take away the gizzards with the point of a knife, but put the trails aside till wanted. Season the birds with salt and black pepper; a few drops of lemon-juice may be sprinkled over them or not. Cut a Spanish onion into dice, put it into a saucepan which has been rubbed quickly round with garlic, and fry it in butter till it begins to turn yellow. Dredge a table-spoonful of flour upon it, and add a table-spoonful of chopped mushrooms, a table-spoonful of minced parsley, and a pinch of aromatic powdered herbs (see HERBS, AROMATIC, POWDERED). Stir these ingredients over the fire, and moisten them with half a pint of wine, or with stock flavoured with wine. Boil all for ten minutes, add the trails, and rub the sauce through a sieve. Line a pudding-basin with thin suet crust, put in the birds, pour the sauce over them, and add three or four sliced truffles if liked. Cover the pudding with pastry, press the edges closely together, and boil or steam it in the usual way. Turn out carefully, and serve. Time to boil the pudding, two hours and a half. Six birds will be sufficient for a good-sized pudding.