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WOODCOCK, FILLETS OF (a la Talleyrand)

Take two woodcocks, truss them, and roast them, basting them well with clarified butter. Remove the fillets and put them on a plate. Remove the meat from the legs, free it from skin, and pound it in a mortar. Pound together, till smooth, four ounces of fillet of beef and two ounces of fat pork; add four ounces of panada and the pounded game, and work in two yolks of eggs. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and rub through a fine sieve. Trim the fillets neatly, cover each completely with the above mixture. When set, dip them in beaten white of egg, place in a buttered saute-pan, cover with a gill of white stock and a glass of white wine, and cook in a quick oven for twelve minutes. Drain on a cloth, and dish them up alternately with croutons of fried bread on a thin border of mashed potatoes. Serve with a game sauce (see GAME, SAUCE FOR), in which the remains, if any, of the pounded mixture may be stirred over the fire until the sauce begins to thicken.