Roast Quail
Draw the birds or not, according to taste. Truss them firmly, and tie over the breasts a vine-leaf covered with a slice of fat bacon. Roast in a hot oven and baste well. When done enough brush the bacon over with glaze, and serve the birds on a hot dish; garnish with watercresses. Pour good brown gravy round but not over the quails. Serve on toast. Time to roast the quails, fifteen to twenty minutes. Sufficient, two for a dish.
A short, hot roast for small birds, barded with fat to keep the breast from drying. Everything hinges on getting the birds out of the oven before the breast meat tightens.
- Draw the birdsThe instruction to leave them undrawn reflects an older taste for the flavour of the entrails in small game. Modern practice is to draw and rinse them; farmed quail are usually sold cleaned already.
- Hot ovenRead this as 425-450F. Quail need high heat and a short time so the outside colours before the interior overcooks.
- TimingFifteen to twenty minutes is right for birds of 4-6 oz. Thigh meat should reach about 165F while the breast stays faintly pink; a few minutes over and the breast goes dry and livery.
- The vine leafA fresh grape leaf, blanched briefly, or a jarred one rinsed of brine. The recipe does not say why the leaf is used; wrapping small birds in vine leaves was standard practice, and the dish can be made with the bacon alone.
- BaconUse unsmoked fatty bacon, salt pork, or thin sheets of pork fatback. Modern smoked streaky bacon will dominate the bird. Tie it on rather than draping it.
- GlazeIn this period glaze means meat stock reduced to a syrup that sets when cool. A few tablespoons of well-reduced brown stock brushed on at the end does the same job.
- Brown gravyDeglaze the roasting pan with stock and a splash of wine, reduce, and strain. Pouring it around rather than over keeps the toast from collapsing and the glazed bacon from washing off.
- Resting and yieldYield -- "Sufficient, two for a dish" means two birds make up the dish as served, not necessarily two per person; the recipe says nothing about resting, and it directs the birds onto a hot dish.