Pheasant, To Carve
Fixing the fork in the breast, let the carver cut slices from it in the direction of the lines from Bit before a brisk fire, keep it well basted, to A; these are the prime pieces. If there be more guests to satisfy than these slices will serve, then let the legs and wings be disengaged in the same manner as described in carving boiled fowl, the point where the wing joins the neckbone being and flour and froth it nicely. Serve with brown gravy, a little of which should be poured round the bird, and a tureen of bread sauce. 2 or 3 of the pheasant's best tail-feathers are usually stuck in the tail as an ornament.
PHEASANT, ROAST.
TIME. to 1 hour, according to the size.
SEASONABLE from the 1st of October to the beginning of February.
Pheasant, Roast, à la Sainte Alliance. (BRILLAT SAVARIN'S Recipe.) -When the pheasant is in good condition to be cooked, it should be plucked, and not before. The bird should then be stuffed in the following manner: -Take two snipes, and draw them, putting the bodies on one plate, and the livers, &c., on another. Take off the flesh, and mince it finely with a little beef lard, a few truffles, pepper and salt to taste, and stuff the pheasant carefully with this. Cut a slice of bread, larger ROAST PHEASANT. considerably than the bird, and cover it with the liver, &c., and a few truffles; an anchovy and a little fresh butter added to these will do no harm. Put the bread, &c., into the dripping-pan, and, when the bird is roasted, place it on the preparation, and surround it with Florida oranges.
Do not be uneasy, Savarin adds, about your dinner; for a pheasant served in this way is fit for beings better than men. The pheasant itself is a very good bird; and, imbibing the dressing and the flavour of the truffle and snipe, it becomes thrice better.