Woodcock
Pluck but do not empty, or at most only remove the end of the trail. Rub all over with salt and pepper, dunk in melted butter, and truss or bind head, legs, feet, and wings close to body in one compact bundle. Fasten a thin strip of bacon well around the body. Broil turning frequently. Have buttered toast ready to catch the juices, if any fall when turning.
If you wish to roast them, they are strongly enough flavored to accept a tiny sprinkling of minced herbsthyme, bay leaf and parsley-in the bottom of the baking dish with the butter.
A traditional treatment of a very small, very lean bird — one woodcock dresses out at only a few ounces of meat, so nearly everything here is about keeping it from drying out. The trussing and the bacon are not decoration; they are the whole method.
- The hinge: fat and speedA woodcock has almost no fat of its own and will be ruined in the time it takes a chicken thigh to warm through. The butter dunk and the bacon strip are the only things standing between the bird and leather, so keep both in place for the whole cooking time and work fast.
- "Broil" here means live fire or an overhead grill"Broil" here most likely means live fire or an overhead grill -- a bird held close over coals and turned constantly. Under a modern broiler, use the top rack position at full heat and turn every minute or two; roughly 8 to 12 minutes for a bird of this size, though the original gives no timing.
- Roasting temperatureThe original gives none. If you take the roasting option, a hot oven is the usual modern choice, around 425 to 450F, so the skin colours before the breast overcooks. Figure roughly 12 to 18 minutes depending on the bird, and check rather than trust the clock.
- The trailLeaving the entrails in is authentic game-cookery practice, and the "trail" was prized as a spread for the toast. If you keep it, understand you are eating the gut of a wild bird; drawing the bird fully loses nothing but the tradition. Whichever you choose, take the internal temperature of the breast and bring it to 165F rather than serving it rare as period sources often did.
- Lead shotShot birds frequently carry lead fragments and bruised, bloodshot tissue around the wound channel. Feel through the breast before cooking and cut away damaged flesh, and be careful with any bird destined for children or a pregnant eater.
- SourcingWoodcock is a licensed migratory game bird in the United States and a game bird under closed-season rules in Britain and Ireland. It cannot legally be bought from a market in the US; it comes from a hunter working within season and bag limits, or not at all.
- The toastSet the buttered toast directly beneath the bird from the start, not at the end. Its only job is to absorb the drippings, and by the time you notice juice falling it has already gone into the fire.
- YieldOne bird is a modest single portion, and two per person is often suggested where the bag permits. Serve on the toast, with nothing more elaborate than a green salad.