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To Broil Partridge
521. Split the partridge and wipe, but do not wash it, and broil it to a pale brown, Sprinkle with pepper and salt, rub a little butter over it as soon as it is taken from the fire. Make a sauce of meat stock, or water thickened with flour and butter, and flavoured with salt, pepper, ketchup, and a squeeze of lemon. If preferred, the bird may be dipped more than once into clarified butter and bread-crumbs before being broiled.
A plain grilled game bird with a quickly improvised gravy. The whole thing hinges on splitting the bird flat so the thick breast and thin legs cook at the same rate.
- Broil means grillIn this book "broil" is cooking over a clear fire on a gridiron, not under an overhead element. A charcoal grill is closest; a heavy ridged pan over medium-high heat or an oven broiler set high both work, with the cut side toward the heat first.
- Splitting the birdCut down either side of the backbone and open the partridge out flat, or split it through the breastbone into halves. Press it flat with a weight so it stays in contact with the grill.
- Do not wash itThe instruction is sound and still is. Wiping with a dry cloth or paper leaves the skin dry enough to brown; rinsing wets it and it will steam rather than colour, besides spreading bacteria round the sink.
- Timing and donenessA whole partridge split flat takes roughly 12 to 18 minutes total over moderate coals, turned once. Game birds are safest taken to 165F at the thickest part of the breast; older kitchens served them pinker, which is a risk you take knowingly.
- "Ketchup"In a British book of this period ketchup most likely means mushroom or walnut ketchup, a thin dark salty condiment, rather than the sweet tomato sauce the word now suggests (tomato ketchup existed but was not yet the default). Mushroom ketchup is still sold; Worcestershire sauce or a spoonful of soy plus a little vinegar gives a comparable savoury edge.
- The sauceThis is a small flour-and-butter thickening: about 1 tablespoon each of butter and flour cooked together, then a scant cup of stock whisked in and simmered a few minutes to lose the raw flour taste. Season, then add ketchup and lemon off the heat.
- The crumbed versionClarified butter is used because the milk solids in whole butter scorch on a grill. Dip, crumb, and repeat for a thicker coat; watch it closely, as crumbs burn well before the bird is cooked and are better finished at a gentler heat.
- YieldOne partridge serves one person generously, or two as a first course. Scale the sauce by the number of birds.