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Ortolan Patties

Make six patties of tart paste in fluted moulds made with hinges so that they will open to let out the patty crusts when done; fill them with flour and bake. When set take them out of the moulds and let them get cold. Place at the bottom of each one tablespoonful of royal salpicon, and then place in each patty two well picked, fine, fat, raw, seasoned ortolans, covered with a thin slice of bacon; lay them on a small baking pan, place in a moderate oven and bake for fifteen minutes. Remove from the oven, take off the lard from the birds, moisten each patty with two tablespoonfuls of hot Madeira sauce, and serve on a hot dish with a folded napkin placed over it. Ortolans, Perigordine Prepare the birds as for roasting, cover them with slices of fat bacon, put them in a saucepan, set in the bain-marie, add a little stock mixed with lemon juice, baste them with this, and cook them. Scoop out the center from as many truffles as there are birds, put them into a saucepan with sufficient champagne to boil them in, take them out when done and stuff with a little game puree. Put them into the saucepan with the ortolans, warm them all up for a few seconds, arrange them on a dish, and serve with a little of the sauce to moisten them.

Ortolans, Provincial Style Procure as many large truffles as there are birds to be cooked and make some French forcemeat. Remove the feet and heads from the birds and season well with salt and pepper; lay the birds on their backs on the truffles, put them in a deep stewpan with two gills of red wine and about the same quantity of clear veal stock and cover with slices of bacon; cover and stew slowly. When they are cooked remove the birds and truffles and keep them hot; strain the sauce through a fine sieve, skim off all the fat, pour it into a small, clean stewpan and boil till reduced to half its original quantity. Mix with the sauce one breakfast cupful of brown Spanish sauce and boil it again until somewhat reduced. Put some pieces of toast on a hot dish, pour the sauce over, put the birds and truffles on them, and serve.