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Roasted Partridges

Pluck the partridges, draw and truss them, and fasten some thin slices of fat bacon round them, roast for fifteen minutes in a hot oven. Five minutes before dishing take the bacon off, sprinkle a little salt over the birds, and brown them. Put the partridges on a hot dish, and serve them with a sauceboatful of brown gravy.

Roasted Partridge, Perigord Pluck, singe, and draw three partridges. Put four ounces of scraped fat bacon in a stewpan with three bay leaves, a blade of mace, and two or three cloves, and place over the fire till boiling; then take out the bay leaves, cloves and mace. Finely chop three large truffles, put them in with the fat, also put in ten sliced truffles, pour in one quart of white sauce, and boil it until thickly reduced, keeping it well stirred at the same time. Move the pan to the side of the fire, stir in quickly the beaten yolks of two eggs, and pour it on the plate. When the truffle mixture is cold, stuff the partridges with it, then hang them up and leave them for a few days, so as to be well flavored with the truffles. When ready for cooking, wrap the birds separately in sheets of buttered paper, fix them on a roasting pan and roast them in a hot oven for half an hour. Pour two quarts of white sauce into a saucepan with one pint of veal broth, put it over the fire, and when it boils add a few thinly-sliced French truffles, and a scant teaspoonful of sugar. Stir and boil it until thickly reduced, then mix in two tablespoonfuls of whipped cream. When cooked take the birds out of the sheets of paper, put them on a hot dish, pour the sauce over them, and serve while very hot.

Roasted Partridges Stuffed with Truffles Singe and draw two young red partridges. Peel six black truffles, cut them in quarters and sprinkle salt and pepper over them. Chop the livers of the partridges that have been cooked with two chickens' livers, an equal quantity of fat bacon and the trimmings of the truffles; put the mince in a mortar, pound it and pass it through a fine hair-sieve. Put some bacon fat in a fryingpan, and when melted put in the truffles; toss them about over the fire for two or three minutes, then mix them with the forcemeat and stuff the partridges with it; truss, lay them in a roastingpan, spread with butter and set the pan in the oven, basting the birds occasionally with their own butter. When the birds are cooked (they will take from twenty to twenty-five minutes, according to their size), sprinkle salt over and put them on a hot dish. Mix a little gravy in the drippings, skim off the fat, and boil it till reduced to half its original quantity, then strain it through a fine hair-sieve. Garnish the partridges with slices of lemon, and serve them with the sauce in a sauceboat.