No. 2102

Partridges Larded and Roasted with Gravy and Water-Cresses

Perdreaux Piques Rotis au Jus Garnis de Cresson

Prepare and truss the partridges for roasting as explained in No. 179; dip the breasts into boiling water to stiffen the skin, and lard with small lardons (No. 3, Fig. 52). Lay them on the spit to roast, salt over and untruss a few moments before serving; glaze and dress on a canape and surround with water-cress, serving at the same time a sauce-boatful of partridge fumet (No. 397) or clear gravy (No. 404). They can be barded instead of larded by covering their breasts with a thin slice of fat pork, tying it on with three rounds of string; roast and dress the same as the others. An ounce of good butter may be placed inside of each bird before cooking.

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes a spit, a larding needle, and a kitchen with stock and fumet already made. The whole point of the dish is fat: partridge breast is lean and dries out in minutes, so everything here — the lardons, the barding pork, the butter in the cavity — exists to keep it juicy.

The hinge: do not overcookA partridge is done at about 155-160F in the thickest part of the breast, which on a 12-14 oz bird means roughly 20-25 minutes at 425F, then 10 minutes' rest. Past that point no amount of larding will save it.
Larding without a needle"Small lardons" means matchsticks of firm back fat or fatty salt pork threaded through the skin and surface of the breast with a larding needle. Without one, take Ranhofer's second option and bard: lay a thin sheet of fatback or unsmoked streaky bacon over the breast and tie it on with three loops of string. Remove it for the last five minutes so the skin colours.
Dipping in boiling waterA brief dip firms the skin so the lardons do not tear it. Two or three seconds is enough; any longer and you begin to cook the breast.
Spit to ovenFor an oven, roast breast-up in a shallow pan at 425F on a rack or a bed of the trimmings. If you want the spit's constant basting, start the birds on one side for 7 minutes, turn to the other side for 7, then finish breast-up.
"Canapé" here is fried bread"Canape" here is fried bread -- In The Epicurean a canape under game is a piece of bread fried in butter, sometimes spread with a preparation of the liver and trimmings. It catches the juices; it is not a modern cocktail canape.
The cross-referenced saucesNo. 397 is a partridge fumet, a concentrated game preparation; No. 404 is Ranhofer's clear gravy. Either can be replaced by a good reduced brown chicken or game stock, deglazed into the pan and strained -- but serve it separately in a boat, as directed, so the skin stays crisp.
Untrussing before serviceCutting the strings a few moments before serving makes carving at table possible. Do it after resting, not before.
Sourcing and yieldOne bird per person. Farmed grey or chukar partridge, sold oven-ready, is what is available; wild birds are leaner still and want the barding. Quail, being much smaller, need roughly half the roasting time.
WatercressDress it lightly with lemon and salt only at the moment of serving, or it wilts on the hot platter.

A Little History

Roast game bird on a fried crouton, ringed with watercress and served with its own clear gravy, is the classic French treatment Ranhofer brought to Delmonico's in New York, where he was chef from 1862 to 1896, with a break in the later 1870s; The Epicurean (1894) is essentially that kitchen's reference book, which explains the dense web of numbered cross-references — a cook was expected to have the fumet and the canapés already in hand. The peppery watercress is not garnish for its own sake but the traditional foil to rich roast game. Larding — sewing strips of pork fat into lean flesh — was standard practice for anything without its own fat cover, and it has largely fallen out of use in home kitchens, where barding and the butter in the cavity survive as shortcuts. Partridge in this period came to American tables both from imported European stock and, confusingly, under the local name applied in parts of the country to ruffed grouse and bobwhite quail.