No. 2151

Reed Birds, Broiled

Mesanges Moustaches Grillees

Split them through the back, remove the intestines, pare and season; place them in a hinged broiler, cook lightly on the opened side and finish cooking on the other side; a few moments should suffice. Dress one resting on the other intercalated with toasts; spread over a little maitre d'hotel butter (No. 581).

← No. 2150 Rail a la Mareille-Roasted and Broiled Quail, Snipe, Woodcock & Small Birds No. 2152 Reed Birds, Roasted →

For the Modern Kitchen Do not make this as written.

This is a two-minute broil from Charles Ranhofer's Delmonico's kitchen, and technically it is trivial. The obstacle is the bird itself, which cannot legally be taken or sold in the United States or in most of Europe.

The bird is protected"Reed bird" is the market name for the bobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, shot by the barrelful in the tidal marshes of the Delaware and Chesapeake in the nineteenth century. It is covered by the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, which makes taking, possessing or selling it an offence; there is no season and no permit for the table.
The French title is a different bird againThe French title is Ranhofer's own rendering — mésanges moustaches is the heading he prints against "Reed Birds." Taken literally the name denotes the bearded reedling, a European marsh bird, which like wild birds generally is protected under the EU Birds Directive. Whichever bird is meant, neither name in this heading points to anything a cook can lawfully obtain.
Songbird cookery generallyThe neighbouring numbers in this section cover other small birds, and they are off-limits too, though under different laws: North American species under the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, European ones under the EU Birds Directive. Quail, squab and guinea fowl are farmed and sold legally; if you want a small-bird dish, work from a current recipe written for those.
Reading the methodSplitting through the back and cooking the opened side first is spatchcocking, and it is sound: the cut side takes the initial heat, the skin side finishes and crisps. The "few moments" is honest for a bird of an ounce or two.
Hinged broilerA double-sided wire grill clamped over live coals, turned as a unit. A fish grill or a folding campfire grate does the same job for anything small and fragile.
Intercalated with toastsRanhofer means the birds are dressed leaning on one another with fingers of toast set between them, the toast catching the fat and juices — the standard service for small game in this book.
Maitre d'hotel butterThe No. 581 the recipe points to: butter worked with chopped parsley, lemon juice and seasoning. The preparation is still made under the same name and is worth knowing whatever you put it on.

A Little History

The bobolink migrates south in late summer through the Atlantic marshes, where it gorges on wild rice and grain until it is thick with fat, which was why it was eaten at all, and the reason it was called a reed bird or rice bird, names that seem to have been used more or less interchangeably. Baltimore and Philadelphia markets sold them by the dozen through August and September, and Ranhofer, running the Delmonico's kitchen through the 1860s to the 1890s, treated them as an ordinary seasonal item alongside snipe and rail. The Epicurean (1894) is a working record of that market: several pages of this section describe birds that were commonplace then and are unobtainable now. The recipe is best read as evidence of how much a city kitchen could take for granted.