Cutlets of Squabs in Papers

Draw, singe and clean nicely some young pigeons, cut an incision in the skin between the rump and the breast; thrust the legs inside, split the pigeons in two lengthwise and pare them to resemble cutlets, then fry lightly in butter with lemon juice without letting acquire a color; set them under a weight and trim them again into the required shape. Place some oil, grated fat pork, chopped shallot, mushrooms, parsley, salt, allspice and eighth-inch squares of ham into a sautoir; when these ingredients are well fried, but not browned, add some half-glaze sauce (No. 413) and Madeira wine. Coat some heart-shaped sheets of paper with oil, on one of the halves lay a thin slice of fat pork, over this some of the above prepared sauce and then a pigeon cutlet on top, finishing with more of the sauce and a thin slice of cooked ham; fold the empty half of paper over on the full one, pinch the edges well together to enfold all and enclose hermetically, then lay them on a well-buttered dish intended for the table; set it in the oven to brown the paper and heat the cutlet. The paper should swell up; serve as soon as done.