Cutlets of Woodcock a la Sarah Bernhardt

Take seven or eight fresh round Perigord truffles, all of equal size and very clean; peel, salt and cook them for seven or eight minutes in a little Madeira wine and leave them to cool off in this liquid. Remove all the meats from three woodcock roasted rare, keeping aside three or four of the fillets; pound the remainder of the meats with a part of the cooked intestines and three-quarters as much cooked foies-gras; season and rub through a sieve; put this puree into a vessel and beat it up for two minutes with a spoon, incorporating into it slowly four spoonfuls of good melted game glaze (No. 398) and one gill of liquid brown chaudfroid sauce (No. 594) reduced with game fumet (No. 397) and essence of truffles (No. 395); when all is well mingled add gradually to the preparation two and a half ounces of fresh butter, wiped and divided into small pats; the whole should now be very smooth without being frothy. Drain the truffles, stand them upright on a cloth to mark the tops with a tube from a column box an inch in diameter; remove this marked piece and empty the truffles out with a vegetable spoon; pound these removed pieces with as much cooked foies-gras, season the preparation and lay it in a bowl to beat up for a few moments so as to have it smooth. Prepare a montglas with half of the woodcock fillets laid aside, and an equal quantity of red beef tongue mingled with a little good reduced and thick Madeira sauce (No. 413). Moisten with a brush dipped in cold jelly a dozen tin cutlet-shaped molds, cover the bottoms and sides with the woodcock preparation, leaving an empty space in the center; fill this up with some of the cold montglas; cover with more of the preparation and smooth it at once; keep the molds for one hour on ice, then unmold them and cover with a layer of brown chaudfroid sauce (No. 594). Put a few spoonfuls of this chaudfroid sauce into a vessel, thicken it while stirring on ice and mix with it the remainder of the woodcock fillets cut in small dice and twice as much cooked foies-gras cut the same; use this preparation for stuffing the emptied truffles; range them as soon as done on a small baking sheet and close the opening with a round piece of cooked foies-gras cut out with the same tube used for marking the truffles; glaze over the whole with a brush; keep this baking sheet on ice for half an hour. Harden a thick layer of jelly on a dish and on top of it set a narrow wooden foundation covered with white paper; on this dress the truffles piled in a pyramidical form, then push chopped jelly through a cornet into all the intersections, as well as around the truffles, to maintain them in position. Around this board dress the cutlets in a circle after inserting a fancy favor frill (No. 10) into each.