COOKERY OF THE PARTRIDGE 257 



name of ' roasters,' becoming strange, if not unknown, 

 to the present generation. 



There is yet another point irxwhich the excellent 

 Markham shows his taste. He prescribes, as the best 

 sauce for pheasant or partridge, water and onions, 

 sliced proper, and a little salt mixed together, and 

 but stewed upon the coals. 'To this,' he says, 'some 

 will put the juice or slices of an orange or lemon : 

 but it is according to taste, and indeed more proper 

 for pheasant than partridge.' This at once shows 

 a perception of the root of the matter in game 

 cookery, a perception which was not too clear even 

 to Markham's countrymen in his own day, and 

 which, though we have gradually waked up to it, 

 is constantly dulled by contamination from abroad. 

 It cannot be too early or too firmly laid down that 

 in the case of all game-birds, but especially in those 

 which have the most distinct character and taste, the 

 simplest cookery is the best. If anybody is fortunate 

 enough to possess in his larder partridges proper, un- 

 contaminated with red-leggism, young, plump, and 

 properly kept, he will hardly be persuaded to do any- 

 thing else with them than roast them in front of the 

 fire, cooking them not enough to make them dry, but 

 sufficiently to avoid all appearance of being underdone, 

 for a partridge is not a wild duck. He will then eat 



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