260 COOKERY OF THE PARTRIDGE 



Speaking under correction, I should imagine that the 

 former was as indigenous at least as the bird. Pud- 

 dings meat puddings of all kinds are intensely 

 English ; the benighted foreigner does not understand, 

 and indeed shudders at them for the most part, and 

 it is sad to have to confess that Englishmen them- 

 selves appear to have lost their relish for them. 

 There is a theory that partridge pudding was an in- 

 vention of the South Saxons, and has or had its 

 natural home in the region (very lately sophisticated 

 and made ' residential ') of Ashdown and St. Leonard's 

 Forests. Either because of this localisation, or because 

 it is thought a waste, or because it is thought vulgar, 

 receipts for it are very rare in the books. In about a 

 hundred modem cookery-books which I possess, I 

 have not come across more than one or two, the best 

 of which is in Cassell's large 'Dictionary of Cookery.' 

 It is true that an intelligent cook hardly requires one, 

 for the pudding is made precisely after the fashion of 

 any other meat pudding, with steak as a necessary, 

 and mushrooms as a desirable, addition to the par- 

 tridges. But the steak, wise men advise, should not 

 be cut up in pieces, but laid as a thin foundation /or 

 the partridge to rest upon. The result is certainly 

 excellent, as all meat puddings are for those who are 

 vigorous enough to eat them only much better than 



