264 COOKERY OF THE PARTRIDGE 



Fawssett (for whom, on the contrary, I have a great 

 respect), I should dwell on a fatal little avowal of hers 

 in reference to another preparation partridge salmis 

 that ' if you have not quite enough partridge, some 

 cunningly cut mutton will taste just the same.' No 

 doubt most meat will ' taste just the same ' in this sort 

 of cookery ; but salmis of partridge when well made 

 is such a good thing that nobody need be angry at 

 its being surreptitiously 'extended' in this fashion. 

 Salmis of partridge, indeed, comes, I think, next to 

 salmis of grouse and salmis of wild duck. It is in- 

 finitely better than salmis of pheasant, which is con- 

 fusion ; and, like other salmis, it is by no means always 

 or even very often done as it ought to be done by 

 English cooks. There are two mistakes as to dishes 

 of this kind into which these excellent persons are 

 wont to fall. The first is to make the liquid part of 

 the preparation call it sauce, gravy, or what you 

 please too liquid, and, so to speak, too detached from 

 the solid. The second is to procure body and flavour 

 by the detestable compounds known as ' browning ' 

 or by illegitimate admixture of ready-made sauces. 

 In a proper salmis (which, it ought not to be necessary 

 to say, can only be made with red wine, though some 

 English books desperately persevere in recommending 

 ' sherry ' for such purposes), the gravy should be quite 



