COOKERY OF THE PARTRIDGE 271 



Foker expressed so artlessly, but so well, when he 

 said, ' Can't think where the souprames comes from. 

 What becomes of the legs of the fowls ? ' it may be 

 well to transcribe from an American, at least French- 

 American, manual one of the clearest directions I 

 remember. It may be observed in passing that the 

 American partridge is probably for the most part the 

 Virginian quail, and that ' over there ' they have a 

 habit of eating it boiled with celery sauce or puree of 

 celery, a thing which goes very well with all game 

 birds, and more particularly with pheasant. But 

 to the ' souprames.' ' Make an incision,' says my 

 mentor, ' on the top of the breastbone from end to 

 end ; then with a sharp knife cut off the entire breast 

 on each side of the partridge, including the small 

 wing bone, which should not be separated from the 

 breast.' The remainder of the bird is then used for 

 other purposes, and the supreme is fashioned in the 

 usual way. or ways, for there are many. This seems 

 to be a better and more individual thing than the 

 common chicken supreme^ in which the breast is if 

 used cut into separate strips, and the size of the par- 

 tridge offers this advantage. On the other hand, the 

 partridge cutlet another fashion of securing most of 

 the meat of the bird in a comparatively boneless con- 

 dition is begun at the other end by slitting the back 



