COOKERY OF THE GROUSE 289 



the sauce or gravy, or whatever you choose ' to call 

 it, should have a thorough flavour of them, which 

 is not to be attained by merely warming the pieces of 

 game in it. This may be given, of course, in various 

 ways, either by stewing the bones, skin, trimmings, 

 and less worthy pieces of the grouse in the stock used, 

 or by adding somefluree or ' essence of game ; ' but it 

 must be attained somehow. The next thing to re- 

 member is that this gravy or sauce when finished 

 should never be a mere bath or slop. Madame Lebour- 

 Fawssett says it should be ' of the consistency of well- 

 made melted butter,' and I agree with her. Lastly, re- 

 member that there must always be wine in a salmis; and 

 that it is of great importance what wine it is. English 

 books will recommend port or sherry, which, in my 

 humble judgment, are extremely bad wines for all 

 savoury cooking purposes. Pale dry sherry is, for 

 that end, mostly quite useless, though I own that if 

 I were rich I should try the experiment of boiling a 

 ham in Manzanilla. The now despised, though in 

 its way gorgeous, 'old brown' is apt to overpower 

 every other flavour, and is too sweet, objections which 

 apply still more strongly to port and even to Madeira, 

 which is sometimes recommended, and which is cer- 

 tainly preferable to either port or sherry. Besides, all 

 these wines, and still more the brown 'cooking' 



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