COOKERY OF THE PARTRIDGE 257 
name of ‘ roasters,’ becoming aa if not unknown, . 
to the present generation. 
There is yet another point in which 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 roct 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 
s 
