262 COOKERY OF THE PARTRIDGE 
very good for brazing, and may be served with any 
ragout, stewed greens, and all kinds of purée.’ 
This is simple enough and correct enough, but a 
little vague. The truth is that perdrix aux choux is a 
dish which, especially in the serving, admits of a great 
deal of taste and fancy. For instance, take three of 
the most recent of French-English cookery-books— 
that of an estimable and very practical lady, Madame 
Emilie Lebour-Fawssett (who is often beyond praise, 
but who thinks—Heaven help her !—that the only 
reason why English people prefer the grey partridge 
to the red-leg is ‘because they are English’), the 
famous ‘Baron Brisse,’ and M. Duret’s ‘ Practical 
Household Cookery.’ There is no very great dif- 
ference in their general directions, but the lady 
recommends the partridge and bacon to be, above 
all things, 4idden in the cabbage ; the Baron directs 
the cabbage to be put round the birds ; and the ex- 
manager of St. James’s Hall orders it to be made 
into a bed for them. ‘The last arrangement is, I 
think, the more usual and the best. There is also 
a certain difference in the methods; for while the 
Baron directs the cabbage to be nearly cooked before 
it is combined with the partridges, which have been 
separately prepared in a saucepan, Madame Lebour- 
Fawssett prefers a mere scalding of the cabbage first, 
