276 COOKERY OF THE PARTRIDGE 
very susceptible of it, inasmuch as his taste is neither 
neutral nor, like that of waterfowl in general and the 
grouse tribe also, so definite and pronounced that it 
is almost impossible to smother it by the commingling 
of other flavours. I own frankly that to my own taste 
these flavour-experiments of cookery should be kept 
for things like veal, which have no particular flavour 
of their own, and which are, therefore, public material 
for the artist to work upon. I do not think that you 
can have too much of a very good thing, and if I 
wanted other good things I should rather add them 
of a different kind than attempt to corrupt and de- 
naturalise the simplicity of the first good thing itself. 
But other people have other tastes, and the fore- 
going summary will at least show that the catchword of . 
toujours perdrix—a catchword of which I venture to 
think that few people who use it know the original 
context—is not extremely happy. For with the posi- 
tive receipts, and the collateral hints to any tolerably 
expert novice in cookery given above, it would be 
possible to arrange partridge every day throughout 
the season without once duplicating the dish. 
Spottiswoode & Co. Printers, New-street Square, London 
