258 THE COOKERY OF THE PHEASANT 



oranges, and to rest tranquil as to results. We 

 never chanced to see that accompaniment of oranges, 

 but for long the Sainte-Alliance was a specialit'e of the 

 Trois Freres Provencaux in the Palais Royal, an his- 

 torical house, which, like Philippe's and the Caf^ de 

 Paris, came to grief many years ago for no intelligible 

 reason. There were certain modifications introduced 

 at the Trois Frlres, but our friend who had such 

 a passion for bread sauce sought in vain to penetrate 

 ihese secrets, although he was highly esteemed by the 

 chiefs of the house, both as a connoisseur and a liberal 

 patron. And after that triumph of gourtnandise, it is 

 really an anti-climax to speak of the simple truffle 

 stuffing, though an excellent thing in its way, which 

 can even make the guinea-fowl edible. 



I write with reserve about boiling pheasants, 

 because I have a perverse fancy for boiling many 

 things, such, for example, as the legs of mountain 

 mutton, which is a scandal and a stumbling block 

 to cooks and waiters. Nevertheless, I cannot help 

 thinking that to the artistically-minded, boiled phea- 

 sant must make a pleasant variation. In defence 

 I plead his kinship to the ca;pon or the chicken, and 

 his sympathetic affinity to celery ; though, unlike the 

 canvas-back duck, he has never seen or tasted the 

 vegetable till they have come together on the table. 



