246 
FRANK FORESTER’S FIELD SPORTS. 
land, it would very soon become abundant. Indeed, the hedge¬ 
rows would be sufficient to hold it, everywhere ; and from what 
I have seen, and stated above, of its habits in the low grounds 
here , I do not doubt that it would there afford sport equal to any 
English bird, except the Red Grouse. Its flesh is delicious, if 
dressed properly. It will bear to be kept hanging, in the 
autumn, two or three weeks with manifest advantage; it should 
be roasted quickly , before an extremely hot fire ; and it should 
be exposed at once to the full heat, at a short distance, so as to 
sear the pores of the skin, and prevent the exudation of the 
juices; after a few minutes it may be withdrawn from the focus 
of heat, until it shall be cooked through. It should be eaten, 
as should the Grouse and Quail, with bread sauce and fried 
crumbs ,—any sort of jelly, or sweet condiment, with any galli¬ 
naceous fowl, or any meat that is not immoderately fat and lus¬ 
cious, is an abomination. As a variety, either this bird, or the 
Quail, is delicious larded, boiled, and smothered in celery 
sauce; and the Quail, en passant be it said, is undeniable in a 
pie, with a fat rump steak at the bottom of the dish, a dozen 
hard-boiled eggs, and the slightest possible soupc?on of garlic 
and one cayenne pepper-pod. 
If intended to be eaten cold, both birds are better boiled than 
roasted; as they will be found on trial much juicier, and less 
dry, than in the usual mode. 
The plan resorted to by French cooks, who never know how 
to cook any sort of game, except in salmis, or the like, of blan¬ 
keting these birds in pork fat, cut thin, before roasting them, is, 
of course, entirely wrong. It prevents the grand desideratum, 
namely, the searing of the skin, so as to make it contain the na¬ 
tural juices; and, instead of its own game gravy, saturates it 
with the essential oil of pig. 
The epicure will prefer the back-bone and thighs of this deli¬ 
cious bird; and, by saving them for himself, he will also gain 
the credit of great disinterestedness from the ladies, and the 
snobs ,—Heaven forbid that I should intend a comparison, in 
thus uniting them! but it is a fact that they both invariably 
