Modern cookery for private families

the same rule applies equally to other varieties of game.] [Illustration: Pheasant trussed without the head. ] Unless kept to the proper point, a pheasant is one of the most tough, dry, and flavourless birds that is sent to table; but when it has hung as many days as it can without becoming really tainted, and is well roasted and served, it is most excellent eating. Pluck off the feathers carefully, cut a slit in the back of the neck to remove the crop, then draw the bird in the usual way, and either wipe the inside very clean with a damp cloth, or pour water through it; wipe the outside also, but with a dry cloth; cut off the toes, turn the head of the bird _under_ the wing, with the bill laid straight along the breast, skewer the legs, which must not be crossed, flour the pheasant well, lay it to a brisk fire, and baste it constantly and plentifully with well flavoured butter. Send bread-sauce and good brown gravy to table with it. The entire breast of the bird may be larded by the directions of Chapter IX When a brace is served, one is sometimes larded, and the other not; but a much handsomer appearance is given to the dish by larding both. About three quarters of an hour will roast them. 3/4 hour; a few minutes less, if liked very much underdone; five or ten more for _thorough_ roasting, with a _good_ fire in both cases. BOUDIN OF PHEASANT À LA RICHELIEU. (ENTRÉE.) Take, quite clear from the bones, and from all skin and sinew, the flesh of a half-roasted pheasant; mince, and then pound it to the smoothest paste; add an equal bulk of the floury part of some fine roasted potatoes, or of such as have been boiled by Captain Kater’s receipt (see Chapter XVII.), and beat them together until they are well blended; next throw into the mortar something less (in volume) of fresh butter than there was of the pheasant-flesh, with a high seasoning of mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, and a