Broiled Ortolans In Papers

Rub with melted butter or salad oil as many sheets of paper as there are birds and cut them just large enough to double over the birds and turn in all round the edges like a hem in order to preserve the fat and trail while the birds are being cooked. Carefully pluck and singe the birds, cut off the beaks and claws, skin the heads and necks and wipe them with a clean cloth; twist the feet, lay the heads close to the sides of the birds and inclose in the paper. Place them on a gridiron over a very slow fire and broil for about five minutes or until they swim in their own fat. Serve them at once in the papers on a plate covered with watercress. The papers are not to be removed till just before eating the birds.

Fried Ortolans

Draw and singe twenty-four ortolans, put them in a fryingpan with some melted bacon and two bay leaves sprinkled over with salt and pepper and fry over a brisk fire, turning them frequently. Strain off the fat, add some vinegar and some melted glaze and reduce the liquor quickly over a brisk fire. Take out the bay leaves, add a salpicon of lean smoked ham steeped in water and a little Spanish sauce reduced with white wine and warm the ham without boiling the liquor. Arrange the birds in a pile in the center of a dish, pour the sauce over, and serve with a garnish of small quenelles.

Ortolans In Cases

Pluck, draw, and singe one dozen ortolans, and put them into small cases masked with Perigueux sauce, putting their heads through a hole cut for the purpose. Place them in a quick oven for a few minutes, or they may be salamandered, and when they are done, damp them with a little more of the perigueux, and serve. Care must be taken in drawing them to take out their gizzards.

Ortolan Patties

Make six patties of tart paste in fluted moulds made with hinges so that they will open to let out the patty crusts when done; fill them with flour and bake. When set take them out of the moulds and let them get cold. Place at the bottom of each one tablespoonful of royal salpicon, and then place in each patty two well picked, fine, fat, raw, seasoned ortolans, covered with a thin slice of bacon; lay them on a small baking pan, place in a moderate oven and bake for fifteen minutes. Remove from the oven, take off the lard from the birds, moisten each patty with two tablespoonfuls of hot Madeira sauce, and serve on a hot dish with a folded napkin placed over it.

Ortolans, Perigordine

Prepare the birds as for roasting, cover them with slices of fat bacon, put them in a saucepan, set in the bain-marie, add a little stock mixed with lemon juice, baste them with this, and cook them. Scoop out the center from as many truffles as there are birds, put them into a saucepan with sufficient champagne to boil them in, take them out when done and stuff with a little game puree. Put them into the saucepan with the ortolans, warm them all up for a few seconds, arrange them on a dish, and serve with a little of the sauce to moisten them.

Ortolans, Provincial Style

Procure as many large truffles as there are birds to be cooked and make some French forcemeat. Remove the feet and heads from the birds and season well with salt and pepper; lay the birds on their backs on the truffles, put them in a deep stew-pan with two gills of red wine and about the same quantity of clear veal stock and cover with slices of bacon; coyer and stew slowly. When they are cooked remove the birds and truffles and keep them hot; strain the sauce through a fine sieve, skim off all the fat, pour it into a small, clean stewpan and boil till reduced to half its original quantity. Mix with the sauce one breakfast cupful of brown Spanish sauce and boil it again until somewhat reduced. Put some pieces of toast on a hot dish, pour the sauce over, put the birds and truffles on them, and serve.

Roasted Ortolans

Pluck and singe one dozen ortolans, make a hole in the sides and remove the gizzards, but do not draw them. Stuff the heads into the holes, wrap them round with thin slices of fat bacon and put them in the oven to roast. Let them remain for ten or twelve minutes, sprinkle over with salt, arrange them on a dish on croutons of fried bread, and serve. They may be wrapped in vine leaves (freshly gathered) if preferred instead of the bacon, which destroys the delicate flavor to a certain extent. A rich sauce should be served with them.