871 | Woodcock, Roasted Plain.
—Procure six fine, fat woodcocks, pick, singe, and draw them, putting the hearts and livers on a plate for further use. Take out the eyes, and remove the skin from the heads; truss up the feet, skewer them with the bill, and tie a barde of fat pork around the breasts; then chop up all the hearts and livers very fine, with one teaspoonful of chives, half a pinch of salt, a third of a pinch of pepper, and a teaspoonful of butter. Prepare six bread canapés (No. 832), two and a half inches long, by one and a half wide; fry them for two minutes in very hot fat, drain them thoroughly, and cover each canapé with some of the above mixture, spreading a little fresh bread-crumbs and a very little butter over; place them in a small baking-pan and lay aside. Now put the woodcocks in a roasting-pan with a little butter well spread over the birds, and roast them in a brisk oven for ten minutes. Two minutes before they are done, put the canapés in the oven, then take both out, and lay the canapés on a hot dish; untie the birds, and arrange them over the canapés, decorating the dish with a little watercress. Strain the gravy into a sauce-bowl, and serve it separately.