The Epicure's Almanac or Diary of Good Living
October 9th : PHEASANT
This bird enjoys a reputation far beyond its intrinsic merit; a capon or well-fed barn-door fowl is preferable as regards flavour. This may appear in the eyes of many epicures rank heresy, but we know
“What a deform'd thing that fashion is;"
and therefore offer the succeeding directions to those who differ in opinion:
Let the bird be carefully picked and drawn; after hanging some eight or ten days, take out the craw by cutting a slit in the back of the neck, leave the head on, and truss as you would a fowl for roasting, with this difference, that you do not cut off the feet, but merely divest them of the claws. From half an hour to three quarters' roasting will be sufficient, the time depending upon the size. Baste with fresh butter, send it to table properly browned, with some rich gravy sauce in which a tea-spoonful of ham extract has been mixed.