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Woodcocks

4 servings

Ingredients

• Woodcocks (a little)
• Bacon (for larding or tying) (a little)
• Butter (a little)
• Unsmoked bacon (for the farce) (a little)
• Lemon peel (a little)
• Shallots (a little)
• 2 pcs Egg yolks
• 2 tbsp Jus
• Pepper (a little)
• Salt (a little)
• Grated breadcrumbs (a little)
• Bread slices (a little)
• Parmesan cheese (a little)

Instructions

1. Lard the woodcocks, prepared for roasting, or tie them with slices of bacon.
2. Place them with cold butter and roast slowly, covered, for 1¼ – 1½ hours.
3. First, remove the entrails (excluding the stomach and liver, which are not used) and finely chop them with unsmoked bacon, a little lemon peel, and a few shallots.
4. Mix with 2 egg yolks, 2 tablespoons of jus, a little pepper, salt, and grated breadcrumbs, then spread thickly onto bread slices browned in butter.
5. Sprinkle the slices generously with Parmesan cheese and, shortly before serving, let them cook quickly in butter in the oven on a baking pan.
6. Arrange these croutons, known as woodcock bread, in a wreath around the woodcocks on the platter.

Modernized from a treasured 19th-century German cookbook.