CookEat Recipe
Mrs. Reick Partridges with Pears
Two opened partridges rubbed with Brazil-nut and pistachio butter, broiled and oven-finished over pears under thin bacon.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Use two tender whole raw red-legged partridges from a food-purpose game supplier, kept refrigerated. Have them properly plucked, singed and drawn; remove the heads and feet if still present. Do not rinse the birds. Open through the backs without separating the two sides, remove the spinal bones and check carefully for remaining bone or shot fragments. Wrap in a clean towel and gently flatten with a cleaver. Lightly prick both sides with a small clean needle and keep chilled.
Step 2
Use four sound whole unroasted Brazil-nut kernels, removing any hard shell, and cut them into thin slices. Crack and shell twenty-four sound roasted pistachios, retaining their natural kernel skins. Put both nuts in a mortar with half a very small peeled, finely chopped shallot and pound to a fine pulp.
Step 3
Add half an ounce of softened unsalted butter, half a teaspoon of smooth Dijon mustard, one light saltspoon each of curry powder and paprika, half a teaspoon of salt and the strained juice actually squeezed from one quarter of a sound lemon. Pound sharply for another minute and a half. Rub both sides of both birds with the paste. Refrigerate for thirty minutes at 4°C or colder, rubbing the mixture over the birds several times and keeping any remaining paste chilled.
Step 4
Preheat a conventional oven to 180°C. Lightly butter an oven-safe baking dish large enough for the fruit in one layer and both opened birds above it. Peel and core four medium juicy pears that are not overripe; cut each into three even slices and lay all twelve slices side by side in the dish.
Step 5
Arrange the birds in a clean hinged double broiler over controlled medium charcoal heat. Broil for about five minutes on each side, adjusting the distance and avoiding flare-ups so the nut paste browns without burning. Transfer promptly to the pear-lined baking dish, cut sides downward.
Step 6
Arrange six exceedingly thin slices of raw lean bacon in total over the two birds and spread all the remaining nut-butter mixture over them before cooking. Roast uncovered in the 180°C oven for about sixteen minutes, occasionally basting with the actual juices in the dish. Continue as needed until a clean thin-tip thermometer shows at least 82°C in the thickest breast and thigh of each bird away from bone, the bacon is fully cooked to at least 71°C and all raw-contact paste and pan juices have reached at least 74°C. The pears should be tender; watch the nut coating so it does not scorch.
Step 7
Remove and serve immediately in the same baking dish, taking care with any remaining fine bones or shot fragments.
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