A Jane Austen (Inspired) Feast

This is my second foray into the cookbook Dinner with Mr. Darcy.  This time, I chose three separate dishes: a main, a side, and a dessert.  

All three recipes are from the chapter entitled "Mrs. Bennet's Dinner to Impress". 

The main dish: Partridges with Bread Sauce

This recipe was adapted from William Kitchiner's The Cook's Oracle (1817)

My changes:

I have no idea where I would find partridges in Pasadena, so I substituted game hens. According to the recipe, I was supposed to make the stuffing from the livers.  While the game hens didn't come with their giblets, I could have used chicken liver.  Instead, I used chopped bacon combined with some of the onion from the bread sauce.  The recipe also suggested toast points to scoop up the stuffing and sop up all the yummy sauce, which I thought was a great idea.

The recipe says to remove the bacon after the first 15 min., baste the birds throughout the cooking, & then replace the bacon.  I left the bacon wrapping on the bird throughout the cooking & opted not to baste.  I also cooked the birds much longer than the recipe instructs-- according to their package instructions it was 350deg. F for an hour or until internal temp. reaches 180deg.  After that, I broiled them for 3 min. to make sure the bacon was crisp. 

For the bread sauce, the only changes I made were to add a little more pepper (the recipe calls for a scant 6 peppercorns!), and a pinch of allspice as well.  Since my bread slices were quite thick, I only used 2 slices instead of the called for 5.

I have never had bread sauce before and, I have to say, it was far more delicious than it sounds or looks.  The slightly sweet, onion-y sauce was a lovely compliment to the saltiness of the birds. 

The gravy (which seems redundant) I made simply & according to the recipe--its a basic one made with drippings, chicken stock, and a "dash of port" for additional flavors.

The layers of flavor in this dish are fantastic.  I don't know what I expected, but it is rich with balanced sweetness and saltiness.  

The side dish: Spiced Mushrooms

The recipe was adapted from Martha Lloyd's Household Book

I forgot to salt them.  :(  This made them (predictably) awfully bitter.  Other than that, which I quickly fixed, it was an interesting recipe that I'm glad I tried.  There are quite a lot of heavy spices in these that make them very different from how I normally cook mushrooms.  

Dessert: Everlasting Syllabub

Adapted from Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cooking Made Plain and Easy (1747)

This.  This is amazing.  It can be made (a little bit) ahead, there is plenty to share, and it makes a smashing display at parties.  The only change I made to this was that I used Brandy instead of Sherry. 

 

 

Full disclosure: we aren't used to such rich meals and had to take quite a few antacids afterwards.  

It was totally worth it.