Quail Pie

Ingredients

• quail
• salt
• black pepper
• butter
• bacon
• pie crust
• onion
• celery
• green pepper
• Cayenne pepper
• water
• 1 gill cream
• 1 wineglass sherry

Instructions

1. Line a pie dish with rich crust rolled a quarter-inch thick. Place whole quail birds in the crust and season them well inside and out with salt and black pepper. Distribute generous lumps of butter (rolled in flour), slices of fat bacon, and strips of crust (an inch wide and three inches long) throughout. Add minced onion, celery, or shredded green pepper if desired. Add a tiny pod of Cayenne pepper for heat. Pour in cold water until it reaches halfway up the birds.
2. Cut out a cover-crust large enough to seal the pie well. Pinch it down tight and prick the top. Make a cross-cut at the center and thrust a paper tubelet through it to prevent the gravy from boiling over during baking.
3. Bake in a hot oven for three-quarters of an hour. Remove from oven and serve very hot. If desired, pour a gill of hot cream or a wineglass of very hot sherry through a funnel into the pie just before serving.