To Roast Black Cock and Gray Hen

History

"To Roast Black Cock and Gray Hen" is Eliza Acton's receipt from Modern Cookery for Private Families, first published by Longmans in London in 1845. Blackcock and gray hen are the male and female of the black grouse, a bird of British moorland and upland; Acton places these among game and notes they are "In season during the same time as the common grouse, and found like them on the moors, but less abundantly". As natural history, up until the mid-19th century black grouse were "numerous and widespread across the UK, found on many heaths in southern and eastern England," though their range was already contracting in the Victorian period.

Acton's method is to hang the birds until ready, then pick and draw them carefully because the skin is easily broken, "truss them like pheasants, lay them at a moderate distance from a clear brisk fire, baste them plentifully and constantly with butter, and serve them on a thick toast which has been laid under them in the dripping-pan for the last ten minutes of their roasting, and which will have imbibed a high degree of savour". She directs the cook to "Send rich brown gravy and bread sauce to table with the birds. From three quarters of an hour to a full hour will roast them". Elsewhere she records that "Black and moor-game are trussed and served like pheasants. The breasts of both are very fine eating, and the thigh of the black-cock is highly esteemed" — an esteem she frames in terms of eating quality.

Beyond this, the historical record here does not document who ate the dish or that it carried any particular social status. Acton's book is a domestic cookery manual, and its text makes no such claim.

Ingredients

• Black cock or gray hen
• Butter
• 1 slice Thick toast
• Lemon juice
• Rich brown gravy
• Bread sauce

Instructions

1. Pick and draw the birds with exceeding care, as the skin is easily broken.
2. Truss them like pheasants.
3. Lay them at a moderate distance from a clear brisk fire.
4. Lay a thick toast in the dripping-pan under the birds.
5. If desired, squeeze a little lemon-juice over the toast before placing it in the pan.
6. Baste the birds plentifully and constantly with butter throughout roasting.
7. Roast for three-quarters of an hour to a full hour.
8. Serve the birds on the toast, which will have absorbed the savour from the drippings.
9. Send rich brown gravy and bread sauce to table with the birds.