Capital Salmi is perhaps the finest preparation of game which historic cookery has bequeathed to us. Like other masterpieces of art, it has never been improved upon. The wonderful sauce brings out the delightful woodland flavor in which the partridge excels—as all sportsmen who love to tramp afield when the woods are covered with a shroud of autumn frost can attest. In the Congress kitchen this delectable native of the cover is prepared according to the original recipe given to Grimrod de la Reyniere, the famous French epicure by the prior of an English abbey. After the bird is roasted it is cooked in white wine, then immersed in melted butter and served hot with mushrooms and truffles. When the witty Grimrod first tasted this dish he remarked that one must take care to eat with the fork for fear of devouring a finger should it be baptized with the exquisite sauce. "It is difficult to imagine a happier conjunction than the blending of symbols when the arms of a sportsman are quartered with those of a cook." —John Aldergrove |