WOODCOCK COOKED ON CABBAGE WITH JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE GRATIN
If you’re lucky to have friends that shoot or beat during the winter months you may be lucky enough to get hold of a brace of woodcock. If you have to buy a brace you may pay as much as £20. Woodcock is up there with the best of the game birds but if you like to eat a hearty meal you may wish to have a brace for yourself as they are quite small.
Woodcock is a small wading bird much sort after by game hunters for the sport. It’s rather unfortunate that some shooters are not interested in the birds after they’re shot and the birds are either left where they fall or are thrown to the ferrets. I’m a great believer that a shooter should make sure that all that he shoots will be consumed as a mark of respect for the animal. I obtained a brace of woodcock from a friend who’s a beater and he shares my views on the subject. My brace would have been left where it fell so he was grateful for me taking them.
It is recommended that the intestines of the birds be fried up and made into a paté as with woodcocks on toast. This may seem rather repulsive but the birds evacuate their bowels on take off. Presumably to lighten the load! We didn’t utilise the intestines this time but did use the hears and livers.
If you have the gratin with the woodcocks you will need to prepare this and have it in the oven for about one hour before the birds.
JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE GRATIN
Ingredients:
50/50 peeled artichokes and potatoes sliced
butter
vegetable stock
streaky bacon or pancetta
grated nutmeg,
seasoning
grated cheese topping
Take a pie dish and estimate how much artichoke/potato slices you will need and prepare them. (Artichokes are best sliced length ways.)
Get the oven on at about 180º or gas mark 4.
Butter the inside of the dish then place a mixed layer of artichoke and potato on the bottom and grate over some cheese. Spot with some butter, season and grate over some nutmeg. Repeat till you reach near the rim of the dish and finish off with the cheese layer. Pour in the stock till you can just see it rising up under the top layer. Cover and bake for an hour. Uncover and brown off at about 200º gas mark 6 for ten minutes.
On uncovering the woodcock should go in.
WOODCOCK ON CABBAGE
Ingredients:
Brace of woodcock prepared (Leave the head on and push the beak through slits made in the leg muscles. This helps keep things together.)
One sweet and crisp winter cabbage
Smoked bacon chopped finely and two rashers for wrapping the birds
woodcock hearts and livers chopped
stock
seasoning
First, if they have not been already done, you should prepare the woodcock. Use the intestines if you wish or discard if not. Take the hearts and livers and finely chop, place to one side. Fry the finely chopped bacon and add the hearts and livers. Take a sweet winter cabbage such as Greyhound and slice finely and add the bacon mixture and season. Place the cabbage mixture in a shallow dish (see photo) and add the stock so the cabbage is almost covered. Take the birds, season inside and out, wrap in bacon and place on the top of the cabbage. Place in the hot oven with the gratin for the last fifteen minutes. This will give rare birds. Add another five minutes if you prefer your birds spoiled!
Woodcock on its bed of cabbage and ready to go into the oven.
Woodcock and gratin ready to serve.
