A Partridge in a Pear Tree

by Helen Gaffney

Everybody knows the old Christmas song in which the true love gives his lady a partridge in a pear tree, two turtle-doves, three French hens, four calling birds, not to mention swans-a-swimming and geese-a-laying. What you may not know is that these were traditional Christmas presents - all destined to end up on the table for dinner!

The partridge would arrive spiced and garnished with fruit; the doves would be from the domestic dovecote, which provided households and farms with pigeons all year round. The calling birds were songbirds - blackbirds and thrushes were eaten with relish in pies, as were larks and sparrows threaded on spits like beads on a necklace and roasted in front of the fire. The French hens, previously crammed full to bursting with raisins, breadcrumbs and milk, became so fat that they could barely stand. The swans, swimming on the river Thames in their thousands, were 'eaten by the English, like geese or ducks' to the astonishment of visiting foreigners. Geese were then the most accepted of traditional Christmas fare and if you could not afford a goose you would have an enormous ox-heart stuffed with sage and onions and called 'mock-goose'.

In medieval days, when game was a very great part of the winter diet of rich and poor alike, before enclosures made it illegal for the poor to hunt, the stuffings, designed to flavour and moisten the birds as well as making them go further, were tremendously rich and spicy. Oysters, chestnuts, saffron, prunes, cinnamon, port, oranges and lemons, cloves and anchovies were all used, together with bulky grated bread and a moistening fat such as suet or bacon. Fruit sauces were as popular then as they are today and cranberries, rowanberries, bilberries, redcurrants and service-berries from the wild whitebeam tree were all liked for their bitter-sweet flavour.

Unfortunately most game has become, if not really scarce, rather costly. Probably the best buy today are hares, which, although somewhat gruesome to handle, have quite a surprising amount of meat on them. Rabbits are also a good buy and so are pigeons and venison.

Pheasants, grouse and partridges are less popular than they were. We no longer seem to enjoy - or are likely to find - such delicacies as herons, bears, wild boars, cormorants, coots, squirrels or swans. They can all be delicious either young for roasting, or older for casseroling or stewing. Venison on the whole is a reasonable buy, but can be a dry and disappointing meat. A good plan is to buy it as part of the contents of a mixed game pie, or else stew it to make sure it is tender and juicy.

Domestic poultry, on the other hand, has become one of the best meat buys there is today, particularly chicken and turkey. However, unlike their backyard and farmyard ancestors who could scratch a living for themselves, cooped-up chickens nowadays do need a lot of added flavouring. They are grown so fast they have very little time to develop their flavour. Turkeys, too, need assistance to make them really delicious - a moist stuffing is the perfect answer since it also helps to give the somewhat dry flesh a degree of juiciness. In Victorian times succulent sausages were an essential with a roast turkey, sometimes cooked in strings and festooned round the bird like an alderman's chains.

Geese and ducks are still luxuries and quite rightly so since they are both exceedingly rich and delicious, but provide a very small amount of meat for their size. Since they are fatty birds it is a good idea to serve something plain, refreshing or sharp with them - turnips or green peas with duck, apples or onions with goose.