Pheasant or Chicken with Sauerkraut

 Pheasant or Chicken with Sauerkraut

          Prepare 3 plump young pheasant that have hung for a week and wipe them with a cloth soaked in brandy. Let them stand for 30 minutes at room temperature, then rub them inside and out with mixed salt and black pepper and 1 Tbsp. Hungarian paprika. Put inside each bird 1 small crab apple peeled and cored and a mixture of diced onion, parsley, celery, green pepper, chervil and 1 garlic clove, crushed. Sew up the opening.

            Cover the breast with a thin sheet of larding pork brushed with a bit of anchovy paste the size of a small pea mixed with 1 Tbsp. butter. Truss the birds and roast them in a moderate oven (350 F.) for about 25 minutes, or until they are about half done and nicely browned on all sides.

            Have ready 3 lbs of wine sauerkraut marinated overnight with 1/2 cup seedless raisins, 4 freshly crushed juniper berries, 2 whole cloves, 1 1/2 tsp. caraway seeds, 2 small carrots and 1 onion, all thinly sliced, and 12 whole peppercorns. One hour before serving the pheasant, cook the sauerkraut, its liquid, and 1/2 lb. Canadian bacon, cut in small cubes, in a heavy kettle for about 35 minutes. Arrange the half -roasted pheasant on the sauerkraut, cover the pot and bake the birds in a hot oven (400 F.) for 30 to 35 minutes, or until they are tender. Add salt to taste. Arrange the sauerkraut on a heated large serving platter. Carve the birds, reshape them, if desired, and nest them on the sauerkraut. Serve with a chilled mixture of red currant jelly.