Soused quail
This dish is good served at room temperature with capers over greens or hot on a toasted roll like a pulled pork sandwich. It makes good if rather assertive canapés too.
-½ cup olive or neutral oil-4 quail, split along the backbone
-¾ cup hard cider
-¾ cup cider vinegar
-2 chopped celery stalks
-4 whole peeled garlic cloves
-4 onions sliced into thin crescents
-8 bay leaves
-the peel of ½ lemon
-about 2 dozen whole peppercorns
-salt
- Brown the quail thoroughly in the oil over high heat, then add all the other ingredients and reduce the heat to low.
- Simmer the souse until the meat falls off of the bone, usually about an hour.
- Fish the bay, lemon peel and peppercorns out of the souse, and pull the meat of the quail from the bones.
- Stir the souse to mix it well and serve either warm or cold, with bread, crackers or greens.