Roast Pheasant with Madeira Sauce (1976)

• 1 pheasant, 2 to 3 lbs
• 4 slices bacon 
• 1 slice lemon
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 clove garlic
• A few celery leaves
• Melted butter
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• Madeira sauce (ingredients below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sprinkle the pheasant inside and out with salt and pepper. Place the bay leaf, garlic, celery leaves, and lemon in the cavity. Tie the legs together with string and turn the wings under.

3. Cover the breast with bacon and a piece of cheesecloth soaked in melted butter. Place the pheasant, breast up, on a rack in a baking pan and roast until tender, about 30 minutes per pound, basting frequent.y with melted butter.

4. Remove the cheesecloth and string. If desired, serve the pheasant on a bed od rice accompanied by Madeira sauce.  Serves  2 to 4. 

Madeira Sauce

Remove the pheasant to a warm serving platter and add 1 cup consomme to the pan.  Stir over moderate heat, scraping loose the browned particles. Blend 2 tablespoons flour with 2 tablespoons butter, and stir into the gravy, bit by bit.  

When the gravy is thickened and smooth, add 2 to 3 tablespoons Madeira wine and the cooked pheasant liver, finely chopped. 

(Origin - "Benson & Hedges 100's presents 100 of the World's Greatest recipes" by Craig Claiborne, 1976. Published by The New York Times Company.)