Quail Pies

Steps

1. Remove the breasts and legs from the birds.
2. Season the breasts and legs with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, and sauté in butter.
3. Add the vegetables and peppercorns to the butter in the pan and cook for five minutes.
4. Separate the backs of the birds into pieces, cover with cold water, add the vegetables, and cook slowly for one hour.
5. Drain the stock from the vegetables.
6. Thicken the stock with flour diluted with enough cold water to pour easily.
7. Season with salt, pepper, and sherry wine. If the sauce is not rich enough, add more butter.
8. Place one bird in each individual dish and add enough sauce to make it sufficiently moist.
9. Cover each dish with plain or puff paste, and make two incisions in the paste through which the legs of the bird should extend.