Choice cookery

Truss the chicken for roasting, cover the breast with the bacon cut in thin slices, roast 40 minutes ; meanwhile put the butter into a saucepan, and when hot brown in it the onion (sliced), draw the onion on one side the pan and brown the flour, add the stock, sweet herbs, and mushrooms, first removing the stems, and season well with salt and pepper; simmer slowly 15 minutes, then add sherry ; dish the chicken, pour from the dripping tin all the fat, and add any gravy to the sauce ; garnish round the chicken with the mushrooms, remove all the fat from the sauce, strain a little round the dish, and the remainder serve in a tureen. No. 50. CHICKEN WITH TOMATO PUREE 1 chicken Bunch of sweet herbs A blade of mace § lb. tomatoes 1 ounce flour Salt and pepper 1 small carrot 1 onion 2 or 3 cloves | pint stock 1 oz. butter Forced tomatoes ( page 54) Skin and joint the chicken neatly ; slice the carrot and onion, put them at the bottom of a saucepan with the sweet herbs, mace, and cloves ; lay on the top the chicken, and pour round the stock (boiling) ; simmer slowly 30 minutes to an hour, according to age of bird. Meanwhile slice the tomatoes and fry them 15 minutes in the butter, then stir in flour, and strain the stock to tomatoes ; season, and rub through a hair sieve ; re-heat and pour over chicken so as to coat it thoroughly. Garnish the dish with forced tomatoes. No. 51. CHAUFROID OF CHICKEN. i chicken 1 oz. flour ^ pint milk or cream Salt and ^ teaspoonful peppercorns 1 quart of aspic jelly 1 oz. butter 1 quart of aspic jelly A few drops of cochineal Truss the chicken for boiling, put it into a saucepan with enough boiling water to cover it, one small onion, a bunch of sweet herbs, a blade of mace ; simmer slowly thirty minutes to an hour, according to the age of the bird ; lift out, drain, and remove the skin, set aside to cool ; strain the liquid, and when cold remove the fat and use for aspic jelly (No. 89). Fill a border mould with part of the jelly, and when set dip in warm water and turn out. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour, stir until smooth, then add the milk, ^ pt. aspic jelly, salt and pepper, boil this until it is reduced to half the quantity, pass through a fine hair sieve ; colour part of this sauce a pretty pink with cochineal, allow this to get cool, but not set ; joint the chicken neatly, and dip half of the joints in the cream sauce and the remainder in the pink sauce; put aside until firm, if not well covered dip them in the sauces again. When quite set arrange the pieces in the centre and on the top of the border of aspic. Put a little of the aspic into a forcing bag with a rose tube, and garnish the rough edges of the fowl, and round the base of the dish. A little chopped parsley, hard-boiled yolk of egg rubbed through a sieve, and any remains of the cold sauces may be used for garnishing. A base of salad may also be used instead of the border of aspic, if preferred. No. 52. CHICKEN A L’lTALIENNE. 1 chicken Bunch of sweet herbs 1 oz. flour 1 oz. butter 3 oz. Naples macaroni f pint stock or water 1 small shallot or onion 1 blade of mace Yolks of 2 eggs 3 tablespoonfuls grated Parmesan cheese Salt, pepper, and cayenne