The European cookbook for American homes (from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France)

Soak bread in water and squeeze dry. Add veal, ham, onion, parsley, thyme, bay leaf and seasonings and put through food grinder. Mix thoroughly with egg. Stuff chicken and sew up. Roast with butter, basting frequently. CRAYFISH BUTTER Wash crayfish. Boil remaining ingredients except wine and butter in 2 quarts of water for l/2 hour. Strain, add wine, bring to a boil, add crayfish and cook 20 minutes. Let cool in liquor. Drain, saving liquid; shell and save tails. Grind shells fine and mix with melted butter. Heat 5 minutes. Cool slightly and rub through a sieve into ice water. Gather up butter, heat, add tails and serve with chicken. The chicken farmers of Bresse have mastered the art of fattening their birds much as the geese farmers of Strasbourg have specialized on the secret of fattening the livers for pate de foie gras. Bresse chickens are shipped all over France and can be bought at the best poultry markets in all cities. Due to forced fattening, the livers of Bresse chickens become enormous, though not as gigantic as the goose livers of Strasbourg, which sometimes weigh pounds. The chicken livers of Bresse are boiled, pounded to powder and stirred with milk and eggs into a supreme nutmeg-flavored mousse. The Province of Bresse was long under Spanish domination, so it still uses the corn flour and watermelon pickles of that country, the pickles being either sour for appetizers or sweet for dessert. Cardoons flourish here, sizable thistles that never quite become artichokes. They have leaves like the acanthus and the whole stalky plant, except the root, is browned with truffles and juices from roast chicken or turkey. An attractive dish of the district is apple slices covered with batter and baked on cabbage leaves well buttered. Burgundy CHICKEN IN THE STYLE OF BEAUNE (Poulet a la Mode de Beaune) Salt and pepper i dozen large mushrooms i fat young chicken i truffle, sliced % pound butter % cup brandy i herb bouquet i pint thick cream Salt and pepper chicken inside and out. Spread with butter and place herb bouquet inside, then roast, preferably in a covered casserole, turning and basting from time to time. When done remove bouquet, surround it with well washed and dried mushrooms and truffles slices. Cover and simmer 8-10 minutes. Pour over it brandy and hot cream, and serve in the casserole in which it was baked. (This dish is better when made on top of the stove, but requires much care and attention to prevent undue browning.) 6 DUCK IN A CHEMISE (Canard en Chemise) 1 tender duck 2 sprigs parsley Salt and pepper Pastry dough 1 sprig celery Pate de foie gras Prepare duck, rub inside and out with salt and pepper, and lay herbs inside. Roll out pastry dough sufficient to envelop the duck. Lay duck, breast upward, on pastry, cover breast with foie gras (or with a paste made by frying livers and giblets with plenty of fat bacon, pepper and seasoning, and pounding until they form a thick mass). After the paste is evenly spread over the duck, carefully fold pastry over it and pinch the edges together. Lay in a pan and bake in the oven, then transfer to platter. Brought to the table the dish looks like a large mound of pastry, and should be carved, as it is in France. For this is not