Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Use two chickens weighing together eight or nine pounds, two table-spoonfuls of salt, one teaspoonful of pepper, two bay leaves, two cloves, one slice of onion, two blades of celery, two quarts of water, one-fourth of a package of gelatine, six hard-boiled eggs, half a cupful of butter, and half a cupful of flour ; and for the paste, follow the rule for chopped puff paste. Draw, singe, and wash the chickens ; then cut them into small joints, taking out the backbones and putting them aside. Remove the bones from the breasts ; also the drumsticks. Put these with the backbones. Season the pieces of chicken with half the salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a deep plate. Eoll the chicken in this, and then in the flour. As fast as the chicken is coated with the butter and flour, lay it in a dripping-pan. Put the pan into a hot oven, and cook for fifteen minutes ; then take the meat from the pan, and lay it in a dish to cool. Now put the pan on top of the stove, and if there be any of the flour and butter left in the plates, scrape it into the pan. Add one cupful of cold water; and after stirring the mixture, cook it for five minutes, stirring all the while, Add half a teaspoonful of salt and one-fourth of a teaspoonful of pepper. Turn into a bowl, and cool. Cut the liver into small pieces. Slice the hard-boiled eggs, and mix with the liver. Butter the sides of an earthenware pie-dish that will hold about three quarts. Roll a piece of paste into a strip long and broad enough to line the sides of the dish. Put this in position, and then put a layer of chicken in the bottom of the dish. On this put a layer of the sliced eggs. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Continue putting in alternate layers of chicken and egg until all the materials have been used. Over this filling pour the gravy that was made in the dripping-pan. Roll out a cover of the chopped puff paste. Make a small hole in the centre of the cover, and then place the paste over the dish. Press together the edges of the top and side crusts. Place the pie in a moderate oven, and bake for one hour and a half. At the end of that time, on taking it from the oven, place a tunnel in the opening of the crust, and pour in some stock, made with the chicken bones and other ingredients. Return the pie to the oven, and cook for half an hour longer. At the end of that time take it from the oven and set it away to cool. The seasoning may be varied to suit one's taste. Instead of the hard-boiled eggs, two pounds of sausage meat may "be used. In this case the pie will require an extra hour's baking. Cold chicken pie is suitable for luncheons, picnics, or suppers. To Make the Stock. — Put the neck and bones of the chicken into a stew-pan with three pints of water. Add the onion, spice, and herbs. Pour boiling water on the chicken feet. Let them stand for a few minutes ; then take them out, and rub off the skin. Wash them, and put them into the stew-pan with the other ingredients. Place the stew-pan on the fire, and cook its contents for an hour and a half, boiling rather fast. Skim off the fat. Add the salt and pepper and the gelatine, which should previously have been soaked in half a pint of cold water for an hour and a half. Strain this stock before pouring it into the pie.