The Pattern cook-book

Chop the chicken quite fine, and beat the egg well before mixing these ingredients in. When the whole has been well stirred, spread the mixture on a platter to cool. When cold enough to handle, form it into rolls by taking a spoonful in the hand at a time and shaping it ; roll each croquette in fine bread-crumbs or cracker dust, dip it in beaten egg, then in the dust again, and fry one minute in smoking hot fat, using a frying-basket if you have one. Drain well and serve hot. Many cooks prefer to cut the chicken meat in dice size and not chop it ; if this is done, use less of the sauce, else the croquettes will be difficult to shape. Mushrooms, boiled rice or veal may be mixed with the chicken meat. In rolling any kind of croquettes, if the mixture is too soft to handle easily, stir in fine cracker dust to stiffen it, but never add any uncooked material, like flour or corn starch, nor even the dried bread-crumbs used in rolling, as these will make the croquettes too stiff. CHICKEN PIE, NO. I. Clean, singe and cut up two small chickens, the same as for a fricassee. Place them in a kettle, and add hot water enough to cover. Put the cover on the kettle, and stew slowly until the chicken is tender, adding a little more water, if needed. Take the following for the crust : One quart of flour. One large table-spoonful of lard. One tea-spoonful of salt. Two tea-spoonfuls of baking powder. Milk to moisten. Stir the salt and baking powder thoroughly into the flour, add the lard, rubbing it well into the flour, and use milk enough to make a dough. Flour the bakmg-board, and roll out the crust a quarter of an inch thick. Line the sides of a deep baking dish with crust ; put in part of the chicken, and season with salt and pepper ; then add the rest of the chicken, and season the same way. Put in the dish two cupfuls of the broth in which the chicken was boiled, and cover the top with crust, making in the center of the crust a hole large enough to admit of adding more of the broth, if necessary. Most chicken pie is too dry, therefore the broth should be added plentifully. Bake one hour. Heat what broth remains, add enough flour to thicken it, wetting the flour to a paste with milk, and season with salt and pepper. Send to the table in a gravy dish, to be served with the pie. CHICKEN PIE, NO. 2. For a dish holding three quarts there will be required two chickens that together will weigh eight pounds. Cut the chickens each in two parts, splitting them down the back and front. Cover them with boiling water, and simmer until tender. If the chickens are a year old, allow at least an hour and a-half of gentle boiling. Let the chickens cool in the water in which they were boiled, remove the skin, and cut them into pieces suitable for serving. Place the meat in the pie dish, and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Make a sauce as follows • Four table-spoonfuls of butter. Four table-spoonfuls of flour. Two slices of carrot. One-half an onion. Three pints of the chicken broth. One sprig of parsley. One bit of mace. One bay-leaf. Salt and pepper to taste.