FRENCH DISHES

remove all grease, and strain it through a flannel. Put it back again on the fire, mix the whites of four eggs with a glass of water, add it to your stock, also adding three wineglasses of sherry. Simmer gently at the back of the range for half an hour, strain it through a flannel until perfectly clear, and put it on the ice. This receipt is given in the manner in which aspic is made in France.

280. Boned Chicken. Boned chicken is pre- pared exactly in the same manner as boned turkey (Art. 292).

281. Larded Chicken. Prepare a chicken as for roasting, lard the breasts with pieces of larding pork, about an eighth of an inch wide and an inch and a half long. Put it in a saucepan with a sliced onion and carrot, six parsley-roots, two cloves, a clove of garlic, two pepper-corns, a branch of thyme, a bay-leaf, a pinch of salt, and enough consom- me" (stock, Art. 1) to cover three quarters of your chicken. When beginning to boil, send it to the oven for about an hour with all its liquid, with which baste it from time to time. Serve with a puree of artichokes (Art. 443), puree of celery (Art. 392), pur£e of French chestnuts (Art. 442), sauce Allemande (Art. 81), or other sauces preferred. You may also serve the chicken with a clear gravy. Grouse, partridges, and quail may be larded in the same manner.

282. Chicken Pie a la Christine. Clean two chickens, cut them in pieces, and put them in a saucepan with quarter of a pound of salt pork, an

onion, and a little celery, all cut in small pieces, some salt, a pinch of pepper, a very little nutmeg, several branches of parsley, inclosing two bay-leaves, two branches of thyme, three cloves, and a clove of gar- lic, all tied together. Boil an hour, and skim off the grease carefully whenever necessary. Add two tablespoonfuls of flour with which you have thor- oughly mixed half a glass of water, boil ten minutes longer, make a paste as for beefsteak pie (Art. 197), line a deep dish with it, in which put your chicken, covering it on top with a round of paste the size of your dish, brush over it some beaten egg, and send to the oven, until well colored. Instead of celery, you may add some chopped mushrooms and truffles, and, instead of the pork, some small pieces of cooked ham, and hard-boiled eggs cut in slices.

283. Chicken Croquettes. Chop and pound fine in a mortar a pound of chicken from which you have removed all skin and sinews ; also chop fine about ten mushrooms, which mix with your chicken, and add half a pint of Allemande sauce (Art. 81) rather thick, to which you have added the yolks of three eggs, mixed in two tablespoonfuls of water or milk. Put your mixture on the ice until perfectly cold, then form it into croquettes, which roll in bread - crumbs. Beat up three eggs, with which cover your croquettes ; again roll in bread-crumbs. Put some lard in a frying-pan in which, when very hot, fry your croquettes, and, when a bright yellow color, drain, and serve with fried parsley on top. You may add to your mixture, before forming

io6 FRENCH DISHES.

into croquettes, some chopped truffles or chopped parsley.

284. Puff Paste. Put a pound of flour on a table, make a hole in the center of the flour, in which by degrees pour half a pint of cold water. The water should always be added in very small quantities at a time, and thoroughly worked into the flour until perfectly absorbed before adding more. When all the water has been thoroughly mixed with the flour, work your paste out with the hands until round. Take a pound of butter, which has been on the ice, and which you have carefully washed. If very hard, knead it a little with your hands, then place it in the middle of your paste, flatten it, fold your paste over the butter so that it forms a square, and put it on the ice ten minutes. Then with a rolling-pin roll out your paste (having previously sprinkled the table with flour) about two feet long, then fold it one third of its length, roll it once with the rolling-pin, then take the remainder of the paste and fold it over the two other layers, and roll the paste two or three times, fold the paste again as be- fore, and put it on the ice fifteen minutes. Then proceed as before, and put it again on the ice. Re- peat the same operation once again.

285. P£te Brisee. Put a pound of flour on a table, make a hollow in the middle of the flour, in which put eight ounces of butter and not quite half a pint of water. Work this paste well, so as to be quite smooth.

286. Bouch6es de Salpicon. Take half a

pound of puff paste, and, after having given it six turns, roll it out half an inch thick, cut it out in ten rounds, with a muffin-ring or a mold for the pur- pose. Mark lightly in the center of each, with the point of a knife, a very small round. Brush them (with a camel's-hair brush) in beaten egg, put them on a pan, send them to a very hot oven, and watch them carefully so that they do not color too much on the outside before the inside is done. This paste should rise at least two inches. When the bouchees are thoroughly done inside, and colored bright yel- low on the outside, take them out of the oven, re- move the small rounds in the center which you have marked out, and also enough paste from the inside to make space for the following mixture : Put half a pint of Spanish sauce (Art. 80), with a glass of sherry, in a saucepan on the fire, boil it ten minutes, then add eight mushrooms, four chickens' livers, which you have previously blanched in boiling water ten min- utes, the breast of a cold chicken, some cold smoked tongue, and two truffles, all cut in small pieces. When hot, fill your bouchees, place the small covers on top of each, and serve. Instead of Spanish sauce, Allemande sauce (Art. 81) is often preferred. You may also add four ounces of chicken farce (Art. 11), which form into small balls, and poach in boiling water. Instead of chicken, you may substitute sweet- breads ; or you may fill the bouchees with oysters, to which you have added an Allemande sauce and some mushrooms cut in small pieces.

287. Croiistades de Salpicon. Take some