Chicken Pie

Ingredients

• 2 young chickens, cut up
• 1/2 teaspoon white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon mace
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Slices of ham or fresh gammon of bacon
• Forcemeat balls
• 2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced
• 1 cup water (if baking in a dish)
• Gravy made from knuckle of veal or mutton shank bones
• Herbs (to taste)
• 1 onion, chopped

Directions

1. Season the chicken pieces with white pepper, coarse sea salt, mace, nutmeg, and cayenne.

2. Layer the chicken, ham, forcemeat balls, and hard-boiled eggs in a baking dish.

3. Add water if baking in a dish; omit if using a raised crust.

4. Prepare gravy by simmering veal or mutton bones with herbs and onion.

5. If serving hot, add truffles, morels, or mushrooms; omit for cold serving.

6. Fill the dish with gravy if using a dish; for raised crust, strain the gravy and cool it to set like jelly.

7. To clarify the jelly, boil it with the whites of 2 eggs, then strain through a fine sieve.