parsley, onions, clove, mace,
shalot, bay-leaf, and a seasoning of pepper and salt; pour to these the
water that the chickens were blanched in, and simmer gently for rather
more than 1 hour. Have ready another stewpan; put in the joints of fowl,
with the above proportion of butter; dredge them with flour, let them
get hot, but do not brown them much; then moisten the fricassee with the
gravy made from the trimmings, &c., and stew very gently for 1/2 hour.
Lift the fowl into another stewpan, skim the sauce, reduce it quickly
over the fire, by letting it boil fast, and strain it over them. Add the
cream, and a seasoning of pounded mace and cayenne; let it boil up, and
when ready to serve, stir to it the well-beaten yolks of 3 eggs: these
should not be put in till the last moment, and the sauce should be made
_hot_, but must _not boil_, or it will instantly curdle. A few
button-mushrooms stewed with the fowl are by many persons considered an
improvement.

_Time_.--1 hour to make the gravy, 1/2 hour to simmer the fowl.

_Average cost_, 5s. the pair.

_Sufficient_.--1 large fowl for one entree.

_Seasonable_ at any time.

STOCKING THE FOWL-HOUSE.--Take care that the birds with which
you stock your house are _young_. The surest indications of old
age are fading of the comb and gills from brilliant red to a
dingy brick-colour, general paleness of plumage, brittleness of
the feathers, length and size of the claws, and the scales of
the legs and feet assuming a ragged and _corny_ appearance. Your
cock and hens should be as near two years old as possible. Hens
will lay at a year old, but the eggs are always insignificant in
size, and the layers giddy and unsteady sitters. The hen-bird is
in her prime for breeding at three years old, and will continue
so, under favourable circumstances, for two years longer; after
which she will decline. Crowing hens, and those that have large
combs, are generally looked on with mistrust; but this is mere
silliness and superstition--though it is possible that a spruce
young cock would as much object to a spouse with such peculiar
addictions, as a young fellow of our own species would to a
damsel who whistled and who wore whiskers. Fowls with yellow
legs should be avoided; they are generally of a tender
constitution, loose-fleshed, and of indifferent flavour.

FRICASSEED FOWL (Cold Meat Cookery).

946. INGREDIENTS