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Fowl Scallops
Mince the meat of a cold fowl very fine, season with salt and pepper, a dash of nutmeg and cayenne, and a shred of lemon-peel. Put this over the fire in a little thin cream or white broth. When thoroughly warmed through (not boiled), pour into clean buttered scallop-shells. Strew with bread-crumbs until covered, and on the top put bits of butter. Brown the bread-crumbs twenty minutes in the oven.
A Victorian way of using up the last of a roast bird, baked in shells and browned. The whole thing hinges on the meat never boiling in its cream.
- Do not let it boilCold cooked fowl reheated at a simmer turns stringy and squeezes out its moisture, and thin cream will curdle. Warm the mince over low heat only until it steams, then fill the shells.
- Scallop-shellsCleaned scallop shells were commonly used for dishes of this kind; ramekins, small gratin dishes or a shallow ovenproof plate all work. Butter them well, and set them on a baking sheet so they sit level.
- Oven heatNo temperature is given; ranges of the period were not thermostatically controlled. For browning crumbs in twenty minutes, somewhere around 375-400F should suit; check at fifteen, since the filling is already hot and only the top needs colour.
- White brothThis means a pale, unbrowned stock — chicken or veal simmered without roasting the bones. Any light chicken stock stands in. Use enough only to bind the mince, roughly 2-3 tablespoons per cup of meat; it should be moist, not soupy.
- Shred of lemon-peelA thin pared strip of zest, no pith, added for perfume; a strip of that kind would usually be lifted out before the mixture goes into the shells. Finely grated zest works if you would rather leave it in.
- Crumbs and butterDry crumbs, not fresh, brown more evenly here. Dot generously with butter or the top bakes to a pale dust rather than a crust.
- YieldThe meat of one small cold chicken, about 2 cups minced, fills four to six shells — a first course or a light supper with bread and something sharp alongside.
- Reheated poultryCold cooked chicken should have been refrigerated promptly and used within a couple of days. Because the filling is deliberately not boiled, start with meat you are confident in.
Scallops in this sense are not the shellfish but the vessel: through the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries cooks baked minced or creamed leftovers in cleaned scallop shells, which gave individual portions and a handsome presentation without a mould. The technique is often said to lie behind coquilles of fish and the later scalloped potatoes, where the name is generally traced to the shell that no longer appears, though a rival derivation from 'collop' has been proposed. It is a method more than a dish а̄ the frugal English answer to a carcass already carved once, of a piece with rissoles, croquettes and mince on toast.