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Queen's Soup, or Potage a La Reine

Skin and clean two fine fowls or three young chickens, carefully removing the dark spongy substance which is inside. Put them into a saucepan, with a bunch of parsley, and pour over them as much good white stock, nicely flavoured, as will cover them. Let them simmer gently for an hour. Take them up, and pick off all the white flesh from the birds. Blanch and pound a dozen sweet almonds and two bitter ones. Beat them to a paste in a mortar, with a little water to keep them from oiling. Soak the crumb of a penny roll in the broth, and when it is quite moist, wring it in a cloth, to squeeze the moisture from it. Chop the flesh of the chickens, and pound it to a paste, with the soaked roll, the hard-boiled yolks of two eggs, and the pounded almonds. Stir this mixture into the soup, and press the whole through a sieve. Heat it in a clean saucepan, and mix with it a pint and a half of thick cream which has been boiled separately. Stir it over the fire till it boils, and if not sufficiently thick, add a little arrowroot. Many cooks omit the yolks of eggs altogether, and use arrowroot instead. If no white stock is at hand, it may be made by putting into a saucepan three or four pounds of the knuckle of veal which has been soaked and broken up, with four ounces of uncooked lean ham, three onions, a carrot, a turnip, four or five outer sticks of celery, two sprigs of lemon thyme, a bunch of parsley, a large blade of mace, half a tea-spoonful of peppercorns, and three quarts of cold water. Bring the liquor to the boil, skim carefully till no more scum rises, then draw the saucepan to the side, and let it simmer gently and without ceasing until it is reduced to rather less than two quarts. Pour it out, and when it is stiff, clear the fat from the top, lift it out free from sediment, and it is ready for use. Time to boil the chickens, one hour. Probable cost, varying with the price of the chickens.