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Roti de Pauvre Homme
Take a fine pullet or capon, the fattest procurable. Make a force-meat, consisting of some finely chopped sausage meat, raw veal, and lean ham, cock's kidneys and combs, dried artichoke bottoms, mushrooms, truffles, some shred parsley, a little lemon thyme and sweet basil, 1 anchovy washed, boned, and chopped fine--the whole chopped and well mixed together, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a little grated nutmeg, with a good lump of fresh butter well incorporated with it. With this force-meat fill the fowl by the vent, which sew up afterwards. Saturate with butter or olive-oil three or four sheets of writing-paper, and carefully dredge the fowl with flour. Envelop the bird in the paper two layers thick, and cover the whole with another layer slightly buttered. Bury the bird thus prepared in hot wood-ashes until it is cooked, or put it in a range oven, covered with a dish, which must exclude the air from beneath.
An ash-baked stuffed fowl dressed up as peasant food. The technique is the ancestor of cooking en papillote, and the paper wrapping is the part that needs rethinking most.
- The paperPeriod writing paper was a heavier rag-based stock, and greasing it helped it resist scorching. Modern paper may carry bleach, coatings and inks; use parchment paper in two layers, with a loose outer layer of foil in place of the third buttered sheet.
- Heat and timeWood ashes gave a steady, gentle heat. The recipe specifies neither temperature nor time; in an oven, roughly 325F for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a 4-5 lb bird is a reasonable modern approximation. The recipe asks only that the covering dish exclude the air from beneath.
- Internal temperature is the real doneness testBecause the forcemeat contains raw sausage, veal and ham, the centre of the stuffing must reach 165F. Check the stuffing, not just the thigh; a densely packed bird can read done at the joint while the middle lags well behind.
- CaponA castrated cockerel, fatter and larger than an ordinary bird, and not something a supermarket stocks. A 4-5 lb roasting chicken works, ideally an air-chilled one with the fat left on.
- Cock's kidneys and combsBoth were standard garnish items in French kitchens and both are now hard to source outside specialty poultry suppliers. They can be omitted; the forcemeat loses a little gelatinous texture.
- Dried artichoke bottomsSold dried, these would have needed soaking and simmering until tender before chopping. Canned or frozen artichoke hearts, drained and patted dry, go straight in.
- Truffles and the anchovyThe truffle is optional and a teaspoon of truffle paste does the same work. The anchovy is not optional in spirit: it is the recipe's salt-and-savour backbone, so keep it and go lightly on added salt until you have tasted the mixture.
- Sewing and yieldStuff loosely so heat can penetrate, then close the vent with a trussing needle and cotton twine. The bird serves four to five, and the forcemeat is rich enough that a simple green salad is the whole of what it needs beside it.