Queen's Sauce

A bread-thickened poultry purée of the older school, closer to a potted spread than to a modern pouring sauce. The one thing that will ruin it is heat: once the pounded yolks and chicken go in, the pan must never reach a boil.

• Do not boil itPounded breast meat goes grainy and the sauce can separate if it is allowed to boil. Bring the finished sauce only to serving heat, around 160-170F, stirring, and take it off the moment it is hot through.
• "Rich gravy"Most likely a reduced poultry stock or a velouté-style sauce rather than thin pan juices. A pint of well-reduced chicken stock lightly bound with a blond roux gives the right body.
• The breadcrumbs are unmeasured"a quantity" is genuinely vague; the target is a sauce thick enough to hold a line on the back of a spoon before the meat goes in. Start with about half a cup of fresh crumbs per pint and add more only if it stays loose.
• Sweet almondsThe distinction matters because bitter almonds were still sold in this period and are not interchangeable. Sweet almonds are ordinary blanched almonds; a few means roughly a tablespoon, blanched and skinned so the sauce stays pale.
• PoundingA mortar was the usual tool for this. A food processor does the same work in seconds, but pulse rather than run it, and pass the puree through a sieve if you want the smooth texture the original intends.
• Cold fowlCold cooked breast meat, such as that left from a roast bird, is what is called for; dark meat will make the sauce greyer and coarser.
• Yield and servingAbout a pint and a half, enough for eight to ten servings as a sauce. It suits poached or roast chicken, veal, or croquettes, and thickens further as it cools, at which point it spreads well on toast.