Chickens a la Stanley—Sauted

Select three chickens each one weighing two pounds and a half; draw, singe, and detach the legs from the bodies, cut the carcasses on a level with the breasts and plunge these for a few moments in hot water to stiffen them, then dip them at once in cold water to refresh, lard them with lardons (No. 3, Fig. 52). With the meat taken from the legs and all the parings prepare a quenelle forcemeat (No. 89), finishing it with a dash of cayenne pepper, and two tablespoonfuls of bechamel (No. 409). Butter eighteen hollow tartlet molds with rounded bottoms, besprinkle the insides with finely chopped raw truffles, and fill them up with the prepared forcemeat; range these in a sautoir having boiling water around and reaching up to half their height, then poach the forcemeat slowly. Besides this, poach a layer of the same forcemeat on an entree dish and keep it warm. Cut the breasts of the chickens into three pieces, two fillets and the upper part of the breast; suppress the pinions. Mince ten ounces of white onions, and fry them slowly with butter in a sautoir, and when a good color, add the chickens; season with salt and pepper, and moisten with three gills of chicken broth prepared with the carcasses and bones of these chickens; cover the sautoir and allow the liquid to fall to a glaze, then begin the operation again until the fillets and breasts are thoroughly done; remove and transfer to a flat saucepan; increase the chicken stock with a few spoonfuls of good veloute (No. 415), reduce this sauce without ceasing to stir, incorporating more of the broth into it, and lastly a gill of good raw cream; the sauce should now be succulent and of a medium consistency; thicken it with a liaison of two egg-yolks, and cook this without boiling, then strain it through a tammy into another saucepan to work it vigorously while adding butter; finish with a dash of cayenne pepper, and the juice of a lemon. At the last moment dress the fillets in a circle on the bed of forcemeat laying on the dish; fill the center of this with cut up cooked mushrooms, and place the breast pieces on top; cover over with a part of the sauce, pouring the remainder into a sauce-boat to be served separately. Unmold the small forcemeat molds, dress them around the fillets and glaze over with a brush, then serve.