Chickens, Parisian Style—Sauted

Peel a few medium-sized truffles, lay them in a saucepan with a little salt and Madeira wine; cook them slightly; cook also as many mushrooms with a piece of butter and the juice of a lemon. Take two singed, drawn chickens, cut off the pinions and drumsticks, detach the thighs, and divide the breasts into three pieces, the two fillets and the upper breast part; cut the carcasses in two; crack the thigh bones in order to remove them, then place the thighs in a buttered flat saucepan; add the pinions, necks, and carcasses, season and cook on a moderate fire stirring them about at times; when partly done, add the fillets and upper breast parts, a bunch of parsley garnished with aromatic herbs, and a clove of garlic. After all the meats are well sized lift them out with a skimmer, and transfer to another saucepan, adding the truffles. Drain off the fat from the contents of the first saucepan, put in the truffle parings, and moisten with half a glassful of Madeira; boil up once or twice, then mix in double as much brown sauce (No. 414) and the truffle stock; let cook on a brisk fire for ten minutes: skim off the fat, and strain this sauce over the chickens; heat without allowing the liquid to boil. Fasten a small fried bread pyramid in the center of a dish, around it dress first the carcasses and pinions, then the thighs and breasts, placing the upper breast pieces on top; surround the chickens with the truffles and mushrooms, place a few cocks'-combs here and there, and free the sauce once more of its fat; pour it over the chicken and serve.