Chickens.
AFTER you have drawn them, lay them in skimmed
milk for two hours, and truss them. When you have
properly singed, and dusted them with flour, cover them
close in cold water, and set them over a slow fire.
Having taken off the scum, and boiled them slowly five
or six minutes, take them off the fire, and keep them
close covered for half an hour in the water, which will
do them sufficiently, and make them plump and white.
Before you dish them, set them on the fire to heat; then
drain them, and pour over them white sauce, which
you must have made ready in the following manner:
Take the heads and necks of the chickens, with a
small bit of scrag of veal, or any scraps of mutton you
may have by you, and put them into a saucepan, with a
blade or two of mace, and a few black pepper corns, an
anchovy, a head of celery, a slice of the end of a lemon,
and a bunch of sweet herbs. Put to these a quart of
water, cover it close, and let it boil till it is reduced to
half a pint. Then strain it, and thicken it with a quarter
of a pound of butter mixed with flour, and boil it five or
six minutes. Then put in two spoonsful of mushrooms,
and mix the yolks of two eggs with a tea cup full of
cream, and a little nutmeg grated. Put in your sauce,
and keep shaking it over the fire, till it is near boiling;
then pour it into your boats, and serve it up with your
chickens.