This section is from the book "The Epicurean", by Charles Ranhofer. Also available from Amazon: The Epicurean, a Complete Treatise of Analytical and Practical Studies on the Culinary Art.
Prepare and cut up the chickens the same as for the plain fricassee (No. 1861); soak the pieces for half an hour, then drain and return them to the saucepan to moisten with white broth (No. 194a);cook the chicken, drain it in a colander, and run the liquid througha napkin; put it back on the fire to reduce to half adding eight gills of veloute sauce (No. 415), then reduce once move until the sauce adheres to the spoon, afterward finish with egg-yolks and butter. Strain through a tammy, and keep hot in a bain-marie. Wash thoroughly the pieces of cooked chicken in cold water: pate nicely, and place them in the sauce; after they are well heated, dress and garnish around with a cluster of carrot balls half an inch in diameter, blanched and cooked in white stock (No. 194a) and a little sugar, also small white onions cooked in white broth. Decorate the outside with small flat egg-plant croquettes containing mushrooms and truffles, and use also trussed crawfish for the ornamentation.
Draw and singe a clean, white meat three pound chicken, cut it up into eight pieces and split the carcass in two, also the neck and legs, wash these pieces in tepid water, place them in a saucepan containing water to heat, simply to stiffen the meat, then drain, refresh and wipe well on a cloth. Boil half a pound of blanched rice in broth for twenty minutes, keeping it white and consistent: when ready pour it into a plain buttered border mold (Fig. 139), pressing it down well and keep it in a warm heater for eight minutes. Melt some butter in a saucepan, add to it the pieces of chicken with a garnished bouquet (No. 123), two quartered onions, salt and pepper corns, fry the chicken over a good fire without browning, dredge over a heaping spoonful of flour and continue cooking two minutes while stirring, take the saucepan from the fire, and pour in gradually some hot stock (No. 194a), stirring until it reaches boiling point; let cook for eight minutes on a moderate fire, then remove it to a slower fire to finish cooking the chicken: as fast as each of the pieces are done; the tenderest ones first, take them out, suppressing the legs and carcasses, then pare the remainder and lay them in another saucepan, strain the sauce, reduce it for a few moments to thicken, pour it over the chicken and finally finish the fricassee with a thickening of two raw egg-yolks, half a gill of cream and an ounce of butter divided in small pats; cook this thickening without letting it boil, and squeeze in the juice of a lemon.
Dress the fricassee inside the rice border, unmold it on a hot dish, cover it moderately with the sauce and send the remainder to the table in a sauce-boat.
Take three medium chickens each one to weigh two pound and a half; cut both up into seven pieces each, the two legs, two fillets, two from the back and one breast bone; steep them in cold water for an hour, then drain and range in a saucepan; moisten to cover with broth (No.l94a) adding a medium carrot cut in four, a middle-sized onion, a bunch of parsley garnished with thyme and bay leaf, one clove, and peppercorns; allow the chickens to cook for fifteen minutes, then drain and reserve the broth; refresh and sponge the pieces on a cloth, paring them neatly. Melt three ounces of butter in a saucepan, lay in the pieces of chicken and fry rapidly without browning; a few moments later cover with some clear veloute sauce (No. 415), prepared with the chicken broth and a glassful of white wine: boil up this liquid once, then set the saucepan on one side of the fire to finish cooking the contents; when done, free the sauce of all its fat before straining it through a sieve into a sautoir, adding to it a few spoonfuls of mushroom broth.
Reduce while stirring from the bottom of the sautoir until a thick, succulent sauce is obtained, then put in a thickening of six egg-yolks, and an ounce and a half of lobster butter (No. 580). Strain this through a tammy over the pieces of chicken, remaining in the saucepan. Just when serving squeeze in the juice of a lemon. Dress in a thin border of cream forcemeat (No. 75), decorated with truffles; surround this border with a circle of sauted sweet peppers (No. 3769), with mushroom heads on top. and a trussed crawfish between every one. Serve the surplus of sauce in a sauce-boat.
 
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