Prepare a chicken as directed (see preparation of poultry). Cut each leg and wing in two at the joint; cut the back in two; the stomach makes one piece. With the gizzard and neck there should be thirteen pieces.

Throw the pieces into boiling water for one or two minutes, take out and drain them. Put in a stewpan a tablespoonful of butter, one of flour; when they bubble add half a pint of water or broth, two sprigs of parsley, a pinch of grated nutmeg, four small onions, a small teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of white pepper, then the chicken. Cover closely, and when it reaches the boiling point draw aside where it will simmer slowly and not burn. Shake it round every few minutes. If slowly cooked and closely covered, the sauce will not dry away much; if it should do so, add a little more broth or boiling water. When it has cooked one hour, if young, it will be done; if an old fowl it will take two. Take up the meat and keep it hot, strain the sauce, unless the onion is liked in it. Put it back in the stewpan with a dozen small mushrooms and a little of their liquor, let it boil one minute, then beat the yolks of two eggs with a tablespoonful of milk. Take the saucepan to a cool place, wait one minute, then stir in the beaten yolks. Put the saucepan back on the stove, stir till it is a thick, smooth, yellow cream, but it must not boil or the eggs will curdle and the appearance be spoilt.

Arrange the chicken on the dish in the following way: The neck, gizzard, forepart of the back, and drumsticks in the middle, one upper part of leg on each side the dish, one wing beside each, then the breast and hind part of the back, the ends of the wings top and bottom. Squeeze a few drops of lemon juice into the sauce, lay the mushrooms over the meat and pour the sauce over all. Serve.

This is decidedly the best way to make the dish, but more difficult than the following, because it requires watching or it will burn.

Simpler Mode For Fricassee

Prepare the chicken as before, put it in a stewpan with half a pint of water, one large or four small onions, two sprigs of parsley, a pinch of nutmeg, a scant teaspoonful of salt, a saltspoonful of pepper; lay in the chicken; cook as before. When done, take it out, put a tablespoonful of butter and a small one of flour into a small saucepan; cook till they bubble, strain the gravy from the chicken, to this, stir till smooth, add the yolks of two eggs, beaten with a table-spoonful of milk; when it has cooled one minute stir in a hot spot but do not boil; pour this sauce over the chicken, arranged as in last recipe. The mushrooms may be added or not, as convenient.

Little squares or crescents of rough puff paste, baked and laid round either of these fricassees are a very nice addition and serve to garnish.