Chicken A La Bechamel

Melt two tablespoonfuls of butter. Stir into it one of flour, one-fourth teaspoonful of salt, a little pepper, then add one-half cup each of chicken stock and cream. Stir until smooth, cook for five minutes, then remove from the fire, and beat into it three well-beaten eggs and two cups of chopped chicken. Turn into buttered ramquin dishes or in a baking dish, and bake standing in a pan of hot water about twenty minutes. The water should not boil. Salmon or any kind of white fish can be used in this way.

Chicken Pie

One good-sized, old chicken. Put it in the pot and cover with warm water (use warm water so that part of the nourishment may be in the gravy), add to it two teaspoonfuls of salt, six peppercorns, one onion, sliced, three stalks of celery or the celery root, one carrot and one turnip, sliced. Cook slowly for two hours, or until the meat will leave the bones. Boil the liquor down to two cups. Melt in a sauce pan one-fourth cup of butter, stir into it one tablespoonful of flour, and gradually the two cups of liquor. When that is smooth, stir in one-half cup of thick cream, season with salt and pepper. Pick the chicken mostly from the bones, leaving a few of the small bones to hold up the pie. Put a layer of the chicken in the bottom of the baking dish, then cover with a layer of the gravy. In the center of the dish place the breast bone to hold up the crust, fill up with the layers, and put a crust on top three-fourths of an inch thick, cutting a slit in the center to let out the steam. Layers of thin-sliced potatoes may be added to the pie, a few truffles or mushrooms, or alternate layers of chicken, oysters and the gravy. The baking dish is often lined with a thin layer of pastry, but it is very apt to be soggy. Bake three-quarters of an hour. To cover the pie use plain pastry, chopped puff pastry, or a rich baking powder biscuit dough.

Veal Pie can be made in the same way.

Chicken Smothered In Oysters

Cut a roasting chicken in serving pieces. Wash and wipe dry. Brown in a little bacon or salt pork fat. Then place in a casserole. Season with salt and pepper. Add a cup of water. Let cook one hour or until tender. Then add with cup of oysters one cup of cream. Cover and cook for twenty minutes. Reserve a little of the cream to soften one tablespoon-ful of flour. Stir that into the sauce. Cook for ten minutes and serve.

Chicken Roasted In Casserole

Prepare the chicken for roasting. Place in the casserole and cover the breasts with thin slices of salt pork. Place around it onions that have first been boiled for ten minutes. Cover closely. After a while add a little water if necessary. Cook slowly from two to three hours according to the size of the fowl. Make a gravy from the fat in the casserole.

Chopped Puff Paste For Chicken Pie

2 cups of flour. 1/2 teaspoonful salt. 1 teaspoonful sugar. 1 cup butter.

1 egg

1/4 cup ice water.

1/2 tablespoonful lemon juice.

Beat the egg until light, add to it lemon juice and water. Sift all the dry materials together and chop the butter with them. Add the liquid, roll and fold four times. Bake in a hot oven.

Braised Chicken

Take an old chicken, prepare it for roasting. Dredge with flour, salt and pepper. Brown all over in hot butter or chicken fat, then place in the roasting pan on a bed of sliced onion, carrot, turnip and celery. Cover the top with four slices of salt pork, add two cups of water, cover closely with another pan, roast for three hours, basting often and replenishing the water so as to keep about two cups in the pan. Remove the fowl on a platter, garnish with vegetables and make a gravy of the liquid in the pan. Season to taste. Cook in a pot on top of the stove, if liked.

Broiled Spring Chicken

Split down the back, remove the entrails and breast bone and the oil bag from the tail. Wipe clean with a cloth and cold water. Rub with soft butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on a broiler the inside down; broil over a slow fire for twenty-five minutes. When nearly done turn and let the skin side brown. Place on a hot dish, spread with butter, or with maitre d'hotel sauce. Garnish with watercress or parsley and slices of lemon.