Select from a good poultry-dealer two fine, tender Philadelphia spring-chickens weighing two pounds each. Singe them over a little alcohol poured onto a plate, draw the entrails, wash well the interiors, then wipe them dry with a clean cloth. Cut each chicken into six pieces, place them in a sautoire with two tablespoonfuls of sweet oil, season with a good pinch of salt and one pinch of pepper, then set the sautoire on a very brisk fire, and let cook until the pieces assume a good, light brown color (ten minutes will suffice), stirring them lightly in the meanwhile. Chop up very fine one sound shallot ; cut one green pepper into small, dice-shaped pieces, also the end part only of a medium-sized, peeled carrot; place all these with the chickens, and let cook together for one minute and a half, then add one glassful of good white wine, and let the liquid reduce to one-half, which will take ten minutes on a brisk fire, stirring it occasionally. Now add one gill of Espagnole sauce (No. 151), a tablespoonful of tomato sauce (No. 205), the juice of a good-sized, very sound lemon, and a quarter of an ounce of fresh butter ; let all cook for ten minutes longer, stirring it lightly with a spoon. Plunge three canned artichoke-bottoms into very hot water, lift them up immediately with a skimmer, wipe them thoroughly dry with a napkin, then cut each one into four quarters ; slice three medium-sized truffles very fine, and add all these to the chickens two minutes before serving. Dress the chickens and sauce on a very hot serving-dish, adjust paper ruffles to the ends of the four legs ; garnish the dish artistically with the artichokes star-shaped. Place a slice of truffle on the centre of each artichoke, and a very small, round slice of Spanish sweet pepper on top of each truffle, and send to the table very hot.