Chicken Fillets, Perigord Style

Take two cold braised chickens, cut off the fillets and divide each into halves. Put in a mortar two ounces of goose's fat liver, pound and rub it through a fine hair sieve. Chop an onion finely, put it in a saucepan with a small lump of butter, pass it over the fire for a few minutes and then pour in one breakfast cupful of white sauce that has been boiled until thickly reduced. When on the point of boiling, put in the pounded fat liver and stir in quickly the beaten yolks of two eggs. Leave the sauce until cold. Coat the fillets with the cold sauce, dip them in well-beaten eggs, roll them in breadcrumbs, then beat them lightly with a knife, and repeat the operation. Plunge the fillets into a stewpan half full of boiling lard, and fry them until browned; then drain, arrange in a border of mashed potatoes, garnish the center with fried water cresses, and serve with a sauceboatful of gravy.

Chicken, Princess Style

Cut off the fillets from five chickens, pare and flatten them a little with a knife-handle. Shape their largest sides a good round, trim them to a point to resemble cutlets, sprinkle over with salt and cover with a cloth. Take a saucepan and put in it five ounces of butter, melt, let it settle, and pass it through a strainer. Make some highly-flavored forcemeat from the flesh off the legs, put it into a well-buttered plain border mould, and place it in the bain-marie to poach. In the meantime, boil a pickled beef tongue in salted water, and keep it hot; peel fifteen small raw truffles, and keep them covered over until wanted. Next prepare some stock with the bones of the birds, vegetables, sweet herbs, white wine and broth. When cooked strain it, add the truffle trimmings and reduce it to half glaze; add its equal bulk of brown sauce and boil for a few minutes; then pass it through a cloth into another smaller saucepan, put in the raw truffles, add two or three tablespoonfuls of sherry and boil again very slowly for eight or nine minutes. Now pour the clarified butter into a flat saucepan, put the fillets in close to each other, place the pan on the fire and cook them on both sides for about two minutes, then take them out and drain well. Take out the tongue, drain, skin and cut it up, in a slanting direction, into as many slices as there are fillets, shaping them like these. Now turn the border out onto a dish, and place the fillets and slices of tongue, glazed with a paste brush, alternately around it, with the truffles in the center. Pour a little of the sauce over the truffles, and serve the remainder in a boat.

Chicken Fillets, Sauted

Cut off nine fillets of chickens, pound them lightly with a vegetable masher, dust over with salt and pepper and cover well with flour. Put one tablespoonful of butter for each fillet into a fryingpan; when it is quite hot put in the fillets and fry them for twenty minutes, turning them so that both sides will be browned. Take them out and put them in front of the fire to keep warm. To every six tablespoonfuls of butter used add two more to the pan, and when it is melted mix in one tablespoonful of flour; as soon as this begins to brown add gradually one and one-half breakfast cupfuls of cold milk, stirring continually; boil for a minute and add salt, pepper and a little mustard. Put a pile of mashed potatoes or green peas in the center of a dish, place the fillets against it, and serve with the sauce poured around.