Timbale of Chicken

Chicken parts fried with smoked ham and mushrooms in a Madeira wine sauce.

Pick out a couple of fowls of medium size, singe and draw them and remove the pinions and leg bones. Cut each bird into five pieces, not including the backs which are cut in halves; break the thick bones in the legs, take them out and put the legs into a saucepan with the wings; add eight ounces of smoked ham cut up small, three tablespoonfuls of the melted fat of bacon, a bunch of parsley and a few sweet herbs. Set the pan over a brisk fire and add a little seasoning; when they are done and a light color take the chicken and ham out with a skimmer and put them into another saucepan to keep warm on the side of the fire. Put two tablespoonfuls of finely-minced shallot and onion into the saucepan with the liquor, fry them and then add fifteen mushrooms cut in quarters. Place the pan over the fire again and when the moisture is reduced add half a dozen chickens' livers, scalded and cut into halves; four tablespoonfuls of white wine or Madeira and the same quantity of melted glaze. Return the chicken to this saucepan, toss them in the sauce, removing the pan from the fire while so doing, sprinkle a little parsley over them, and let them stand for a little while. In the meanwhile line a timbale mould with short paste and mask it with a layer of raw minced veal or pork mixed with four tablespoonfuls of fine herbs. Put in the pieces of chicken, the ham, livers and mushrooms, spread the top over with more of the raw mince, put a layer of paste on the top, fold the paste over from the sides, put the timbale on a baking sheet, and bake it in a moderate oven for one hour. Remove it when it is done, turn it out, make a small hole in the top, pour in a breakfast cupful of gravy previously reduced with a little Madeira or white wine, and serve quite hot.