Braised Capon, Financiere

Capon simmered with a ragout of foies gras, mushrooms, scallops and chicken quenelles.

Take one capon; pluck, singe and draw it, remove the forked part of the breastbone, fill the crop skin with butter seasoned with pepper and salt, and truss the capon in the same way you would for roasting. Lard the breast with strips of bacon fat, and tie some slices of fat bacon over the remainder of the capon; that is, the parts not larded. Put it into the braisingpan with a sufficient quantity of good stock to come above the pinions, then lay a round of buttered paper over the capon, cover over the pan, and let it simmer for an hour. Remove the paper and glaze the parts that are larded. Then make a ragout of foies gras, cut in scallops, mushrooms, and some small chicken quenelles mixed in financiere sauce, and put it on a dish round a block of fried bread, made by cutting the crumb of bread in the shape of a block eight inches in height, six inches square at the base, and three and one-half inches square at the top; fry this in some boiling fat, let it drain, and it is then ready for use. It can be fixed to the dish with a little paste made of egg and flour. Arrange the capon with its crop downward, and place two geese's fat livers, studded with small truffles, between them on the other two sides of the bread. Range a crayfish on either side of the geese's fat livers, and cockscomb on the top. Put a larded sweetbread on the top of the bread support, then garnish three silver skewers with cockscombs, crayfish and mushrooms, in the order named, and thrust them into the capon and sweetbreads. Put some financiere sauce in a sauceboat, and serve.