12 Fowl Recipes – Quick Guide to Cooking Delicious

Fowl Dishes

Fowl presents something of a problem in a book designed for the hurried cook. Except for

chicken, most poultry is at its best when roasted at a low, even heat or turned on a spit under

the same conditions. Either method is slow. Goose, turkey, domestic duck, peacock, swan,

guinea, and the dodo, if you can find one, are large and need from two to six hours of

cooking. Even to broil a duck or roast a pheasant is too time-consuming for this book. In

addition, most poultry requires some form of dressing, stuffing, or filling—depending on

one's regional background—whose preparation will occupy you for some time before you can

even start to cook the bird.

No one of those reasons or all of them together seemed sufficiently cogent to eliminate a

section on fowl, which form the basis for some delightful dishes. I accordingly selected a

number of chicken recipes which are quick, and rounded out the dozen with methods for

cooking three smaller birds and with two recipes, useful at any time but especially so at

Thanksgiving or Christmas, to help use up leftover turkey.

Inclusion among the chickens of a recipe for chicken livers may seem out of place, but the

result is so appetizing—sometimes even startling—that I could not forbear using it, and

where else could it go if not with chicken?

The recipes for small fowl, that is, game hen, quail, and squab, are more or less

interchangeable. Each bird is good when cooked in the mode of either of the others, although

I think the recipe selected for each suits that specific bird better than it does the other two.

Almost any fowl, especially chicken, may be substituted for turkey in the two final recipes.

They were, however, designed specifically for turkey and bring out its flavour to the best

advantage. If you do not like turkey, and presumably some people do not or cannot get it, but

like the recipes, try guinea. You will be both surprised and pleased by the result.

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CHICKEN TETRAZZINI SERVES 4

Opera stars have given their names to many recipes, among them: Spaghetti Caruso, Mary

Garden Salad, Peach Melba, and Chicken Tetrazzini. The last, invented by Pavani when he

was chef of the Knickerbocker Hotel in New York City, has become a standard item on most

restaurant menus, not only because of its merit, which is great, but also because it may be

appropriately served at any meal, from luncheon to late supper. It is said that on a day when

the great soprano was indisposed, this recipe was concocted to tempt her appetite. But then

the diva's talent for eating was surpassed only by her talent for singing. Regardless of its

inception, it is a very handy recipe to have around. The chicken should be cut into thin strips,

but if freshly cooked chicken is not available you may substitute jarred or tinned chicken cut

into moderate pieces. The recipe also calls for truffles. These may be, and frequently are,

omitted.

½ POUND THIN SPAGHETTI

2 TINS CONDENSED CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP

1 CUP CREAM

4 TABLESPOONS SHERRY

¼ TEASPOON GRATED NUTMEG

SALT

PEPPER

½ POUND FRESH MUSHROOMS, THINLY SLICED

3 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

2 CUPS COOKED CHICKEN, CUT INTO THIN STRIPS

½ CUP THINLY SLICED TRUFFLES

¼ CUP GRATED PARMESAN CHEESE

Cook the spaghetti in a large quantity of rapidly boiling, salted water until tender, about ten

minutes. In a saucepan over a low fire, put the condensed chicken soup and thin it into a

sauce with the cream, stirring well with a wooden spoon until it is smooth. Add the sherry,

the nutmeg, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Sauté the thinly sliced mushrooms in the

butter until golden brown. (If you use tinned mushroom bits and pieces, they need not be

cooked.) Drain the spaghetti. Stir it and the sautéed mushrooms into half of the sauce; into the

other half stir the chicken and the sliced truffles. Grease a deep fireproof dish well with

butter, and put the spaghetti and mushrooms into it. Make a hole in this mixture, and pour the

chicken into that. Cover the whole with the grated cheese, place the dish in a moderate oven

(315° degrees), and cook until the cheese is lightly browned. Remove from the oven and

serve.

Peas alone among vegetables go well with this dish, and even they seem unnecessary. If you

follow it with Mixed Green Salad II (qv) you will have about all you require for a substantial

meal. You should serve wine with Chicken Tetrazzini. It does not matter too much what kind,

so long as it is light. And while it may be heresy to say so, I like red Chianti. Fragole Marsala

(qv) would be both appropriate and good for dessert.

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CHICKEN CARILLON SERVES 4

The name of this recipe might suggest that it had its origin in a medieval French monastery or

that it was concocted by a Gallic bell ringer's beautiful daughter. The latter would be nearer

the mark, but neither is true. The dish was invented in Washington when a man was conjured

by a highly placed witch woman into cooking her dinner and, no doubt as some orphic test,

was given only a frying chicken with which to do it. When he protested the paucity of

ingredients, the witch woman handed him a tin of minced clams and a bottle of cream,

together with an admonition, "I have given you three items, and that is enough; be off to the

kitchen." Thus admonished and equipped, he produced the following enchanting dish.

½ CUP FLOUR

1 TEASPOON SALT

½ TEASPOON PEPPER

6 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

1 CHICKEN, JOINTED

½ PINT CREAM

1 SMALL TIN MINCED CLAMS

4 SPRIGS PARSLEY

Sift the flour into a paper bag, add salt and pepper, and shake well. Into this bag place the

pieces of chicken, two or three at a time, and shake them up to dredge the chicken. Melt the

butter slowly in a skillet, and when the butter is hot, turn up the flame fully and quickly sauté

the chicken on all sides until it is golden brown. Turn down the fire, pour in the cream, and

simmer the chicken for about fifteen minutes, turning it from time to time. Do not allow it to

boil. Stir in the clams and their juice, replace the cover, and simmer another five minutes.

Garnish with parsley; serve on a hot platter.

Almost all chicken dishes have a natural affinity for rice.

Chicken Carillon is no exception. Boiled or steamed rice is excellent with it Chopped

broccoli or Brussels sprouts would add to the taste as well as to the color. A Persimmon Salad

(qv) or Beet Daishe (qv) is a good choice to follow. The wine should be white, and in view of

the clams, why not a Vouvray? A Rum Omelette (qv) seems a reasonable suggestion for

dessert.

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CHICKEN LIVERS IVY SERVES 4

Almost as versatile as lamb or veal kidneys, chicken livers are the hurried and harried chefs

friend. Combined with eggs, they make an excellent omelette for breakfast or luncheon;

broiled en brochette with tomatoes and bacon rolls, they are fine fare for luncheon or supper;

and cooked with wine, as in this recipe, they become a splendid dish for luncheon, dinner, or

supper. With a little preliminary work in the kitchen, these livers may be prepared in a

chafing dish, but they will then require about half again as much time. For nostalgic reasons I

have named this recipe after a very famous London restaurant, where I once had livers

cooked in a somewhat similar manner. I can only hope that your experience with these will

be as pleasant as mine was with those.

l½ POUNDS CHICKEN LIVERS

3/8 CUP FLOUR

¾ TEASPOON POWDERED SAGE

1 TEASPOON SALT

½ TEASPOON BLACK PEPPER

6 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

l½ CUPS CHICKEN BROTH OR CONSOMME

½ CUP MADEIRA

Cut the livers in half, remove any fat, and wash them. Place the flour in a small mixing bowl,

add the sage, salt, and pepper, and mix well. Dredge the livers with the flour mixture,

reserving what does not stick to the livers. Melt the butter in a large skillet, and when it is hot,

sauté the livers slowly, turning from time to time until they are cooked through, ten to twenty

minutes, depending on how well done you like them. Remove the livers to a warm place, and

add the remaining flour to the skillet, blending it well with the butter and the juices to make a

roux. Heat the chicken broth. Cook the roux, stirring constantly to prevent burning, until it is

brown. Remove from flame, and gradually add the chicken broth and the Madeira to make a

sauce, which should not be too thick. If it needs thinning use more broth, not more wine.

Place the chicken livers on a hot platter, and pour the sauce over them. Serve at once.

With the livers you should serve boiled rice flavoured with a few tablespoons of finely diced

and cooked green pepper and pimiento. Baked or broiled tomato halves go very well indeed

with this liver and rice combination, which might well be followed with Spinach Salad (qv)

or Salade Belgique (qv). A well-chilled Pies porter is suggested to accompany the main dish.

A Rum Omelette (qv) would conclude this meal in fine style.

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CREAMED CHICKEN HASH SERVES 4

Despite its lowly position in gastronomy, and despite allegedly humorous definitions of its

content, hash can be very fine food. It need not be made from leftovers. Nor is this one.

Freshly boiled or roasted chicken will give the best results; but you may use tinned chicken,

although it is not easily diced and is apt to be stringy. Creamed chicken hash is one of the

finest dishes ever concocted for that late, lazy breakfast which opens a vacation or delights a

Sunday morning. One word of caution: tamper with the seasoning, if you will, or the size of

the pieces of chicken, but do not ever add onions or potatoes. Mushrooms, thinly sliced and

sautéed in butter, may be included, but they alter the hash considerably and are not

recommended. If you wish to serve this hash at luncheon or supper, two tablespoons of dry

sherry added to the sauce just before you bring it to the table is an excellent idea. Finally, and

most important, is the dicing of the chicken and the green pepper. Both should be

exceedingly small, particularly the latter. The chicken should be in cubes of no more than

half an inch, and the pepper should be even smaller.

1 LARGE FINELY DICED GREEN PEPPER

2 TINS CONCENTRATED CREAM OF CHICKEN SOUP

½ PINT CREAM

3 CUPS FINELY DICED COOKED CHICKEN

1 TEASPOON SALT

½ TEASPOON FRESHLY GROUND PEPPER

Simmer the diced peppers for about five minutes in a cup of water; drain. In a saucepan, thin

the chicken soup slowly with the cream over a low fire. When the sauce has reached the

proper consistency, put in the chicken, the peppers, and the seasoning. Stir well, and continue

to cook until the hash is thoroughly hot. Serve on toast triangles or in patty shells. Garnish, if

you like, with a few pinches of paprika. For a green vegetable, either baby lima beans or

broiled tomatoes would be good selections. Better yet would be their omission in favor of an

Avocado Salad (qv). Coffee is splendid with this hash, but if you want a wine, a light one

such as Orvieto would be about right. For a dessert you might offer Bananas Senegalese (qv).

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CHICKEN OPORTO SERVES 4

Few indeed are the foods whose flavour is not improved by the inclusion in their recipe of a

little wine—"for your stomach's sake," of course, or some brandy. I have even heard of

people—odd, I am sure—marinating good steak in bourbon whisky. Sherry is the normal

wine for seasoning, but chicken, which is not one of the few foods referred to above, has an

affinity also for port. This recipe produces a fine chicken dish for parties. It derives from

several other similar but much more elaborate recipes, and in my opinion is as good as any of

them. Besides being simpler and quicker than the originals, it contains fewer calories—an

item, I am told, of some consequence in certain circles. It is, nevertheless, a fairly rich dish,

and two pieces of chicken per customer will usually be sufficient. If you and your guests

enjoy the pyrotechnics of burning alcohol at the dining table, you may use a chafing dish in

the final step of Chicken Oporto.

4 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

8 PIECES CHICKEN

SALT

PEPPER

1/3 CUP PORT

3 TABLESPOONS FLOUR

2/3 CUP CHICKEN BROTH

2/3 CUP CREAM

2 TABLESPOONS CHOPPED PARSLEY

¼ CUP BRANDY

¼ CUP KIRSCH

4 SPRIGS PARSLEY

Melt the butter in a large skillet. When it is hot but not brown, put in the chicken and sauté it

over a fairly high flame for about five minutes. Turn the chicken, season with salt and pepper,

and continue to sauté it for another five minutes. Turn again, season with salt and pepper, and

continue cooking, turning occasionally for ten minutes more. Cover the pan, reduce the heat a

little, and let the chicken cook for fifteen minutes, when it should be done. Remove the

chicken to a warm place. Add the port to the juices in the skillet, and then add the flour,

stirring it well and cooking slowly to make a liquid roux. Gradually add the chicken broth

and the cream, separately. Stir them well into a sauce, which should be on the thick side. Add

the chopped parsley and cook the sauce for about five minutes over a low flame. Return the

chicken to the skillet—here is the place to introduce the chafing dish if you like—and see that

it is well covered with the sauce. Place the brandy and kirsch in a small saucepan, bring to a

boil, ignite, and pour, still blazing, over the chicken. Mix well. Place on a large platter,

garnish with sprigs of parsley, and serve at once.

Photo owned by Sjschen

With this particular chicken dish, noodles are better than rice. If possible you should use

green noodles, if only to add color. Baby beets, unless you think the combination too

reminiscent of Christmas, would make a good green vegetable, as would carrots. A raw

Spinach Salad (qv) or something equally simple should follow. The wine, and this dish calls

for wine, should be white. If champagne is not to your taste—this is a good champagne

dish—the driest of Sauternes will blend very well with the chicken. Raspberry Fluff (qv),

which is very light, would make a good final course.

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CHICKEN TARRAGON SERVES 4

A sumptuous dish for dinner is chicken cooked in white wine strongly impregnated with

tarragon. Recipes for this chicken vary, from the extremely simple one carried on the label of

some tarragon containers, to a very complex one reported by Alice B. Toklas in her

entertaining book on cooking for Gertrude Stein. The one described below lies between. It is

a fine dish with a subtle flavour. You may use a whole, large chicken, jointed, or buy

individual pieces. For this quantity I suggest: two breasts split, and four legs and thighs. The

broth may be made from the other parts of the chicken as described under Chicken Paprika.

Or you may make the broth from chicken extract and water, but make it strong.

l½ CUPS DRY WHITE WINE

l½ CUPS CHICKEN BROTH

8 PEPPERCORNS

4 TEASPOONS TARRAGON

1 MEDIUM ONION, SLICED COARSELY

1 CARROT, CHOPPED IN ONE-INCH PIECES

2 STALKS CELERY, CHOPPED IN TWO-INCH PIECES

5 TABLESPOONS BUTTER OR CHICKEN FAT

12 PIECES CHICKEN

SALT

PEPPER

1 TABLESPOON FLOUR

Pour the wine and broth into a saucepan, add peppercorns, tarragon, onion, carrot, and celery.

Cover and simmer for fifteen minutes. Meanwhile melt four tablespoons of butter or chicken

fat in a large, heavy pan and sauté the chicken over a medium high flame and on all sides for

about ten minutes. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook for another ten minutes.

Remove the celery, carrot, and onion from the wine and broth mixture, and pour it over the

chicken. Let the chicken simmer covered in this mixture for twenty minutes. While the

chicken is simmering, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter or fat in another saucepan, add

the flour, and cook over a low heat, stirring all the while, until the flour is cooked. Turn off

the fire under the roux, and gradually add and stir in about a cup and a half of the liquid from

the chicken to make a smooth, thin sauce. When the chicken is done, remove it to a hot

platter, pour half the sauce from the small saucepan over it, and serve.

Boiled rice is the perfect complement for this chicken and should be served with the other

half of the sauce which you have made with the liquid in which the chicken was simmered.

Green beans, or peas, would make a good green vegetable. Greenbrier Salad (qv) to follow

should certainly be considered, for its color if for no other reason. A Pouilly Fuissé would be

an excellent wine choice. Zabaglione (qv) is recommended for dessert.

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CHICKEN PAPRIKA SERVES 4

Both chicken and veal lend themselves admirably to this mode (see Veal Paprika). Each is

good. Chicken takes a little longer to prepare, is a richer and sweeter dish, and, to my mind at

least, has a slightly greater atmosphere of formality, traceable no doubt to the fact that I was

brought up in a household where chicken was the standard Sunday dinner and veal never

served at all. It was thought, mirabile dîctu, to be indigestible. But let us leave the veal for a

later recipe and return to our chicken. Chicken stock should be used, and can be readily made

from the back, neck, and giblets of the fowl. Put them in a saucepan with a few pieces of

onion, carrot, and celery, a little salt, and some peppercorns. Add a pint of water, and simmer

for about an hour. A chicken bouillon cube would help. Strain through a fine sieve, and you

have the stock. The meat may be removed from the bones and reserved for use in some other

recipe. If you are pressed for time, you may substitute chicken consommé out of a tin, or

make it with chicken extract. This chicken is too much for luncheon but splendid for dinner

or supper.

Photo owned by Kobako

1 LARGE FRYING CHICKEN, JOINTED

2 TABLESPOONS FLOUR

4 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

1 CLOVE GARLIC, HALVED

4 TABLESPOONS PAPRIKA

¼ TEASPOON TARRAGON

SALT

PEPPER

l½ CUPS CHICKEN STOCK

½ PINT DOUBLE CREAM

PARSLEY

Split the breast, dredge it, the legs, thighs, and wings with flour. Melt the butter in a large

skillet, sauté the garlic for a few minutes, add the chicken and sauté on all sides until golden

brown. Remove the garlic and add the paprika, tarragon, salt, and pepper. Pour the chicken

stock over it, stir well, and simmer, covered, over a low fire for about twenty minutes, stirring

occasionally. Transfer the contents of the skillet to an ovenproof serving dish or casserole,

and place in a moderate oven (300 degrees) for fifteen minutes, or until the chicken is tender

but not falling off the bones. Stir in the cream, return to the oven and heat through. Garnish

with parsley and serve.

Chicken Paprika is another chicken dish with which rice is not appropriate; some form of

bread, rolls, or salt sticks is much better. Whole, baby boiled onions or fresh, boiled leeks are

good green vegetables. Follow the chicken with Mixed Green Salad III (qv) and serve with it

a white wine. A Barsac or Graves will complement the flavour of the main dish. Ginger

Ching (qv) will make a sound dessert.

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QUICK: QUAIL SERVES 4

The most delicate and delicious of game birds, if not, indeed, of all birds, quail, because of

their size, can be broiled whole and hence cooked more quickly than larger fowl. Unlike most

other game birds, quail need not be "hung" to bring out their best flavour and may therefore

be eaten immediately they are killed. My first experience with cooking (more accurately not

cooking) quail had its humorous aspects. I had not eaten or even seen quail and had no idea

how small they were, when a friend who had been hunting in Florida promised me a brace for

the next day. On the strength of the promise, and the assumption that the birds were about the

size of squabs, I invited another friend to help eat them. I had rather high hopes for the

occasion. The quail duly arrived, wrapped in brown paper. Even before I opened the package

it was obvious that the dinner would be on the scant side; after one look I was sure there

would be no dinner at all. The birds were splendid in their plumage, and I had no idea how to

pluck or draw them. When my guest arrived I apologized for the fact that my friend's "dog

had got into his game bag" with disastrous results for our dinner. We dined at a restaurant,

not on quail, but with satisfactory results.

Game birds dry out in cooking and must be well larded or frequently basted if they are to

remain succulent. This is especially true where the birds are exposed to direct and high heat.

Quail make a splendid main course for luncheon or dinner and shine even brighter as a game

course at a gala gathering, when one is enough for each customer. Otherwise serve two.

8 QUAIL

1 MEDIUM ONION 3 BAY LEAVES

½ CUP BUTTER

SALT

PEPPER

3 TABLESPOONS GRATED LEMON RIND

½ CUP DRY WHITE WINE

8 SPRIGS PARSLEY

Split the birds down the back and spread apart, but do not flatten them. Chop the onion fine,

and break the bay leaves into small pieces. Melt four tablespoons butter in a large skillet, and

sauté the chopped onion over a low heat until golden. Raise the fire, and sauté the quail

rapidly on all sides, including the inside, for about ten minutes, turning frequently.

Remove from fire. Lightly grease a flat pan or ovenproof serving platter with butter. Season

the birds well with salt and pepper inside and out. Arrange them on their backs on the greased

pan. Sprinkle the grated lemon rind on their breasts, and place on each a patty of butter. Add

the wine to the pan and put in the broken bay leaves. Place under a moderate flame (400

degrees) for five minutes. Turn the birds and baste them well. Broil for another five minutes.

Baste again and raise the heat high (500 degrees). Cook five minutes, turn the birds, and baste

once more. Continue to broil for a last five minutes. Arrange each bird on a thin piece of

buttered toast, garnish with parsley, and serve forthwith.

If you wish a starchy vegetable in addition to the toast, I suggest wild rice with gravy made

from the scrapings of the pan and the skillet. Carrots julienne or boiled baby onions would

make good green vegetables. Or omit the rice and other vegetables and serve artichokes with

melted butter. A Covent Garden Salad (qv) with a mustardy dressing would bring the meal to

a proper and fitting end. Or substitute for the salad a dessert of fresh fruit. Quick Quail is a

delicate dish and requires a delicate wine. Nothing could be more suitable than that: lovely

vin rose, Sainte Roseline from Provence.

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GAME HEN LUCULLUS SERVES 4

This is not a sixty-minute recipe. It will take you more nearly ninety, and ninety minutes, we

have been assured, is a long, long time. But this recipe is too good to omit, regardless of time.

The game hen is indigenous, if such a hybrid can be called indigenous, to the United States. It

is produced by crossbreeding—the exact relationship seems to be secret—domestic chicken,

fighting cock, Cornwall fowl, and rock bird, and is sold, usually frozen, under a variety of

names. Whether it is called rock Cornish game hen, or Cornish game hen, or Cornish hen, or

rock hen, it will be much the same. It will have a large amount of white meat, small legs, and

smaller wings. It will come to you dressed, wrapped in some form of plastic bag; with its

heart, liver, and gizzard in another plastic bag inside the bird. Do not forget to remove this. I

have known it to be overlooked by the cook with surprising results to the diner. Despite its

minor physical and titular differences, this hen will make you a fine main course for dinner,

or you might with reason substitute it for a game course. The recipe below is based on fowl

weighing about twelve ounces each. The broth can be chicken stock, consommé, veal broth,

or beef bouillon.

4 GAME HENS

1 SPRIG CELERY LEAVES

1 SPRIG PARSLEY

6 PEPPERCORNS

2 SPRING ONIONS

2 STALKS CELERY

1 TIN COOKED WILD RICE

½ TEASPOON SALT

¼ TEASPOON PEPPER

½ CUP BROTH

6 RASHERS BACON

2 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

1 TABLESPOON FLOUR

1 TABLESPOON SHERRY

1 TABLESPOON WALNUT JUICE

4 SPRIGS WATER CRESS

Remove the giblets from the game hens, and wash the inside of the hens with running cold

water. Put three cups of water in a saucepan, add the giblets, the sprigs of celery and parsley,

and the peppercorns. Place over a low flame to simmer until the liquid is reduced by one half.

Mince the spring onions and the celery stalks fine. Wash the rice well in tepid running water.

Place it in a bowl and add the minced celery and onion. Season with the salt and pepper. Add

the broth and mix well. Stuff the hens with the rice mixture. Skewer the fowl. Cut the rashers

of bacon in half, and cover each hen with three pieces of bacon. Place the hens on a shallow

pan and put them in the lower half of a pre-heated moderate oven (300 degrees). Roast for

one hour. Make gravy with the butter, flour, liquid from the giblets, and season it with the

sherry and walnut juice. At the end of an hour, remove the bacon from the fowl, raise heat of

the ovento 400 degrees, place fowl in the upper half, and cook for about five minutes.

Remove the birds to a hot platter or plates, garnish with the bacon pieces and one sprig of

water cress each, and serve with the gravy on the side.

Fresh asparagus or creamed spinach would make a good accompanying vegetable. I would

suggest a Salade Belgique (qv) to follow. With the hens I would serve a solid white wine,

such as Montrachet. Cheese or fresh fruit would be the best concluding course.

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SQUAB OOSTENDAISE SERVES 6

The smallest of domestic fowl, squabs have a dark, full-flavoured but delicate meat much

esteemed by invalids, convalescents, and gourmets. Like most fowl they can be prepared in

many different fashions, all of them good. The recipe below, while somewhat complex, does

not, as one might suppose from reading it, kill the fine taste of these birds, but serves rather to

bring it out. The use of juniper berries as a condiment I first met in an excellent small

restaurant in Ostend one evening while waiting for a Channel boat. I have forgotten the name

of the place and the proprietor, but if I ever return to that Belgian port, I shall make it my

business to find them both. I can only repay the proprietor in some small measure for the

pleasure I had there by naming this recipe in honor of his city. One word of caution: if juniper

berries are not available (Spice Islands supplies them), do not substitute gin; cook the squabs

some other way. This recipe makes an elegant—in the proper sense of the word—luncheon

dish, or a very fine dinner dish.

4 SPRING ONIONS

12 FRESH MUSHROOMS

1 SMALL CARROT

l8 JUNIPER BERRIES

1 TEASPOON FENNEL SEED

2 TANGERINES

6 SQUABS

¼ POUND BUTTER

1 TABLESPOON FLOUR

½ CUP MARSALA

SALT

PEPPER

Chop the onions, including some of the green tops, small. Slice the mushrooms. Slice the

carrot very thin. Crush the juniper berries and fennel seed together in a mortar. Peel and

separate the tangerines into sections. Wash the squabs inside and out with warm water. Stuff

each squab with four tangerine sections. Melt four tablespoons butter in a heavy skillet or pot

and sauté the squabs over a high flame (turning frequently to brown all sides) for about

twenty minutes. Place the squabs in a casserole. Sauté the mushrooms in the same butter until

done, about five minutes, and pour them and the butter over the squabs. Melt the remaining

butter in the same skillet or pot, sauté the onion until soft. Add the flour and wine, stir well,

and pour over the squabs. Sprinkle them with salt, pepper, and the crushed juniper berries and

fennel seed. Cover the casserole and bake in a moderate oven (400 degrees) for half an hour.

Remove from oven, garnish with carrot slices, and serve at once.

Baby boiled new potatoes or baby boiled onions with plain spinach make good vegetable

accompaniment. Follow the squabs with a Persimmon Salad (qv). The meat of the squab is

dark, and I like a Claret with it. Burgundy is a little heavy. A good Saint-Julien or a Margaux

would be admirable—or formidable, as the French would say. Chocolate Whiffle (qv) or

Green Mint Glacé (qv) would be good dessert choices.

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TURKEY PAYSAN SERVES 4

While "leftover" turkey is not so much of a problem as "leftover" ham, because it occurs less

often, it can still be a problem. One solution to it is the following recipe. It was evolved, more

or less fortuitously, as were a great many other recipes in this book, to feed unexpected guests

with the current contents of the refrigerator. In this instance it contained a turkey carcass from

which most of the breast, but very little else, had been eaten. We cut off the meat in large

chunks, broke up the bones, and boiled them, together with a cut-up onion, a stalk of celery, a

piece of carrot, a bit of parsley, and some salt and peppercorns in a quart of water to make

stock. If you are in a hurry, you can make stock for this dish with bouillon cubes, chicken

extract, or tinned turkey broth. If you have no turkey fat, butter may be substituted in equal

quantities. This is essentially an informal dish, and it could serve in a pinch as the main

course at dinner. Turkey Paysan is at its best when it appears at a Sunday night supper or a

brunch.

3 LARGE STALKS CELERY

1 MEDIUM ONION

6 LARGE MUSHROOMS

6 TABLESPOONS TURKEY FAT

6 TABLESPOONS FLOUR

3 CUPS TURKEY STOCK

3 EGG YOLKS

SALT

PEPPER

6 CUPS TURKEY MEAT

BREAD CRUMBS

3 TABLESPOONS GRATED CHEESE

2 TABLESPOONS BUTTER

Chop the celery into small dice and the onion and mushrooms into thin slices. Melt two

tablespoons of turkey fat in a skillet and sauté the celery, mushrooms, and onion until soft.

Melt the remainder of the turkey fat in a large saucepan; add the flour to make a roux. When

the roux is cooked, gradually add the hot turkey stock to make a sauce. When that has

cooked, beat the egg yolks well and add them to the sauce, stirring hard. Continue to cook

until the sauce thickens. Season with salt and pepper, and add the chopped turkey meat. Put

in, now, the contents of the skillet. Stir well, and pour the mixture into a large casserole or

ovenproof serving dish. Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs and grated cheese. Dot with

butter, and put under a medium flame in the broiler until hot through and browned on top.

Serve at once.

"What "goes" with this dish will depend on the meal at which it is being served. If supper or

brunch, accompany it with Mixed Green Salad II (qv). This combination will be both

adequate and good. If it is to be a main course at dinner, which it probably will not be, serve

with it squash or Brussels sprouts, and follow it with the same salad, but in somewhat smaller

portions. The type of wine will not make too much difference, and can be red, white—one

wishes one could say "or blue"—or rose. The last is probably best—make it a Tavel. Eve's

Dessert (qv) would conclude the meal well.

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TURKEY PROSCIUTTO SERVES 4

Turkey Prosciutto is one of the finest of poultry dishes and one of the easiest to prepare. You

will find it listed under various names on the menus of many fine restaurants and in most

cookbooks. Normally it is made with Virginia ham, but by replacing that with prosciutto you

will subtly alter its flavour—for the better I think— and have an estimable delicacy to serve

at formal luncheons or dinners. In addition, this recipe provides a splendid means of using

leftover turkey but is not limited to that source of supply, as sliced, cooked breast of turkey

can be had at any good delicatessen. I strongly recommend that you make the sauce from

scratch with turkey broth, which is available in tins. If for any reason you prefer not to make

it that way, you may use condensed cream of chicken soup thinned with a little cream. Frozen

broccoli spears will be almost indistinguishable from fresh broccoli. No salt is required

except for a pinch or two in the sauce, and if you use prosciutto ham you will need no pepper.

The turkey slices should be about a quarter of an inch thick, and the ham, of course,

extremely thin.

6 MEDIUM MUSHROOMS

5 TABLESPOONS BUTTER OR TURKEY FAT

2 CUPS TURKEY BROTH

4 TABLESPOONS FLOUR

¼ CUP DRY SHERRY

8 SLICES COOKED PROSCIUTTO HAM

4 SLICES COOKED TURKEY BREAST

4 COOKED BROCCOLI SPEARS

Photo owned by Jennie O

Slice the mushrooms thin. Melt three tablespoons butter or turkey fat in a skillet and when

hot, sauté the mushrooms until golden. Heat the turkey broth. Melt the remaining butter in a

saucepan; add the flour and make a roux, cooking it slowly and stirring constantly until it

turns slightly brown. Remove from fire and gradually pour in the hot broth, stirring the while,

to make a sauce. When the sauce has come to a boil, add the sherry and the sautéed

mushrooms. Lightly grease a flat baking or ovenproof serving dish. Place four slices of ham

in the bottom, and a slice of turkey breast on each slice of ham. Cover the turkey with a

second slice of ham, and put a generous spear of broccoli on each. Cover the whole with the

sauce. Put the dish into a pre-heated moderate oven (350 degrees), and cook until it is heated

through, ten to fifteen minutes. (You may wish to garnish the dish with two or three whole,

cooked cranberries for each serving.) Serve very hot. You will need no green vegetable with

this turkey. For starch I would suggest small rolls or French bread. Serve a Persimmon Salad

(qv) or a Mangoleekee Salad (qv) afterwards, and accompany the main dish with a good,

well-chilled vin rose. In this instance, I would recommend Sainte Roseline. Or you might try

champagne. Peaches Tiberius (qv) seems a fine thought for dessert.

This reproduction is brought to you by Susan Alexander Truffles. If you want one more

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