cayenne to taste, 3 or 4 minced shalots. For the batter,--1/2 lb. of
flour, 1/2 pint of hot water, 2 oz. of butter, the whites of 2 eggs.
_Mode_.--Cut the fowl into nice joints; steep them for an hour in a
little vinegar, with salt, cayenne, and minced shalots. Make the batter
by mixing the flour and water smoothly together; melt in it the butter,
and add the whites of egg beaten to a froth; take out the pieces of
fowl, dip them in the batter, and fry, in boiling lard, a nice brown.
Pile them high in the dish, and garnish with fried parsley or rolled
bacon. When approved, a sauce or gravy may be served with them.
_Time_.--10 minutes to fry the fowl.
_Average cost_, exclusive of the cold fowl, 8d.
_Seasonable_ at any time.
CHANTICLEER AND HIS COMPANIONS.--On bringing the male and female
birds together for the first time, it will be necessary to watch
the former closely, as it is a very common occurrence with him
to conceive a sudden and violent dislike for one or more of his
wives, and not allow the obnoxious ones to approach within some
distance of the others; indeed, I know many cases where the
capricious tyrant has set upon the innocent cause of his
resentment and killed her outright. In all such cases, the hen
objected to should be removed and replaced by another. If the
cock should, by any accident, get killed, considerable delicacy
is required in introducing a new one. The hens may mope, and
refuse to associate with their new husband, clustering in
corners, and making odious comparisons between him and the
departed; or the cock may have his own peculiar notions as to
what a wife should be, and be by no means satisfied with those
you have provided him. The plan is, to keep him by himself
nearly the whole day, supplying him plentifully with
exhilarating food, then to turn him loose among the hens, and to
continue this practice, allowing him more of the society of his
wives each day, until you suffer him to abide with them
altogether.
II.