No. 367, salt and cayenne to taste, egg and bread crumbs.
_Mode_.--Take the breasts and nice white meat from the fowls; cut it
into small dice of an equal size, and throw them into some good
Béchamel, made by recipe No. 367; season with salt and cayenne, and put
the mixture into a dish to cool. When this preparation is quite cold,
cut it into 2 equal parts, which should be made into _boudins_ of a long
shape, the size of the dish they are intended to be served on; roll them
in flour, egg and bread-crumb them, and be careful that the ends are
well covered with the crumbs, otherwise they would break in the
frying-pan; fry them a nice colour, put them before the fire to drain
the greasy moisture from them, and serve with the remainder of the
Béchamel poured round: this should be thinned with a little stock.
_Time_.--10 minutes to fry the boudins.
_Average cost_, exclusive of the fowl, 1s. 3d.
_Sufficient_ for 1 entrée.
[Illustration: SEBRIGHT BANTAMS.]
SIR JOHN SEBRIGHT'S BANTAMS.--Above all Bantams is placed, the
celebrated and beautiful breed called Sir John Sebright's Silver
Bantams. This breed, which Sir John brought to perfection after
years of careful trials, is very small, with un-feathered legs,
and a rose comb and short hackles. The plumage is gold or
silver, spangled, every feather being of a golden orange, or of
a silver white, with a glossy jet-black margin; the cocks have
the tail folded like that of a hen, with the sickle feathers
shortened straight, or nearly so, and broader than usual. The
term _hen-cocks_ is, in consequence, often applied to them; but
although the sickle feathers are thus modified, no bird
possesses higher courage, or a more gallant carriage. The
attitude of the cock is, indeed, singularly proud; and he is
often seen to bear himself so haughtily, that his head, thrown
back as if in disdain, nearly touches the two upper
feathers--sickles they can scarcely be called--of his tail.
Half-bred birds of this kind are not uncommon, but birds of the
pure breed are not to be obtained without trouble and expense;
indeed, some time ago, it was almost impossible to procure
either a fowl or an egg. "The finest," says the writer whom we
have consulted as to this breed, "we have ever seen, were in Sir
John's poultry-yard, adjacent to Turnham-Green Common, in the
byroad leading to Acton."
FOWL A LA MAYONNAISE.