Bone a large fowl (or the poulterer will do this for you) and cut it into ten or twelve neat fillets; reserve the giblets, back, liver, bones, etc. Place an ounce of either fresh butter or clarified beef dripping in a clean enameled iron stewpan; as soon as it oils add the giblets, etc., together with a small onion stuck with a clove, and notched, in order to allow the juice to escape, a dozen peppercorns, a bay leaf, a tiny bit of mace, a carrot peeled and sliced, a turnip peeled and cut into neat pieces, a bit of celery, or else a good pinch of celery-salt, and a pinch of sugar. Fry for ten or twelve minutes, and then add half a pint or more of well-flavored stock; bring gently to the boil; next draw the pan to the side of the fire and simmer very gently, taking care that the stock does not reduce. Have ready a turnip and a carrot cut into tiny stars; tie all these up in a bit of muslin and set them to cook in the stock. When the latter is thoroughly strong and all the goodness has been extracted from the giblets, etc., strain off the stock into a well-greased bag, add to it pepper and salt to taste and the fillets of fowl, and let the contents of the bag simmer slowly until the fillets are thoroughly cooked, say about forty-five minutes, in 300 Fahr.

Then dish up on a hot dish, and garnish with the vegetable stars; thicken the liquor in which the fillets were cooked with an ounce of brown roux, or, failing this, with half an ounce of flour and half an ounce of butter kneaded together; add to it four ounces of previously cooked mushrooms, make very hot, and pour over and around the fillets of fowl; garnish the outer edge with a border of crisply-fried croutons, and serve as quickly as possible. A wineglassful of sherry or Marsala is an improvement to this sauce.