Pound the truffle peel with two lbs. of very fresh pork fat, and rub the whole through a sieve. Take about one-half lb. of this fat; melt it, together with a bay-leaf; and, when it is quite [610] ]liquid, add the quartered truffles to it (seasoned with salt and pepper), and simmer the whole for about ten minutes.
This done, take it off the fire; leave to cool almost entirely under cover, and mix with what remains of the truffled fat.
Stuff the pullet with this preparation, and slip between the bird’s skin and the flesh of its breast some thin slices of bacon. Upon the slices of bacon place the reserved slice of truffle; carefully sew up all the openings in the pullet with very thin string; wrap it in one or two sheets of buttered paper; put it on the spit, and stand it before a concentrated fire which should be kept at an even heat throughout the process of roasting.
About one-quarter of an hour before serving, remove the paper and the slices of bacon, that the breast may colour. Set on a hot dish, and send the gravy, which should be kept rather fat, separately.
The time allowed for roasting a fine fowl is somewhere between one and one-quarter to one and one-half hours.
[1957—CHICKEN A LA REINE AND SPRING CHICKENS]
The directions given for the pullet also apply to other kinds of fowl, provided the difference in size be taken into account.
[1958—SPRING CHICKENS A LA RUSSE]
Truss the chicken and soak its breast for five minutes in boiling water, that the flesh and the skin may be stiff.
Lard it with thin strips of bacon and anchovy fillets; fill it with smooth, truffled sausage-meat, and roast it on the spit.