Draw, clean, and cut up a fowl of about four or five pounds. Put it into a cooker-pail, add one teaspoonful of salt, two or three slices of onion, and cover the fowl with boiling water. Boil it for ten minutes, then put it in the cooker for ten or twelve hours. Boil it up again and replace it in the cooker for six hours or more. Repeat this if the meat is not found to be tender enough to fall readily from the bones. Remove the meat from the bones; take off the skin and season the meat with salt and pepper. Skim off all possible fat from the liquor and boil it down to about one cupful; strain it, and take off the remaining fat. Decorate the bottom of a mould or bread pan with parsley and slices of [hard-cooked egg], pack in the meat and pour over it the stock. Place the meat under a weight, and leave it in a cold place till firm.
Braised Duck
Prepare and cook the duck in the same manner as [braised chicken]. If the duck is tough it may be cooked for eight or more hours in water in the cooker, then stuffed and browned in the oven, basting it with fat from the broth.
Braised Goose
Prepare it as [braised chicken]; or, if it is tough, cook it in water in a cooker as [old braised chicken], until it is nearly tender. Remove it, stuff it, and brown it in a hot oven, basting it with fat from the broth.
Potted Pigeons
Clean, stuff, and truss six pigeons, place them upright in a cooker-pail and pour over them one quart of water in which celery has been cooked. If the water was not salted for the celery, add one teaspoonful of salt. Cover the pail, boil the birds for five minutes, and put them into a cooker for five or six hours, or till tender. Remove them from the water, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, dredge them with flour, and brown the entire surface in pork fat. Make two cups of [Brown Sauce], using butter and stock from the pigeons; heat the birds in this, place each one on a piece of dry toast, and pour the gravy over it. Garnish it with parsley.