[ Capons in Pottage in the French Fashion.]
Draw and truss the Capons, set them, & fill their bellies with marrow; then put them in a pipkin with a knuckle of veal, a neck of mutton, a marrow bone, and some sweet breads of veal, season the broth with cloves mace, and a little salt, and set it to the fire; let it boil gently
till the capons be enough, but have a care you boil them not too much; as your capons boil, make ready the bottoms and tops of eight or ten rowls of French bread, put them dried into a fair silver dish, wherein you serve the capons; set it on the fire, and put to the bread two ladle-full of broth wherein the capons are boil’d, & a ladlefull of mutton gravy; cover the dish and let it stand till you dish up the capons; if need require, add now and then a ladle-full of broth and gravy: when you are ready to serve it, first lay on the marrow-bone, then the capons on each side; then fill up the dish with gravy of mutton, and wring on the juyce of a lemon or two; then with a spoon take off all the fat that swimmeth on the pottage; garnish the capons with the sweetbreads, and some carved lemon, and serve it hot.
[ To boil a Capon, Pullet, or Chicken.]
Boil them in good mutton broth, white mace, a faggot of sweet herbs, sage, spinage, marigold leaves and flowers, white or green endive, borrage, bugloss, parsley, and sorrel, and serve it on sippets.
[ To boil Capons or Chickens with Sage and Parsley.]
First boil them in water and salt, then boil some parsley, sage, two or three eggs hard, chop them; then have a few thin slices of fine manchet, and stew all together, but break not the slices of bread; stew them with some of the broth wherein the chickens boil, some large mace, butter, a little white-wine or vinegar, with a few barberries or grapes; dish up the chickens on the sauce, and run them over with sweet butter and lemon cut like dice, the peel cut like small lard, and boil a little peel with the chickens.
[ To boil a Capon or Chicken with divers compositions.]
Take off the skin whole, but leave on the legs, wings,
and head; mince the body with some beef suet or lard, put to it some sweet herbs minced, and season it with cloves, mace, pepper, salt, two or three eggs, grapes, gooseberries, or barberries, bits of potato or mushroms. In the winter with sugar, currans, and prunes, fill the skin, prick it up, and stew it between two dishes with large mace and strong broth, peices of artichocks, cardones, or asparagus, and marrow: being finely stewed, serve it on carved sippets, and run it over with beaten butter, lemon slic’t, and scrape on sugar.