200—Chicken Forcemeat for Galantines, Pies and Terrines

The exact weight of chicken-meat used as the base of this forcemeat determines the quantities of its other ingredients. Thus the weight of meat afforded by a fowl weighing four lbs. is estimated at twenty oz. after deducting the fillets which are always reserved. Hence the quantities for the forcemeat are regulated thus:—

Chicken-meat, twenty oz.; lean pork, eight oz.; fillet of veal, eight oz.; fresh, fat bacon, thirty oz.; whole eggs, five; spiced salt, two oz.; brandy, one-fifth pint.

Chop up, either together or apart, the chicken-meat, the veal, the pork, and the bacon. Put all these into the mortar, pound them very finely with the seasoning, add the eggs consecutively, and, last of all, pour in the brandy.

Remarks

1. The quantity of spiced salt varies, a few grammes either way, according as to whether the atmosphere be dry or damp.

2. According to the purpose of the forcemeat, and with a view to giving it a finer flavour, one may, subject to the resources at one’s disposal, add a little raw trimmings of foie gras to it; but the latter must not, in any case, exceed one-fifth of the forcemeat in weight.

3. As a rule, forcemeat should always be rubbed through a sieve so as to ensure its being fine and even.

4. Whether the foie gras be added or not, chicken forcemeat may always be completed with two or three oz. of chopped truffles per lb. of its volume.