Miss Parloa's kitchen companion

Timbales made wholly or in part with force-meat may be decorated at the sides and bottom with truffles or red tongue. Cut the truffles or tongue in very thin slices, and then, with small fancy cutters, stamp out various shapes. Butter the moulds, and decorate the bottom and sides with the bits of truffle or tongue. Cover the sides and bottom with force-meat, being careful not to disturb the decorations. When one large mould is used instead of several small ones, three times the quantity of filling must be used for the same amount of force-meat. Chicken Timbales. Great care is required in the preparation of this dish, which has become popular as an entree in company dinners and luncheons. With the quantity of materials that will be given below, one quart mould or a dozen small dariole moulds may be filled, — enough for twelve persons. The work may be divided into three parts. To Make the Force-meat. — Use the uncooked breasts of four chickens, one pint of cream, half a pint of stale bread, free of crust, six table-spoonfuls of butter, one blade of mace, one table-spoonful of salt, one-eighth of a teaspoonful of white pepper, and the whites of four eggs. Chop the chicken breasts fine, and pound the meat to a paste ; then rub it through a puree sieve. There should be a pint of the sifted meat. Put the bread, cream, and mace in a stew-pan, and cook gently for twenty minutes ; then remove the mace, and, with a spoon, mash the bread and cream to a smooth paste. Add the butter, salt, pepper, and meat to this paste, and finally add the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth. Beat the mixture until all the ingredients are well blended; then set away to cool. To Make the Filling. — Use three gills of cream, a pint of cooked chicken, cut into small cubes, four table-spoonfuls of chopped mushrooms, one of flour, a heaping teaspoonful of salt, one-eighth of a teaspoonful of pepper, and one table-spoonful of chopped truffles. Reserve half a cupful of the cream, and put the remainder on to boil. Mix the flour to a smooth paste with the half-cupful of cold cream, and stir the mixture into the boiling cream. Boil for one minute ; then add the chicken and other ingredients, and cook for three minutes longer. Take from the fire ; and if the flavor of onion be liked, add a few drops of onion juice at this point. Completion of the Work. — Butter the mould or moulds lightly, and after dotting the bottom and sides with bits of truffles, line them with force-meat, being careful to have every part well covered. The sides, near the rim, " will require as thick a covering as any part of the mould. Now almost fill each mould with the chicken preparation, and cover with the force-meat, being careful to put on only a little at a time, and always to work from the outer edge until the centre is reached. Be careful, also, to have the surface of the contents of the mould flat, because if it be at all rounded the contents will be un- Chicken Timbales.