Chicken, Game and Rabbit

When cooking whole chickens, they were first scalded by immersion in boiling water, plucked, drawn, the heads and feet removed, trussed, placed in a pot of cold water, brought to the boil, skimmed and then simmered. The differences between the various recipes come from the composition of the cooking liquid and the syrups poured over the chickens after they had been drained and placed on a dish.

For 2lb/900g chickens, cover them with water, bring to the boil, skim, and simmer for some 40 minutes until tender, then drain and leave whole for a lord, or chop in halves or quarters for all the others, dish, and add the appropriate syrup or sprinkling.