POACHED FOWL & BACON WITH 'PUDDING'

      Title: POACHED FOWL & BACON WITH 'PUDDING'
  Categories: Medieval, Main dish, Chicken
       Yield: 6 Servings
  
       4 lb Boiling fowl with
            Neck and giblets
       2 tb Finely chopped mixed fresh
            Savory, parsley, hyssop and
            Sage
            Salt and pepper
   1 1/2 lb Piece boiling bacon
       2 c  Strong dry cider
            Extra herbs to garnish
            Pudding
            Neck, liver and heart
            From the bird
       1 ts Of the herb mixture above
            Salt and pepper
       8 tb Soft white breadcrumbs
       1    Egg beaten
  
   This was a cheap and easy dish on which youngsters could practise when
   learning to carve poultry. Ask a kindly poulterer to cut off the
   bird's head and to supply the whole neck in its skin along with the
   prepared bird and giblets.  Mix the herbs together and put a
   tablespoonful aside. Add a light seasoning of salt and pepper to the
   rest and fill the mixture into the body cavity of the bird. Stitch or
   skewer the cavity openings securely. Truss the bird for boiling and
   place it on a trivet in a stewpan which will also hold the bacon and
   liquids. To prepare the neck, ease the spine and surrounding flesh
   out of the skin as if peeling off a stocking. Do not break the skin.
   Chop the liver and heart finely and mix with half the reserved herbs,
   a little seasoning and the breadcrumbs. Bind with the egg. Fill this
   mixture into the skin, allowing room for the bread to swell. Fasten
   the ends of the sausage-shaped 'pudding' securely and add to the pan.
   (If the skin is accidentally torn, or is not supplied, you can make
   the stuffing into small balls and fry or bake them, as an acceptable
   substitute.) Mix the cider with 425 ml/15 fl oz/2 cups water and heat
   until nearly boiling. Add the liquid to the pan, put on a
   well-fitting lid and poach the bird gently for 2-2 1/2 hours. Add the
   bacon piece after 30 minutes and the stuffed neck after a further 15
   minutes. Top up the pan with extra boiling water then, or later if
   needed. Test the bird for readiness after 2 hours by thrusting a thin
   skewer into the thickest part of the thigh.  The juices should run
   clear. A smallish bird may be almost ready by this time, and the
   bacon piece should be done. Take the bacon out, with the 'pudding',
   and leave both to rest for 10-15 minutes. The slice both to serve as
   a garnish for the poached bird. Scatter a few extra herb leaves over
   the breast of the bird before serving. First stuff your capons with
   saveray, With parsley, a little, hissop I say; Then take the neck,
   remove the bone; And make a pudding thereof at once With an egg and
   minced bread also With hacked liver and heart thereto... Then boil
   the capon, as I they say, With parsley, sage, hissop, saveray... With
   slices of bacon embrawded here and colour your broth with saffron
   dear... (Mrs Groundes-Peace's Old Cookery Notebook)
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