Poullaille farcie
from http://www.godecookery.com/goderec/goderec.htm, James Matterer's collection of medieval recipes

PERIOD: France, 14th century | SOURCE: Le Viandier de Taillevent | CLASS: Authentic
DESCRIPTION: Whole chickens stuffed with meat, nuts, eggs, and spices, and glazed green and gold

ORIGINAL RECEIPT:

66. Poullaille farcie: Stuffed Poultry. Take your hens, cut their necks, scald and pluck them, and be careful that the skin remains undamaged and whole, and do not plump the birds; then take some sort of straw and push it between the skin and the flesh, and blow; then cut the skin between the shoulders, not making too large a hole, and leave the legs with the feet, wings, and neck with the head still attached to the skin.

To make the stuffing, take mutton, veal, pork and the cooked dark meat of chickens, and chop up all of this raw, and grind it in a mortar, together with a great quantity of raw eggs, cooked chestnuts, a good rich cheese, good spice powder and a little saffron, and salt to taste. Then stuff your chickens and sew up the hole again. With any leftover stuffing make hard balls, using a great deal of saffron, the size of packets of woad, and cook them in beef broth and boiling water gently, so they do not fall apart. Then mount your chickens and the balls on very slender iron spits.

To glaze them or cover them with green or yellow: for the yellow, take a great quantity of egg yolks, beat them well with a little saffron, and set this glazing in a dish of some sort; and should you want a green glazing, grind the greenery with the eggs without saffron, and put this through the strainer and apply it; after your poultry and your balls of stuffing are cooked, place your spit in the dish with the glazing mixture two or three times and cast your glazing the full length of the spit, then put it back on the fire so that your glazing will take; and watch that your glazing does not have so hot a fire that it burns.

- Scully, Terence, ed. Le Viandier de Taillevent. An Edition of all Extant Manuscripts. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 1988.

MODERN RECIPE:

• 1 chicken, with the feet and head still attached (often available through a Kosher butcher)
• 1 lb. mixture of mutton, veal, and chicken dark-meat, or a combination or single use of any of these meats, cooked and diced or ground
• 6 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup cooked chestnuts (whole or ground)
• 1 cup mozzarella or brie, diced or shredded
• ½ - 1 tsp. each of spices: black & white pepper, savory, cumin, etc. Use to taste.
• few thread saffron (or few drops yellow food coloring)
• ½ tsp. salt (or to taste)
• 2 egg yolks
• few drops yellow & green food coloring
• unseasoned bread crumbs (optional)

Combine all ingredients except chicken in a large bowl; mix well. Stuff the chicken with this mixture, reserving the leftover stuffing. With your hands, gently rub olive oil over the entire bird, then lay belly-down on foil on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Cover the delicate areas of the feet, head, and wings with foil to prevent overcooking. Place the bird in a 350° F oven and bake just until the skin begins to turn golden brown. Try not to overcook as the bird will fall apart if it becomes too tender. Remove from oven and very carefully remove the foil from the wings, etc. Immediately brush the entire bird with egg yolk which has been dyed either gold or green, or use a combination of colors in any whimsical manner that you like. Return to the oven for just a few seconds, to set the glaze - be careful not to overheat as it will spoil the colors. Remove from oven, place on a serving platter, and garnish with "eggs" made from the leftover stuffing.

To make the "eggs," take the remainder of the stuffing and mold it into small, egg-shaped balls. If your stuffing is too moist to work with, add enough bread crumbs to make a malleable mixture. Place the eggs on a well greased baking sheet and bake at 350° F for ½ hour, or until done. At this point, if you wish the eggs to match the hen in color, you may also brush the eggs with colored yolk, with a quick return to the oven to set the glaze. When ready, place along side the hen on its serving platter.

Walnuts make a suitable substitution for the chestnuts, an ingredient often not readily available.

Ideally, your hen and its eggs should be roasted on a spit, which was a staple of every Medieval kitchen hearth. Sadly, unless one is lucky enough to have a home rotisserie, roasting in an oven will have to suffice for the modern cook. Spit-roasting gives the eggs a wonderfully 3-dimensional effect, but roasting in an oven produces an egg which is flat on one side.

During roasting, some of the stuffing may pour out of the chicken from the back opening onto the baking sheet. This unattractive lump should be removed before placing the hen on the serving platter, for appearance's sake.