If you will boile Chickens, young Turkies, Pea-hens, or any kind of house-Fowle daintily, you shall, after you have trimmed them, drawne them, trust them, and washt them, fill their bellies as full of Parsly as they can hold; then boile them with salt and water only until they be enough; then take a dish and put it into veriuice, and butter, and salt, and when the butter is melted, take the Parsly out of the Chickens bellies, and mince it very small, and put it to the veriuice and butter, and stirre it well together: then layer in the Chickens, and trimme the dish with sippets, and so serve it foorth.

"Chickens" denoted very young fowl; by all means use the tenderest and youngest poultry available to you for this recipe. Made from the pressings of unripe grapes or crab apples, "verjuice" add a fruity tartness to dishes, without the sharpness of true vinegar. Taste the sauce as it cooks, and adjust the piquancy by adding a bit more vinegar or broth, as it requires. "Sippets", slices of bread or toast, were a frequent garnish for dishes of roasted or boiled meat. Diners would take them into their plates to serve as a delicious absorber for broths and sauces.

To serve 2:

1 sm. broiler or fryer
1 lg. bunch parsley
Salt to taste
2 slices firm wheat or rye bread
2 tbsp. butter
2 tbsp. good quality cider vinegar or wine vinegar

You'll need a pot just large enough to accommodate the fowl and its broth without boiling over. Rinse the bird well, and then the parsley, removing any tough or stringy stalks. Fill the cavity of the fowl snugly with the parsley, then place in pot and cover by a ginger's breadth with salted water.

Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then lower the heat and cook as gently as possible until the chicken is tender, but not falling apart; from 35 to 55 minutes, depending upon the size and age of the bird.

Place the butter, vinegar, and a ladleful of the fowl's cooking broth together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Using tongs or a fork, carefully retrieve the parsley from the inside of the chicken. Chop the sodden parsley as finely as you can, then add it to the butter sauce; simmer and correct the salt and tartness.

Toast bread slices and cut in half. Pour sauce on heated platter, and lay fowl atop it, encircles with "sippets".