In this sauce, port or Bordeaux is the dominant chord. The translucent ruby red which the currant jelly imparts to the sauce contrasts beautifully with the embrowned roast, thus giving the eyes almost as delightful a treat as the palate. [Illustration] _"I consider the discovery of a dish which sustains our appetite and prolongs our pleasures as a far more interesting event than the discovery of a star, for we always have stars enough."_ --_Henrion de Pensey_ _Poularde de Portugal_ It is to the friars of Portugal that we are indebted for this famous contribution to the world's store of cookery. When the French troops sacked a Portuguese monastery during the Peninsular war the cook was forced to flee from his sanctorium, leaving behind his precious book of recettes. This the invaders seized, with other spoil, and carried back to Paris. Here, the culinary grammar fell into the hands of a noted chef, who, one day happened upon the recette for Poularde de Portugal, a dish that took the French capital by storm. This olden monastic recette is followed at the Congress. A large imported Portugal chicken is cooked until the rich broth attains the consistency of jelly. Then fresh mushrooms are added, the whole being sealed up in a casserole and put in the oven. In this way evaporation is cut off completely and all the delightful flavor stays in the dish. When the casserole is brought to the dining room and unsealed before the guests, the fragrant aroma that arises attests the merit of the monastery's cookery. [Illustration] _"Thirteen at table is a number to be dreaded only when there is just enough to go round for twelve."_ --_L'Almanach des Gourmands_ _Chicken Marengo_ Those whose happiness it is to enjoy this dish at the Congress may well be devoutly grateful to the intrepid chef of Napoleon who created it amid the roar of guns on one of the great battlefields of history. On the eve of the battle, when the skirmish guns had already begun to boom, the emperor called for his favorite dish--chicken fried in butter. As it happened, the butter could not be found in the confusion, and Napoleon's "Minister of the Interior" was at his wit's end. Then, inspired by the necessity of the occasion, the chef poured some fresh olive oil into the bottom of a casserole. In this the fowl, moistened with white wine, was sauted and then served with mushrooms and chopped olives--all in a rich brown gravy. So exquisite was the dish that the emperor, after achieving a brilliant victory over the Austrians declared the culinary triumph should be known as poulet a la Marengo. Thereafter it was his favorite campaign dish and it is said that this reminder of his days of glory was one of his solaces at lonely St. Helena. [Illustration] _"Two things are essential in life--to give good dinners and keep well with women."_ --_Talleyrand_ _Eggs Balzac_