Mexican-Style Poached Hen (Cocido de Gallina a la Mejicana)

Ingredients

• 1 fat hen
• hen giblets (gizzard, liver, and heart)
• toasted bread crumb
• salt
• water
• tender lettuce leaves
• parsley
• mint (hierba buena)
• 1 head onion
• oil
• vinegar

Instructions

1. Pluck a fat hen carefully, open it, and wash it several times in cold water together with its giblets.
2. Stuff it with the giblets and a piece of toasted bread crumb, and sew the opening closed with needle and thread.
3. Place it in a terracotta or enameled iron pot with a thread-tied bundle of tender lettuce leaves, parsley, and mint, and a head of onion in the center.
4. Cook at a long boil with very little salt, adding a cup or two of water each time the broth reduces.
5. When the flesh gives way under pressure on the leg, it is done; let it rest briefly.
6. Serve the broth in a large porcelain cup and the hen whole so the diner cuts their own pieces.
7. Serve with a sauce of the giblet stuffing and toasted crumb ground and seasoned with oil, vinegar, and slices of the cooked onion.