Boiled Fowl.
A boiled fowl is one of the most satisfactory and economical dishes of poultry. The meat can be used in making a great variety of dishes, and the water in which the fowl was boiled may be used in soups, or for the foundation of meat, fish, and vegetable sauces.
Select a short, plump, fat fowl. Singe and draw it, and wash it quickly in cold water. Put it in a stewpan, breast down, with boiling water enough to cover it. When the water begins to boil, skim thoroughly; then draw the stewpan back, where the water will bubble at one side of the pan, until the fowl is tender. This you can tell by pressing the wing back with a fork. If it breaks away from the breast readily, the fowl is cooked enough. Take the stewpan from the fire, and set it, with the cover off, in a cool, airy place. When cool, take up the fowl and put it away. Pour the water into a large bowl and set in a cool place for future use.
If the fowl is to be served hot, take it up when tender, place it on a platter and pour over it a little butter, Béchamel, or parsley sauce. Serve the remainder of the sauce in a gravy bowl.
If the fowl is to be served hot for dinner, boil four ounces of mixed salt pork with it.
The time of boiling a fowl cannot be given, because it depends upon the age. A fowl about a year old will cook in two hours; one two or three years old may take three or four hours.
Cold boiled fowl may be used for a fricassee, blanquette, salad, pie, creamed chicken, croquettes, etc.