Luncheons: A Cook's Picture Book

by Mary Ronald

CHICKEN

CASSEROLE OF CHICKEN, No. 1

Cut tender chicken into joints. Remove the skin, put a tablespoonful of butter into a casserole. Lay in the pieces of chicken loosely with bits of butter between them, add the sautéd slices of one onion and a bouquet of herbs consisting of a small bunch of parsley, a bay-leaf, and a little thyme, wrap the parsley around the others and tie them together. Add also a few raw potato balls and, if convenient, a few fresh mushrooms. Sprinkle with salt. Lay two or three very thin slices of salt pork over the top. Cover the casserole and put it in the oven. At the end of half an hour turn the chicken carefully and return it to the oven to finish the cooking.

CASSEROLE OF CHICKEN, No. 2

Cut a chicken into joints, remove the skin, sprinkle the pieces with pepper and salt, and roll them in flour. Sauté the slices of one onion and a tablespoonful of butter; when they are tender remove and put them in the casserole, then put in the sauté-pan the pieces of chicken with a little more butter and sauté them to a golden brown on all sides. Place the chicken in the casserole. Add half a tablespoonful of flour to the sauté-pan; after it has cooked a minute stir in slowly one and a half cupfuls of water, or, preferably, stock, and stir until it is slightly thickened. Season with a saltspoonful of pepper and a half teaspoonful of salt. Turn the sauce over the chicken, add a bay-leaf, a few potato balls, and, if convenient, a tablespoonful of sherry and a few mushrooms. Cover the casserole, put it in the oven, and cook slowly until the chicken is tender. If the sauce becomes too dry add enough water or stock to make it the consistency of cream. If it is too thin leave off the lid and continue cooking until it is reduced. There should not be a great quantity of sauce.

PANNED CHICKEN

Split a spring chicken down the back, double the flippers under the back, and cross the legs as shown in illustration [No. 82].

Put a little butter all over the chicken and dust it with pepper, salt, and flour. Place it in a baking-pan with a cupful of water and bake it for thirty minutes, basting it frequently.

SMOTHERED CHICKEN

Put a chicken prepared as above in a pan, cover it with a second pan, and set it in a hot oven for fifteen minutes, or until browned, then turn it over, add a cupful of water, cover it again with the pan, and cook until tender.

CHICKEN FRIED IN CREAM

Fry a few pieces of salt pork until crisp. Remove them from the pan and put in the chicken, which has been cut into pieces and the skin removed. Sauté the chicken in the pork fat until it is cooked and browned, then turn over it a cupful of cream in which has been mixed half a teaspoonful of mustard and the chopped white and crumbed yolk of a hard-boiled egg. Stir them together for a minute and serve.

NO. 82. CHICKEN PREPARED TO BROIL.

NO. 83. CHICKEN JOINTS GARNISHED WITH POTATO.

CHICKEN JOINTS

Take the drumsticks and second joints and the wings of cooked chicken or turkey. Remove the skin and trim them so they are smooth and shapely. Rub them with salt and pepper. Dip them in batter and fry them in smoking-hot fat to a light golden color. Arrange them on a platter with the points in, and ornament the tops with a line of mashed potato pressed through a pastry-bag and star-tube.

Use a plain pancake batter, omitting the baking-powder; or use the batter given for fontage cups (page [30]), but a little thicker. Have it of a consistency to coat the spoon evenly and let it be very smooth.

NO. 84. CHICKEN EN SURPRISE.

CHICKEN EN SURPRISE

Bone a chicken without removing the leg or wing bones. Spread the boned chicken on a board, lay a roll of forcemeat on it, draw it together, giving it the shape of the chicken, and sew the skin together. Put the legs and wings into the positions of a trussed fowl, roll it in a piece of cheesecloth, and secure the ends well. (See Boning and Braising, pages 181-182, “Century Cook Book.”)

Put it in a pot with enough water to cover it, add soup vegetables, herbs and spices, and let it simmer for four hours.

Let the chicken cool before removing the cloth, then lard it, rub it over with a little melted butter, and dredge with salt, pepper, and flour. Place it in the oven to brown and to heat it if it is to be used hot. Baste with a little butter and water so it will not get too brown while it is heating through. Place paper frills on the leg bones, and garnish with fried potato balls and a few sprigs of parsley, as shown in the illustration.

FORCEMEAT

Chop very fine the meat of a fowl, or use veal or pork or a mixture of them both. Add to the meat a cupful of the crumb of bread, a tablespoonful of chopped parsley, a teaspoonful each of salt, thyme, and onion juice, and a quarter teaspoonful of pepper; a little ham or tongue, some dice of larding-pork and truffle improve the forcemeat, but are not essential when the chicken is to be served hot. Moisten the whole with stock and mix it well.