The simplest and easiest way to cook chicken is to fry it. A poorly fed chicken is better stewed. For baking and broiling the chicken must be fat. In whatever way the chicken is cooked there is danger of its being tough, dry, stringy, and tasteless. Plain, artless, boiling results in insipidity. Quick, superficial frying means tough stringy fibres; and a hot oven frequently dries the meat until it is not fit to eat.
Fried Chicken.—All housewives think they can fry chicken, but the results are vastly different, according to the way it is done. You may have a tender, rich, delicious morsel, or tough masses of meat, stringy, tasteless and almost impossible to chew. Of course the condition of the chicken has a great deal to do with the results. A tender, well-fed chicken will fry far better and much more quickly than a thin, scrawny one. The thinner the chicken the greater the necessity for care in cooking it. It must be cooked slowly, over a moderate fire, in a tightly covered pan, until it is perfectly tender. Melt a little fat in the frying-pan; flour, salt, and pepper the pieces of chicken and fry them in the fat until nicely browned on both sides. Now cover closely and place on the back of the stove where the chicken will steam for half an hour. When tender take up on a hot platter and put in the warming oven. Make a rich, brown gravy and pour over it.
Boiled Chicken.—Chickens may be boiled whole or cut into pieces. To boil whole place a few pieces of unsmoked bacon in a stew-pan that is deep enough to hold the chicken and can be tightly covered. Cook slowly for an hour without adding water, turning it often until it is evenly browned. Now add a small onion, some raw peeled potatoes not larger than an egg, and a little boiling water. Cook over a brisk fire for three-quarters of an hour. Salt and pepper the chicken and put it and the potatoes in a baking-dish in a hot oven while making the gravy. A couple of hard-boiled eggs chopped very fine, and a little chopped parsley, improve the gravy.
Baked Chicken.—A properly baked chicken is tender, juicy, and has a rich flavor, while one improperly baked is tough, dry, stringy, and tasteless. To bake a chicken properly the oven must not be too hot; the chicken must be repeatedly basted, and cooked until it is tender, but not until all dried up. Stuffing the chicken improves the flavor. To make the dressing, melt enough of any kind of wholesome fat in a hot frying-pan to keep the bread crumbs from sticking, and fry in it a large onion, chopped fine, until it is tender. Place the dry bread-crumbs into the fat, and cook for half an hour over a slow fire, stirring often to keep from sticking, until the crumbs are slightly browned and well dried. Season with salt, pepper and a little celery-salt, and moisten with just enough milk to make it stick together. Always taste the dressing to see if it is properly seasoned. A well-fed chicken can be baked more rapidly than a thin one. If the chicken is thin add plenty of fat to the water in the baking-pan; cover closely and cook slowly and carefully until it is tender, turning very often; if it is fat and well-fed put plenty of wholesome grease in the baking-dish, and without covering it, cook in a hot oven, basting frequently. A young, fat chicken will bake in an hour. An older fowl may require two or three hours. It is a good plan to allow the chicken plenty of time and then, if done too soon, to cover it closely and keep it warm on the back of the stove. Use just enough water while baking to keep the fat from sputtering. If the water is cooked out towards the end, and the chicken is thoroughly basted, the skin will take on a rich, thick glazing that is highly creditable to the skill of the cook. Delicious gravy can be made of the fat by adding milk and thickening with flour.
Smothered Chicken.—Use a frying-size chicken. Split it down the back and rub with a little salt. Put it in a pan with a slice of bacon and a pint of water. Cover the pan closely and let it simmer on top of the stove from one to two hours, or until the chicken is thoroughly tender. When done sprinkle with flour and baste well. Add a small tablespoon of butter, and put in the oven and cook until brown.
Broiled Chicken.—A young, tender, fat chicken is better broiled than any other way. It has a finer flavor; is tenderer, more juicy and more easily digested; in fact broiled chicken is one of the most delicious dishes that can be served. There is no earthly use, however, in trying to broil a chicken that is not fat and nice. If the chicken is a little too old to broil whole the breast will still be tender. Flatten the chicken by pounding it. Have a bed of clear, bright coals and a hot gridiron well greased to prevent sticking. Cover with a baking-dish and turn often, allowing the bony side to stay down longer than the other side. From fifteen to twenty minutes should be enough, but it is always best to test with a fork by pulling the fibres apart to see that they are not raw. As soon as the raw look has disappeared the chicken is done. The least over-cooking injures the flavor. Serve on a hot platter. Pour over a little melted butter, seasoned with lemon juice and chopped parsley.
To bake or boil a turkey proceed the same as for chicken, simply allowing more time. An eight-pound turkey will require three hours to roast.
MAKING GOOD SOUPS.
Vegetable Soups.—The simplest and most easily prepared soups are those made from peas, beans, tomatoes, asparagus, celery, carrots, onions, and potatoes. They require neither meat nor any previous preparation, but can be made and eaten at once. These soups are somewhat paradoxical because they are both cheap and rich; deliciously simple and simply delicious. Take enough of any of these vegetables to furnish sufficient soup after they have been rubbed through a strainer and thinned with milk or cream. Cook the vegetables thoroughly until perfectly soft, so that they can be easily rubbed through a coarse strainer. Add enough milk to this purée to make it about the thickness of cream. Season with salt, pepper, and a little celery-salt, and serve with bits of bread browned crisp in the oven.
When the vegetables can be got fresh from the garden nothing is more delicious than these soups, and in winter, canned peas and dried beans make excellent substitutes. In making potato purée two onions boiled with the potatoes improve the flavor. Potato soup without onion is tasteless; a little celery boiled in with the potatoes and onion, makes it still nicer. Tomato soup is also better slightly flavored with onion and a little carrot. A little cold boiled rice, simmered for a half-hour in the soup after the milk has been added, is an excellent addition. These soups are also delicious when made rather thin with milk and then thickened by putting the well-beaten yolks of two eggs into the hot soup-tureen, and stirring vigorously while adding the soup; this last soup must be served at once, as it cannot stand after the eggs are added.