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.
Roast Chicken.
| 1 chicken, weighing four or five pounds. | |||
| 2 tablespoonfuls of soft butter. | |||
| Salt, pepper, flour. | |||
| Dressing. | |||
| 1 pint of grated bread crumbs. | |||
| 1 level teaspoonful of salt. | |||
| 1/4 teaspoonful of pepper. | |||
| 1 teaspoonful of minced parsley. | |||
| 1/4 teaspoonful of powdered thyme. | |||
| 1/4 | do. | do. | sage. |
| 1/4 | do. | do. | savory. |
| 1/4 | do. | do. | marjoram. |
| 2 generous tablespoonfuls of butter. | |||
Have all the materials for the dressing mixed together in a bowl, cutting the butter into small bits. Remember that there is no liquid used in this dressing. Clean the chicken and stuff the crop and body with the dressing. Truss the chicken and dredge it with salt. Rub soft butter over the breast and legs, and dredge thickly with flour. Place a rack in the dripping-pan, and, after laying the chicken on it, put in half a pint of hot water. Set the pan in a hot oven and baste the chicken every fifteen minutes, pouring over it the gravy in the dripping-pan until every part is well moistened, and then dredging lightly with salt, pepper, and flour. At the last basting omit the gravy, and moisten instead with a tablespoonful of butter dissolved in a tablespoonful of hot water; then dredge lightly with flour. After the first half-hour the heat of the oven should be reduced. It will take an hour and a half to cook a chicken weighing four or five pounds. If the tin kitchen be used, the chicken should be prepared and basted in the same manner, but it will take fifteen minutes longer to cook it. Serve on a hot platter with a garnish of parsley.
Roast Turkey.
A turkey weighing eight or nine pounds.