A Simple Way of Preparing Boned Turkey or Chicken.
Boil a turkey or chicken in as little water as possible, until the bones can easily be separated from the meat. Remove all of the skin; slice and mix together the light and dark parts; season with pepper and salt. Boil down the liquid in which the turkey or chicken was boiled; then pour it on the meat. Shape it like a loaf of bread; wrap it tightly in a cloth; press it with a heavy weight for a few hours. When served, it is cut into thin slices.
CHICKENS.
One is absolutely bewildered at the hundred dishes which are made of chickens. Most of the entrées are prepared with the breasts alone, called fillets. There are boudins and quenelles of fowls, and fillets of fowls à la Toulouse, à la maréchale, etc., etc., and supreme of fillets of fowls à l’écarlate, etc., and aspics of fowls; then, chickens à la Marengo, à la Lyonnaise, à la reine; then, marinades and capitolades of chickens, and fricassees of chickens of scores of names. I would explain some of these long-sounding terms if this book were not already too long, and if at last they were any better than when cooked in the more simple ways.
Spring Chickens.
The excellence of spring chickens depends as much on feeding as on cooking them. If there are conveniences for building a coop, say five feet square, on the ground, where some spring chickens can be kept for a few weeks, feeding them with the scraps from the kitchen, and grain, they will be found plump, the meat white, and the flavor quite different from the thin, poorly fed chickens just from market.
The Southern negro cooks have certainly the best way of cooking spring chickens, and the manner is very simple. Cut them into pieces, dip each piece hastily in water, then sprinkle it with pepper and salt, and roll it in plenty of flour. Have some lard in a sauté pan very hot, in which fry, or rather sauté, the chickens, covering them well, and watching that they may not burn. When done, arrange them on a hot dish; pour out the lard from the spider, if there is more than a tea-spoonful; throw in a cupful or more of milk, or, better, cream thickened with a little flour; stir it constantly, seasoning it with pepper and salt; pour it over the chickens. It makes a pleasant change to add chopped parsley to the gravy.
A nice dish is made by serving cauliflowers in the same platter with the dressing poured over both; or with potatoes cut out in little balls, and boiled in very salt water, served in the same way; or they may be surrounded with water-cresses.
Spring Chickens, Baked.
Cut them open at the back, spread them out in a baking-pan, sprinkle on plenty of pepper, salt, and a little flour. Baste them well with hot water, which should be in the bottom of the pan, also at different times with a little butter. When done, rub butter over them, as you would beefsteak, and set them in the oven for a moment before serving.