Luncheons: A Cook's Picture Book

by Mary Ronald

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.