American Cookery Part 12

By Kurt Heppe

Fowls should be divided into four cla.s.ses, according to their uses. The uses are controlled by the age of the fowl.

What is suitable for one dish is not suitable for others. In fowls the age of the bird controls the use to which it can be put. This is something the caterer and the housewife must remember.

A young bird can be distinguished from an old one by the pliability of the tip of the breastbone. When this tip bends under pressure, then the bird is young. If it is hard and unyielding, then it is old.

Very old birds are used for soup and for frica.s.see.

Medium-aged birds are used for roasts.

Spring chickens are used for broilers and for sauteed dishes.

Very young chicks are used for frying in deep fat; for this purpose they are dipped in a thin batter, or else in flour, and in eggs mixed with milk and afterward in breadcrumbs. These chicks, and also spring chickens, are used for ca.s.serole dishes and for cocottes (covered earthen ware containers, in which the fowls are roasted in the oven).

The liver of fowls is used in different ways; it makes an excellent dish. It is best when sauteed with black b.u.t.ter. Some of the fine French ragouts consist mostly of chicken livers.

With omelettes they make an incomparable garnish.

In very high-cla.s.s establishments the wings and breast are often separated from the carca.s.s of the fowl and served in manifold ways.

Sometimes the entire fowl is freed of bones, without destroying the appearance of the bird. These latter dishes are best adapted for ca.s.serole service and for cold jellied offerings.

Capons are castrated male fowls. They fatten readily and their flesh remains juicy and tender, owing to the indolence of the birds. The meat of animals is tenderest when the animal is kept inactive. For this reason stall-feeding is often resorted to. When the animal has no opportunity to exercise its muscles the latter degenerate, and nourishment, instead of being converted into energy, is turned into fat.

Range birds and animals are naturally tough; this is especially true of the muscles.

Large supply houses now regularly basket their fowls for about two weeks before putting them on the market. During this time they are fed on grain soaked in milk. This produces a white, juicy flesh.

When a bird is to be roasted it should be trussed. This is done by forcing the legs back against the body (after placing the bird on its back); a string is then tied across the bird's body, holding the legs down. The wings are best set firmly against the breast by sticking a wooden skewer through the joint and into the bony part of the carca.s.s, where the skewer will hold against the bones.

In preparing birds for the oven their b.r.e.a.s.t.s should be protected by slices of bacon. Otherwise they will shrivel and dry before the birds are cooked.

For broiling, the birds are cut through in the back, in such a manner that they quasi-hinge in the breast; they are then flattened so they will lie evenly in a double broiling iron; for this purpose the heavy backbone is removed.

Stuffed Poularde

After trussing the bird rub it with lemon so it will keep of good color; now cover the breast with thin slices of bacon (these can be tied on).

The poularde is put into a deep, thick saucepan and cooked with b.u.t.ter and aromatics in the oven. When it is nearly done it is moistened with poultry stock. If this stock reduces too fast, then it must be renewed.

It is finally added to the sauce.

These fowls may be stuffed with a pilaff of rice. This is prepared as follows: Half an onion is chopped and fried in two ounces of b.u.t.ter.

Before it acquires color half a pound of Carolina rice is added. This is stirred over the fire until the rice has partly taken up the b.u.t.ter; then it is moistened with consomme (one quart); and covered and cooked in a moderate oven for fifteen minutes. It is now combined with a little cream, a quarter a pound of dice of goose liver and some dice of truffles.

The rice should not be entirely cooked by the time it is stuffed into the bird; the cooking is completed inside the bird. The cream is added to provide moisture for the rice to take up.

Instead of cream one may use consomme, and the truffles and fat liver may be left out, if too expensive.

The bird is served with a suitable sauce.

The best sauce for this purpose is Sauce Supreme, and is prepared as follows: Put two pints of clear poultry stock and some mushroom-liquor into a saute-pan. Reduce two-thirds.

While this is going on prepare some poultry veloute by bringing some b.u.t.ter in a pan to bubble, and adding some flour. This is brought to a boil while stirring constantly. The flour must not be allowed to color.

Now, gradually, add some poultry-stock, stirring all the while with a whisk. Salt, pepper and nutmeg are added. This is simmered on the side of the fire, and then strained.

Now add one pint of this veloute to the supreme sauce; reduce the whole on an open fire, while constantly stirring. Gradually add half a pint of good cream and finish with a little b.u.t.ter.

Sauteed Chicken

Young chickens should be used for this purpose. Feel the breast bone; if it bends beneath pressure the bird is right.

Empty, singe and clean, and disjoint the bird. This is done by cutting the skin at the joints and loosening the bones with a knife.

The wings are cut off in such manner that each holds half of the breast; the pinions are entirely cut off; the different pieces are seasoned with salt and pepper; now heat some clarified b.u.t.ter in a saute-pan; when it is very hot insert the pieces of chicken and let them color quickly; turn them over, from time to time, so as to get a uniform color; cover the utensil and put it in a fairly hot oven. The legs are cooked for about ten minutes more than the breast and wings. The latter are kept hot separately.

When all pieces are done, they are dished on a platter and kept hot in the oven; the pan is now moistened with mushroom-liquor, or chicken stock, and again put on the fire; only a very little moistening is put in the pan. As soon as it boils swing it around the pan and then add to it, gradually, the sauce that is to be served. This swinging in the pan dissolves the flavor, which solidifies in the bottom of the pan; it greatly improves the sauce.

A simple sauce for sauteed chicken is nut b.u.t.ter, that is, b.u.t.ter browned in the pan. This may be varied by flavoring it with a crushed garlic-clove. An addition of fine herbs will further improve it. A dark tomato sauce may also be served.

A good garnish for sauteed chicken is large dice of boletus mushrooms, sauteed in garlic b.u.t.ter; also dice of raw potatoes sauteed in clarified b.u.t.ter, and again fresh tomatoes cut up and sauteed in b.u.t.ter.

Egg-plants are also excellent for a garnish.

Sauteed chicken may be baked and served in the cocotte.

Poulet en Ca.s.serole Bourgeoise

The chicken is trussed; the breast is covered with strips of bacon and put into a deep, thick saucepan. It is colored in the oven, and when nearly done is transferred to a ca.s.serole. It is now moistened with some chicken-stock and a little white wine. This moistening is used in the basting, and after being freed of fat, added to the sauce.

A few minutes before the fowl is done bouquets of fresh vegetables are added to the chicken, in individual heaps, and the chicken is then served, either with a sauce, or else with an addition of b.u.t.ter. It should be carved in sight of the guests.

Chicken Pie

A fowl is cooked (boiled) with flavoring vegetables until done, and is then cut up as for frica.s.see; the pieces are seasoned with salt and pepper and sprinkled with chopped onions, a few mushroom-b.u.t.tons and some chopped parsley. The pieces are now put into a pie-dish, legs undermost, some thinly-sliced bacon is added and some potatoes Parisienne (spooned with the special potato spoon). The pie-dish is now filled two-thirds with chicken veloute (chicken-stock thickened with flour and egg-yolks), and a pie crust is laid over all, pressed to the edges of the dish and trimmed off. The crust is slit open (so the steam can escape), it should be painted with egg-yolk, and be baked for one and a half hours in a moderate oven.

Supreme de Volaille Jeanette

Of a poached cold fowl the supremes (boneless wing and breast in one piece) are loosened and trimmed to oval shape. They are covered with white chaudfroid sauce, by putting the pieces on a wire tray and pouring the sauce over while still liquid. They are decorated with tarragon leaves.

In a square, flat pan a half-inch layer of aspic is laid. On this slices of goose liver are superimposed (after having been trimmed to the shape of the supremes); the supremes are now put on top of the fat liver, and then covered with half-melted chicken jelly.

When thoroughly cooled and ready to serve, a square piece is cut out of the now solid jelly around the supremes. The supreme is thus served incrusted in a square block of thick jelly; the dish is decorated with greens.