It is possible to render a tough fowl eatable by boiling or stewing
it with care. _Never_ broil such! And even when assured that your
“broiler” is young, it is wise to make this doubly sure by laying it
upon sticks extending from side to side of a dripping-pan full of
boiling water. Set this in the oven, invert a tin pan over the chicken,
and let it steam for half an hour. This process relaxes the muscles,
and renders supple the joints, besides preserving the juices that would
be lost in parboiling. The chicken should be split down the back, and
wiped perfectly dry before it is steamed. Transfer from the vapor-bath
to a buttered gridiron, inside downward. Cover with a tin pan or common
plate, and broil until tender and brown, turning several times; from
half to three-quarters of an hour will be sufficient. Put into a hot
chafing-dish, and butter very well. Send to table smoking hot.
FRIED CHICKEN (_No. 1_).
Clean, wash, and cut to pieces a couple of Spring chickens. Have
ready in a frying-pan enough boiling lard or dripping to cover them
well. Dip each piece in beaten egg when you have salted it, then in
cracker-crumbs, and fry until brown. If the chicken is large, steam
it before frying, as directed in the foregoing receipt. When you have
taken out the meat, throw into the hot fat a dozen sprigs of parsley,
and let them remain a minute—just long enough to crisp, but not to dry
them. Garnish the chicken by strewing these over it.
FRIED CHICKEN (_No. 2_).
Cut up half a pound of fat salt pork in a frying-pan, and fry until the
grease is extracted, but not until it browns. Wash and cut up a young
chicken (broiling size), soak in salt and water for half an hour; wipe
dry, season with pepper, and dredge with flour; then fry in the hot
fat until each piece is a rich brown on both sides. Take up, drain,
and set aside in a hot covered dish. Pour into the gravy left in the
frying-pan a cup of milk—half cream is better; thicken with a spoonful
of flour and a tablespoonful of butter; add some chopped parsley, boil
up, and pour over the hot chicken. This is a standard dish in the Old
Dominion, and tastes nowhere else as it does when eaten on Virginia
soil. The cream gravy is often omitted, and the chicken served up dry,
with bunches of fried parsley dropped upon it.