The art of cookery

most articles of food. To Stew a Chicken. — Cut the prepared chicken in pieces suitable for serving. Separate the thigh, leg, and wing joints, divide the breast into four or more compact pieces, and separate the neck, back, etc. Put the gizzard, heart, wings, and legs in the bottom of the kettle, then put in the neck, back, and bony pieces, reserving the second joints and breast for the top. Add a pint of boiling water for each full-grown fowl, cover the kettle Stewing. 85 closely, and after it has stewed a few minutes, add a tablespoonful each of butter and flour stirred to a smooth paste. Let it cook slowly, but unceasingly, until the fowl is tender, which can be ascertained by examining the pieces on top. If the top pieces are found to be sufficiently cooked, those beneath will be also, as in placing the pieces in the kettie, those requiring the most cooking were put at the bottom so as to be subjected to the greatest heat. A one-year-old fowl will stew in about an hour and a half, and each added year in age necessitates an additional hour's cooking. When the fowl has stewed until perfectly tender, drain into a bowl all the liquid or broth, and set the ketde, with the pieces undisturbed in it, upon the back of the stove. If the broth is too oily, skim from it as much grease as you wish, then add to it a spoonful of flour stirred to a smooth paste with half a spoonful of butter, and season highly with salt and pepper, as this broth or gravy must season the entire fowl. After the gravy has been seasoned, pour it over the fowl in the ketde, let it simmer gently for about ten minutes, then serve fowl and gravy together in the same platter. Meats stewed in a closely covered vessel need not be entirely covered with liquid, and a fowl, by occasionally turning, can be cooked whole in a quantity barely sufficient for gravy or sauce. Celery is always a suitable flavoring for stewed chicken, and several roots or stalks of celery can be added when the chicken is put to cook, and after being stewed with it can be removed when the chicken is served. Parsley may be used for flavoring whenever de- 86 The Art of Cookery. sired, and the flavor of stewed chicken may be varied occasionally by cooking with the chicken a small onion and a small blade of mace. Stewed Chicken with Mushrooms. — After the broth has been drained from stewed chicken as directed above, add a pint of mushrooms to the chicken in the kettle before pouring the gravy over it. If canned mushrooms are used, add the water in the can to the broth, and make into sauce. Stewed Chicken with Truffles. — Two medium-sized truffles are sufficient to flavor a full-grown fowl. Cut the truffles in small pieces, put them in the kettle with the chicken when put to cook, and stew and serve with it. To Stew Veal. — The ribs, breast, and thin pieces containing a good deal of fat are the most desirable portions of veal for stewing. Remove the outer skin, cut the meat in pieces suitable for serving, and stew and serve like chicken.