The French cooks distinguish four varieties of chickens t
for use in the kitchen : 1. The common poulet, or chicken,
which is generally used in fricassee, and of the flesh of
which various descriptions of forcemeat are made. 2. The
half-fat chicken {2^oulet demi-gras), used for marinading raw,
and for curries and different entrees which do not require
very large poulets. 3. The chicken d la reine, which serves
for entries and roasts. 4. The large fat chicken, or poulet,
which is more commonly used for roasting than ‘for any
other purpose. The earliest poulets come to market in
France, and, indeed, now in most of the large towns of
Europe, towards the end of April ; they are easily recognised
by the whiteness or yellow colour of their skin. When
dead and plucked, they are commonly left covered with
little sprouting feathers to show their youth ; their feet
(toes) are more united than those of older birds, softer to
the touch, and of a blue, slaty colour. Old hens and old
cocks are, in the kitchen, only useful to give some extractive
to bouillons or consommes ; capons come later in the 5'ear,
when chickens and poulardes have become more rare.
The most common form in which chicken is used in this
country is roast plain. Before putting the dressed animal
before the fire, put into its inside some butter, lemon-juice,
and salt ; close it up, and wrap it in slices of bacon. It
will take an hour or less to roast ; when it is done, take OS'
* Aristotle, ‘ De Longit. et Brevit. Vitae,’ cap. iv. ; Galen, ‘ Ue Aliment.
Facultat,’ iii. 18 ; Laws of Fannius, forbidding the Romans to eat fowls,
cf. D.D., 880 ; but Fannius ate capon, Aul. Gellius, ii. 24 ; Plin., x. .00 ;
Macrobius, ‘ Sntiirnaliorum Conviviorum,’ L. viii. (i.e., ‘Table-talk during
Saturnian Holidays,’ written 422 p. Ch. n.), iii. 17 ; Antiquity of poultry,
cf. Soyer, Pantropheon, p. 424 e( seq.
f Cf. Beauv., i. 302 ; this arrangement is spoiled in D.D. 879.
PREPARATIONS OF FOWLS
483
the bacon, and brown the outside. In case you serve the
roast chicken on a bed of watercresses✪ Roast Chicken, it becomes, in
French magiric language, a rdt ; but when served with
made sauce — tomato, Dutch, crayfish, or any other — it is
called an entrde. You may fill the chicken with truffles, or
a well-seasoned farce, or with chestnuts.
Chickens and Fowls boiled in water or standard broth,
with vegetables, are a favourite English dish ; they may
be eaten with boiled or broiled ham and white butter
sauce. A chicken may be boiled in about fifteen minutes.
When it is intended to be served with a sauce, e.g.,
bechamel and tarragon, it should be wiped quite dry
before the sauce is put over it.
Fowls may be stcxoed, particularly with rice, and this
dish should always be made with standard broth ; as the
fowl takes longer than the rice to become done, it is pre-
ferable to boil each by itself, and mix the products. The
best boiled fowl we know of is one boned, stuffed with
farce, and cooked in standard broth in a Papin’s digester.
From a comparison of the weight of boned fowl with that
of its skeleton, and of its price to that of rumpsteak, we
have learned that the price of the eatable part of fowl is
about 2s. Id. per pound, or about one-third more than
rumpsteak.
Page 304 · 1 recipe record on this page
Presented as published in 1895. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The French cooks distinguish four varieties of chickens t for use in the kitchen : 1. The common poulet, or chicken, which is generally used in fricassee, and of the flesh of which various descriptions of forcemeat are made. 2. The half-fat chicken {2^oulet demi-gras), used for marinading raw, and for curries and different entrees which do not require very large poulets. 3. The chicken d la reine, which serves for entries and roasts. 4. The large fat chicken, or poulet, which is more commonly used for roasting than ‘for any other purpose. The earliest poulets come to market in France, and, indeed, now in most of the large towns of Europe, towards the end of April ; they are easily recognised by the whiteness or yellow colour of their skin. When dead and plucked, they are commonly left covered with little sprouting feathers to show their youth ; their feet (toes) are more united than those of older birds, softer to the touch, and of a blue, slaty colour. Old hens and old cocks are, in the kitchen, only useful to give some extractive to bouillons or consommes ; capons come later in the 5'ear, when chickens and poulardes have become more rare.
The most common form in which chicken is used in this country is roast plain. Before putting the dressed animal before the fire, put into its inside some butter, lemon-juice, and salt ; close it up, and wrap it in slices of bacon. It will take an hour or less to roast ; when it is done, take off
* Aristotle, ‘ De Longit. et Brevit. Vitae,’ cap. iv. ; Galen, ‘ Ue Aliment. Facultat,’ iii. 18 ; Laws of Fannius, forbidding the Romans to eat fowls, cf. D.D., 880 ; but Fannius ate capon, Aul. Gellius, ii. 24 ; Plin., x. .00 ; Macrobius, ‘ Sntiirnaliorum Conviviorum,’ L. viii. (i.e., ‘Table-talk during Saturnian Holidays,’ written 422 p. Ch. n.), iii. 17 ; Antiquity of poultry, cf. Soyer, Pantropheon, p. 424 e( seq.
f Cf. Beauv., i. 302 ; this arrangement is spoiled in D.D. 879.
PREPARATIONS OF FOWLS
the bacon, and brown the outside. In case you serve the roast chicken on a bed of watercresses, it becomes, in French magiric language, a rdt ; but when served with made sauce — tomato, Dutch, crayfish, or any other — it is called an entrde. You may fill the chicken with truffles, or a well-seasoned farce, or with chestnuts.
Chickens and Fowls boiled in water or standard broth, with vegetables, are a favourite English dish ; they may be eaten with boiled or broiled ham and white butter sauce. A chicken may be boiled in about fifteen minutes. When it is intended to be served with a sauce, e.g., bechamel and tarragon, it should be wiped quite dry before the sauce is put over it.
Fowls may be stewed, particularly with rice, and this dish should always be made with standard broth ; as the fowl takes longer than the rice to become done, it is preferable to boil each by itself, and mix the products. The best boiled fowl we know of is one boned, stuffed with farce, and cooked in standard broth in a Papin’s digester. From a comparison of the weight of boned fowl with that of its skeleton, and of its price to that of rumpsteak, we have learned that the price of the eatable part of fowl is about 2s. Id. per pound, or about one-third more than rumpsteak.
Records on this page
Roast Chicken