Part 7

Chickens are frequently kept in cold storage for months, or even years, and they undergo decided changes during these periods. The effect of eating such storage poultry is still under debate; but, while there is uncertainty as to whether they may not be responsible for some obscure intestinal disorders or other disturbances, it is well to know how to tell them from fresh-killed birds. In an article entitled “Changes Taking Place in Chickens in Cold Storage,” in the Yearbook of the Department of Agriculture, for 1907, we read that the fresh chicken is a pale, soft yellow, without any tinge or suggestion of green in the colour of the skin, while there is enough translucency to show through it the delicate pink of the muscles underneath. It can be plainly seen that the pink tint is not of the skin itself. While the skin is perfectly flexible, and is not adherent over any part of the body, it is well filled by the tissues below, so that areas distended by either fluids or gases are wanting. The feather papillæ are perfectly distinct, and, though of the same tint as the skin, are plainly visible because of their elevation. In those regions where the papillæ are most numerous, or support heavier feathers, they lend a much brighter yellow hue to the skin. The neck is smooth and well rounded, the comb and gills red, and the eye full.

With storage birds the skin becomes somewhat dried, and finally quite leathery and stretched in appearance; is less translucent than that of the fresh, and the feather papillæ tend to flatten and disappear. In time the colour of the skin alters in places to browns, reds, purples, or greenish tints.

_Care of poultry._ Poultry should be drawn as soon as purchased, if it has not been already done; it should be wiped out with a dry cloth, if not to be cooked immediately, and kept in a cold place. Old chickens can be made as tender as young chickens in a cooker, and will have more flavour.

_To draw poultry._ Cut off the head, turn back the skin of the neck and cut off the neck close to the body. If the crop has food in it, remove it from the neck, otherwise it will come out with the other organs. Cut off the windpipe. Make an opening above the vent with a small sharp knife, cut around the vent, being careful not to cut into the intestine. Put the hand just inside the wall of the body and work it carefully over the whole inner surface of the body, detaching the organs in one mass. When the hand can pass freely all around them, draw them all out together. The lungs and kidneys, imbedded in the bones, will remain behind and must be removed separately. Cut out the little oil bag on the back of the tail. Singe the chicken, and wash it well inside and outside. The heart, liver, and gizzard are the giblets, and are boiled and often used in the gravy.

_To cut up a chicken._ After it is drawn, a chicken may be cut for stew or fricassee, into thirteen pieces. First remove the neck, then the legs, by cutting the skin, etc., that holds them to the body; then cut on either side down to the joint which lies almost at the back. Bend the leg out from the body and this will break the ligaments that hold it. Separate the two joints of the leg in large chickens. Remove the wings by cutting around the joints and bending them out as the leg was done. Next cut off the wishbone by placing the knife across the breast and cutting close to the end of the breast-bone toward the neck. If desired, remove the meat from the breast in two fillets, beginning to cut at the top and following the bone closely, separating the meat from the breast-bone and sides of the chicken. Next cut from the back to the front, through the ribs. Separate the “side bone” from one side, and break the back in two where the ribs end.

_To truss poultry._ Stuff the poultry two-thirds full, from the tail opening. It may be skewered into shape, but the quickest and easiest way is to tie it. The slight mark left by the string on the breast may be covered with a garnish of parsley or fine celery leaves. Fold the neck skin under the body, putting the loop end of a doubled piece of string under it; bring the ends of string up and cross them over the breast so as to hold the wings in place; carry the string down over the thighs to the under side of the tail to hold the thighs in place, and bring it up around the tail and the ends of the drumsticks, and tie it securely. This will hold the leg bones down to the tail. If this is not sufficient to hold in the stuffing, close the opening with a skewer, or sew it with heavy thread before trussing the bird. Old chickens, turkeys, and tough ducks or geese can be stuffed, trussed, and cooked for some hours in a cooker, then be removed and browned in an oven.

Stuffing for Poultry

1 cup soft breadcrumbs 1 tablespoon butter 1 teaspoon salt ¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon powdered thyme or sage 1 teaspoon grated onion 2 tablespoons water

Stewed Chicken

Draw and cut up a fowl. Put it, with the giblets, in enough boiling salted water (one teaspoonful of salt to each quart of water) to cover it. Let it boil for ten minutes and put it into a cooker for ten hours or more. If not quite tender, bring it again to a boil and cook it for from six to eight hours, depending upon its toughness. Skim off as much as possible of the fat from the liquor, pour off some of the liquor and save it to use as soup or stock, and thicken the remainder with two tablespoonfuls of flour for each cup of liquid, mixed to a paste with an equal quantity of water. A beaten egg or two, stirred into the gravy just before serving, improves it. Add pepper and salt to taste, and serve the chicken on a hot platter with the gravy poured around it. The platter may be garnished with boiled rice piled about the chicken.

Chicken Fricassee

Draw a fowl and cut it in pieces, cook it as directed for stewed chicken, dredge the cooked pieces with salt and pepper, roll them in flour and sauté them in fat taken from the stewed chicken. When richly browned, place the pieces on a hot platter and pour around them a brown sauce, made with the fat and the stock from the stewed chicken. Chicken fricassee is often served on a platter of hot toast.

Chicken Pie

Prepare and cook the chicken as for stewed chicken; cut the meat from the bones, put it into a baking-dish, cover it with chicken gravy, and put over the top a crust made as directed for meat pie on page 102. Bake this for thirty minutes in a moderate oven.

Curried Chicken

Prepare and cook one fowl as for stewed chicken, adding two onions, pared and cut into slices. Add one tablespoonful of curry powder to the flour when thickening the gravy. Or the chicken may be rolled in flour and browned in butter, and the curry powder added before putting it into the cooker. It is served with a border of boiled rice.

Creamed Chicken

Prepare and cook a fowl as directed for stewed chicken. Make White Sauce, using half chicken stock and half cream for the liquid. A little grated onion and one-fourth can of mushrooms may be added.

Braised Chicken

Draw, stuff, truss and roast a young chicken in a hot oven until it is brown; put it into a hot cooker-pail with water about one inch deep in the pan. Cover it quickly, bring it to a boil, and put it into a cooker for two and one-half hours or more. Make a brown sauce of the liquor in the pan. The giblets may be added when the chicken is put into the water, and may be chopped and added to the gravy. Only young, tender chicken can be treated in this way. A tough bird may be trussed and cooked in water to half cover it for ten or twelve hours before it is stuffed and browned. Baste it when in the oven with fat taken from the broth.

Jellied Chicken

Draw, clean, and cut up a fowl of about four or five pounds. Put it into a cooker-pail, add one teaspoonful of salt, two or three slices of onion, and cover the fowl with boiling water. Boil it for ten minutes, then put it in the cooker for ten or twelve hours. Boil it up again and replace it in the cooker for six hours or more. Repeat this if the meat is not found to be tender enough to fall readily from the bones. Remove the meat from the bones; take off the skin and season the meat with salt and pepper. Skim off all possible fat from the liquor and boil it down to about one cupful; strain it, and take off the remaining fat. Decorate the bottom of a mould or bread pan with parsley and slices of hard-cooked egg, pack in the meat and pour over it the stock. Place the meat under a weight, and leave it in a cold place till firm.

Braised Duck

Prepare and cook the duck in the same manner as braised chicken. If the duck is tough it may be cooked for eight or more hours in water in the cooker, then stuffed and browned in the oven, basting it with fat from the broth.

Braised Goose

Prepare it as braised chicken; or, if it is tough, cook it in water in a cooker as old braised chicken, until it is nearly tender. Remove it, stuff it, and brown it in a hot oven, basting it with fat from the broth.

Potted Pigeons

Clean, stuff, and truss six pigeons, place them upright in a cooker-pail and pour over them one quart of water in which celery has been cooked. If the water was not salted for the celery, add one teaspoonful of salt. Cover the pail, boil the birds for five minutes, and put them into a cooker for five or six hours, or till tender. Remove them from the water, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, dredge them with flour, and brown the entire surface in pork fat. Make two cups of Brown Sauce, using butter and stock from the pigeons; heat the birds in this, place each one on a piece of dry toast, and pour the gravy over it. Garnish it with parsley.

XVII

VEGETABLES

GENERAL DIRECTIONS FOR COOKING VEGETABLES

The flavour of vegetables is best preserved if they are put on to cook in boiling water. For cooking in a fireless cooker the water must be salted when the vegetables are started. The expression “salted water,” as used in this book, means water to each quart of which one teaspoonful of salt has been added. Such vegetables as asparagus, peas, lima beans, etc., which have a delicate flavour, must be cooked with very little water; usually in a smaller pail or pan set into a larger cooker-pail of water. All vegetables should be washed before cooking, and such as potatoes, beets, turnips, etc., should be scrubbed with a small scrubbing-brush, kept for that purpose. Few vegetables are injured by overcooking in a fireless cooker.

Asparagus

Wash, and if desired, break into two-inch pieces, as much of the asparagus as will snap easily. That which will not snap, if fresh, will be too tough to eat. Cook it in enough salted water to barely cover the asparagus, setting the pan in a large cooker-pail of boiling water. It may be tender in one hour.

Cabbage

Cut a head of cabbage into two pieces; soak it in a large bowl of salted water for one-half hour or more. Cut it in quarters or smaller pieces, discarding the tough central stalk and any leaves which may not be perfect. Put it into four quarts of salted water to which one-fourth of a teaspoonful of baking soda has been added. Bring it to a boil and put it into a hay-box for from one and one-half to twelve hours. Winter cabbage will require three or four hours of cooking at the least. Drain it into a colander and serve it with White Sauce or with butter, pepper, and salt to taste. If cooked many hours, reheat it before serving.

Cauliflower

Soak the whole head in a large bowl of salted water for one-half hour or more. If insects are in it this will cause them to crawl out. Bring it to a boil in four quarts of boiling salted water and cook it in a hay-box from one and one-quarter to four hours. If much overcooked it will be difficult to remove the head whole. Take it out with a skimmer and serve it on a platter, pouring over it one cupful of White Sauce. A large head will require more sauce.

_Cauliflower à la Hollandaise_ is prepared in the same way, substituting Hollandaise Sauce for White Sauce.

_Cauliflower au Gratin_ is prepared by removing the cooked head to a baking dish, covering it with buttered crumbs and baking it until the crumbs are brown, or by covering it with grated cheese before the crumbs are added.

Carrots

Scrub and scrape carrots. (Very young carrots need not be scraped.) Cover them with boiling salted water, bring them to a boil and put them into a cooker for from one to three hours, according to the age and condition of the carrots. They will not be injured by cooking twelve hours. If old and wilted they should be soaked several hours in cold water before being prepared for cooking. When done, cut young carrots in rounds or strips, or serve them whole. Old carrots may be cut into slices before cooking. Drain away most of the water and make Sauce for Vegetables, using the remainder of the water. Or all the water may be drained off and the carrots served with butter, salt, and pepper to taste.

Corn

Husk fresh green corn, using a clean whisk-broom to remove the silk that clings to the ear. Put it into a cooker-pail, cover it with salted water, bring it to a boil and put it into the cooker for from fifty minutes to two hours. Drain it and serve it on a hot platter, covering it with a napkin.

Beets

Scrub new beets, that is, those freshly pulled. Cut off the stalks three inches from the beets, put them into four quarts or more of boiling, salted water, boil five minutes, and put them into a cooker for five hours or more. Old beets, if wilted, should be soaked till firm, and cooked as new beets. They will require six or more hours according to their age and condition. When sufficiently cooked the skin of beets will easily slip off. Remove them from the water one by one, peel and slice them. Serve them with butter, pepper, and salt. If they cool while slicing them, reheat them before serving.

Fresh Shelled Beans

Wash from one pint to one quart of fresh shelled beans, put them into three quarts of boiling salted water, to which one-fourth teaspoonful of soda has been added, boil, and put them into a hay-box for two and one-half hours. They are not injured by several hours’ cooking. Drain them and add salt, pepper, and butter to taste. The exact quantity of water in which the beans are cooked is not material. They will bear a large amount, as their flavour is strong.

String Beans

2 qts. string beans 3 qts. water 3 teaspoons salt ¹⁄₂ teaspoon baking soda

Wash the beans, cut them into small pieces, and put them on to boil with the water, salt, and soda. Put them into a cooker for six hours. They will not be injured by cooking for ten or twelve hours. If fewer beans are to be cooked, the water must not be decreased, unless the pail of beans is full or set into a larger pail of boiling water.

Serves six or eight persons.

Lima Beans

Wash the beans and put them on to cook in boiling salted water, to each quart of which one-eighth of a teaspoonful of soda has been added. If the quantity is small, put them into a small pail set into a larger pail of water. If the whole will fill a two-quart cooker-pail it will cook without the larger pail. Put them into a cooker for one and one-half hours or more.

Dried Lima Beans

Soak the beans over night, put them to boil in at least twice their bulk of salted water. Add one-fourth teaspoonful of soda to each quart of water. Boil, and put them into a cooker for three or four hours or more. Drain, add butter, pepper, and salt, and reheat them before serving, if necessary.

Dried Navy Beans

Soak one cupful of beans over night. In the morning drain off the water, add three quarts of boiling salted water and one teaspoonful of soda. Boil, and put them into the cooker for eight hours or more. When soft, drain them and add butter, pepper, and salt to taste. Or make pork and beans of them.

Serves five or six persons.

Chard

Put a pint of water and a teaspoonful of salt into a cooker-pail. When boiling add, little by little, the well-washed chard. If, after boiling two or three minutes, there is not enough water to cover the chard, add more boiling water. If a small amount of chard is cooked the pail or pan must be set into a cooker-pail of boiling water. Put it into a cooker for three hours or more. Drain in a colander and add salt, pepper, and butter to taste. Serve with slices of hard-cooked eggs as a garnish.

One dozen stalks and leaves serve four or five persons. Many persons cook the stalks separately and serve them with a white sauce, using only the leaves for greens.

Spinach

Cook in the same manner as chard, allowing two hours or more in the cooker.

One peck serves six or eight persons.

Beet Greens

Cook in the same manner as chard, allowing two and one-half hours or more in the cooker. Do not remove the little beets. When cooked, cut through the greens frequently with a knife, to make them less awkward for serving.

Stewed Celery

3 cups prepared celery 1 teaspoon salt 1 qt. water

Scrub the celery with a small brush, remove the strings, cut it in one-half-inch pieces and drop it into the boiling salted water. When it is boiling, set the pail or pan into a cooker-pail of boiling water and put it into the cooker for from two to four hours or longer, depending upon the toughness of the stalks. It will not be injured by long cooking. When tender, drain it, saving one-half cupful of the water to use in making the sauce. Serve with one cupful of Sauce for Vegetables.

Serves six or eight persons.

Macaroni

¹⁄₃ lb. macaroni (1 cup broken in pieces) 1 qt. water 1 teaspoon salt

Break the macaroni into one-inch pieces. Soak it in cold water for one hour, then drain it; or cook it without soaking. Drop it into the boiling water, let it boil, and put it into the hay-box for one and one-half hours if soaked, or two hours if not soaked. Stand the pail or pan in a cooker-pail of boiling water while in the hay-box. Macaroni will break to pieces if cooked too long. When tender, drain it in a colander and serve it plain, seasoned to taste with salt and pepper, or make it into Macaroni and Cheese or Macaroni and Ham.

Serves five or six persons.

Macaroni Italienne

1 cup macaroni in one-inch pieces 1 pt. stewed and strained tomatoes 1 cup stock or water 1 medium-sized onion 4 cloves 1 small bay leaf 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar ¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper 1 cup cheese, grated or shaved

Soak the macaroni in cold water for one hour; stick the cloves into the onion. Drain the macaroni, put it into a pan or pail, add the other ingredients, except the cheese, and, when boiling, set the pan or pail into a cooker-pail of boiling water and put it into a cooker for two hours. Remove the onion and bay leaf and add the cheese. If it cannot be served as soon as the cheese is melted, slip the pail back into the cooker.

Serves five or six persons.

Macaroni Milanaise

1 cup macaroni 1 small onion 2 cloves 1 pt. tomatoes, stewed and strained 1 cup water 1 tablespoon butter ¹⁄₂ cup grated cheese 6 sliced mushrooms ¹⁄₄ cup smoked tongue or ham, cut in strips

Break the macaroni, soak it for one hour, then drain it, and put it, with the other ingredients, except the last three, into a pan or pail. When boiling, set the pan into a cooker-pail of boiling water and put it into a cooker for two hours. Remove the onion and cloves, add the last three ingredients, and when the cheese is melted it is ready to serve. If it cannot be served at once replace it in the cooker.

Serves six or seven persons.

Spaghetti

Spaghetti may be treated in the same way as macaroni. It is a similar paste moulded into a different form. Vermicelli is also the same paste, moulded into still finer threads. It is frequently used in soups, and should be broken into short pieces and added not more than two hours before it is served, or it will become so soft as to break to pieces and lose its attractive appearance.

Noodles

Noodles are made from a richer paste than macaroni, having eggs in place of water to supply the moisture. They may be used exactly as macaroni and similar pastes. They should not be soaked before cooking.

Creamed Mushrooms

Wash the mushrooms, cut them in slices if they are large, bring them to a boil in enough salted water to nearly cover them. It should take about a pint for each quart of mushrooms. Set the pan or pail in a cooker-pail of boiling water and put it into the cooker for from two to six hours. When it is nearly time to serve them, drain the water off, reserving three-fourths of a cupful to use in making one and one-half cupfuls of Sauce for Vegetables, or White Sauce.

Fricasseed Mushrooms

Wash the mushrooms and dry them thoroughly on a towel. Let them stand on the towel some time before cooking them, so that they may drain dry. Fry them in butter till they are brown in a cooker-pail or pan, and make one and one-half cupfuls of Brown Sauce for each quart of mushrooms, using any liquor that may have come from them, and water for the liquid of the sauce. Pour this sauce over the mushrooms. If a small quantity of mushrooms is being cooked, stand the pail or pan in a large cooker-pail of boiling water. Put them into a cooker for two hours or more.

Onions

Pare onions under water, to avoid their irritating effect on the eyes. They are so strong in flavour that they will bear an excess of water in cooking. Salt the water as directed in the General Directions for Cooking Vegetables. Four quarts of water may be used for cooking one quart of onions. Bring them to a boil in a cooker-pail, and put them into a hay-box for from two hours, for very tender, fresh onions, to eight hours or more. When done, drain them dry and add butter, pepper, and salt to taste and, if desired, a little cream of milk. If the onions are very large let them boil five minutes before putting them into the hay-box.

Boiled Potatoes

Scrub potatoes well with a small scrubbing-brush. Pare them, and if they are inclined to be black when cooked, let them stand an hour or more in cold water before cooking them. Cook them in a large amount of boiling salted water in a cooker-pail. When they have boiled one minute put them into the cooker for from one and one-half to three hours, depending upon their quantity, size, and age. New potatoes will not require so long to cook as old. Large potatoes cut into pieces will cook in one hour.

Creamy Potatoes

1 qt. sliced potatoes 2 tablespoons butter 2 teaspoons salt ¹⁄₈ teaspoon pepper ³⁄₄ pt. milk

Wash and pare the potatoes and cut them into thin slices. Four medium-sized potatoes will make a quart when sliced. Put all the ingredients together in a small cooker-pail or pan, set this in a large cooker-pail of boiling water, and when it is steaming hot, put the small utensil directly over the heat until it boils. Replace it in the pail of boiling water and set it in the cooker for one hour.

Serves four or five persons.

Stewed Potatoes

1 qt. cold, diced potatoes 2 cups milk 4 tablespoons butter 2 tablespoons flour 2 teaspoons salt ¹⁄₄ teaspoon pepper 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Melt the butter in a small cooker-pail or pan, add the flour and blend the two evenly, then add the milk, one-third at a time; when it boils, put in the salt, pepper, and potatoes. Let the whole reach boiling point and set it in a large cooker-pail of boiling water, unless it fills a small pail full, in which case it can be placed directly in a cooker nest which exactly fits it, and left for one hour or more.

Serves six or eight persons.

Peas