The Myrtle Reed Cook Book Part 61

SPANISH CHICKEN STEW

Clean and joint two spring chickens. Brown in b.u.t.ter and add five sliced onions, a can of tomatoes, four cloves of garlic, two tablespoonfuls of b.u.t.ter, a pod of red pepper without the seeds, and salt to taste. Cook slowly for forty-five minutes, adding stock or water if necessary to keep from burning. Take out the pepper and the garlic, add a can of peas, and simmer for fifteen minutes longer.

Thicken the gravy with two tablespoonfuls of flour rubbed smooth with a little cold water and the yolk of an egg well-beaten.

FRICa.s.sEE OF CHICKEN

Clean and cut up the chicken, and brown in b.u.t.ter with a sliced onion and a carrot. Season with salt and pepper, dredge with flour, add three cupfuls of stock or water, and cook until the sauce thickens, stirring constantly. Add a cupful of canned tomatoes and simmer until the chicken is done. Add a can of mushrooms cut in pieces, and a little minced parsley. Heat thoroughly and serve.

FRICa.s.sEE OF CHICKEN WITH BISCUIT

Sift together four cupfuls of flour, four teaspoonfuls of baking-powder, and a pinch of salt. Work into it half a cupful of b.u.t.ter, and add enough milk to make a soft dough. Roll out, cut into biscuits, and bake. Cook two chickens, cleaned and cut up, in water to cover, seasoning with salt and pepper. When very tender, thicken the liquid with flour cooked in b.u.t.ter. Stir constantly. Split the biscuits and cover a serving platter with them. Pour over the chicken and serve.

CHICKEN PIE

Clean and cut up a chicken, boil until tender, cool, and remove the bones. Line a b.u.t.tered baking-dish with a rich biscuit dough, and put in half of the chicken, seasoning with b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt. Add a layer of hard-boiled eggs cut in slices, and the rest of the chicken.

A few potato b.a.l.l.s cut with a French vegetable cutter, and boiled until nearly done may be added. Add enough of the water in which the chicken was boiled to fill the dish, cover with a biscuit crust which has a large hole in the centre for the steam to escape, brush with the beaten white of egg, and bake for half an hour or more.

CHICKEN POTPIE

Clean and cut up the chicken. Put a small plate in the bottom of the kettle, put in the chicken, cover with hot water, and season with b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt. Sift together three cupfuls of flour and three teaspoonfuls of baking-powder. Mix with enough milk or water to make a very thick batter. Drop the batter by spoonfuls into b.u.t.tered patty pans, place in steamer, cover and steam over another pan of boiling water. Skim out the chicken, arrange on a platter, and thicken the gravy while stirring with flour blended with a little cold milk.

Pour over the chicken and dumplings and serve.

ROAST CHICKEN

Stuff a chicken with highly seasoned crumbs to which a few chopped chestnuts have been added. Sew up, and lard the breast with thin strips of bacon. Roast and serve with Cream Sauce to which chopped cooked oysters have been added.

CURRIED CHICKEN

Clean and cut up a chicken and boil it until tender in water to cover.

Drain the chicken and brown in b.u.t.ter with two small onions sliced.

Sprinkle with two teaspoonfuls of curry powder, pour over the water in which the chicken was boiled, heat thoroughly, and thicken while stirring with a tablespoonful of flour rubbed smooth with a little cold water. Take from the fire, add the beaten yolk of an egg, and serve with a border of boiled rice.

CHICKEN a LA CReOLE

Clean and cut up a young chicken, season with salt and pepper, and fry brown in hot fat with two thinly sliced onions. Dredge with flour and add one cupful each of white stock and stewed and strained tomatoes.

Cook until it thickens, stirring constantly, and simmer the chicken in it until tender, adding more stock if needed. Add a tablespoonful of tarragon vinegar, salt and pepper to season, and a cupful of cooked and broken macaroni. Serve very hot with a garnish of parsley.

CHICKEN a LA JEAN

Clean and disjoint the chicken. Fry brown in an iron kettle, using equal parts of b.u.t.ter and olive-oil for fat. When brown, season with salt and pepper, pour in a cupful of stock, cover, and cook slowly until done, adding more stock if required. Dredge with flour and turn the chicken slowly in the gravy until the gravy is thick. Take up the chicken, strain the gravy over it, garnish with parsley, and serve.

CHICKEN IN Ca.s.sEROLE

Put a small cleaned chicken into a ca.s.serole with a dozen peeled onions, two bay-leaves, a cupful of carrot cut into dice, a small turnip chopped fine, and two stalks of celery cut into small pieces.

Fill the ca.s.serole half full of boiling stock, cover, and cook in a hot oven for an hour and a half, basting frequently. When the chicken is half done, add salt and pepper to season. Serve in the ca.s.serole.

Either fresh or canned mushrooms may be added.

JELLIED CHICKEN

Have a chicken cleaned and cut up. Cook in boiling water to cover until the meat falls from the bones. Take out the bones, remove the skin, season with salt and pepper, and arrange in a mould. Reduce the liquid by rapid boiling and add to it a package of soaked and dissolved gelatine, pepper and salt to season highly, and the juice of a lemon. Pour over the chicken and cool on ice. Serve with a garnish of hard-boiled eggs and parsley.

MAYONNAISE OF CHICKEN

Clean and disjoint the chicken, and boil until tender in water to cover. Cool in the water in which it was boiled and remove the skin and fat and bones. Keep the pieces of chicken as large as possible.

Arrange on a platter, and pour over a stiff mayonnaise dressing.

Sprinkle with minced parsley, and garnish with lettuce leaves.

PRESSED CHICKEN

Have two chickens cleaned and cut up. Boil until the meat drops from the bones, then drain, and chop it fine. Reduce the liquid by rapid boiling to a cupful. Add to it a heaping tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, a teaspoonful of pepper, a pinch of allspice, and an egg well-beaten.

Mix thoroughly with the meat and press into a b.u.t.tered mould. Cool on ice and serve cold, garnished with slices of hard-boiled eggs and parsley.

CHICKEN a LA WALDORF

Cut cold cooked chicken into dice. Reheat in two cupfuls of cream, seasoning with salt and pepper. Thicken with the yolks of two eggs beaten with two tablespoonfuls of Madeira. Mix thoroughly, and heat but do not boil. Take from the fire, add a heaping tablespoonful of b.u.t.ter, and serve.

CHICKEN CROQUETTES

Chop fine cold cooked chicken, and mix with a cupful of Cream Sauce.

Add two eggs well-beaten, seasoning to taste, and enough bread crumbs to make the mixture very stiff. Cool, shape into croquettes, dip in egg and crumbs, fry in deep fat, and serve with any preferred sauce.

CHICKEN AND MACARONI

Shred cold cooked chicken very fine. Arrange it on a b.u.t.tered baking-dish with alternate layers of cooked and broken macaroni, seasoning each layer with b.u.t.ter, pepper, and salt. Moisten with cream, cover with crumbs, dot with b.u.t.ter, sprinkle with cheese, and bake brown. Serve in the baking-dish.

_DUCK_

BRAISED DUCKS WITH OLIVES

Partly roast a pair of ducks and put them into a saucepan with two cupfuls of stock and two dozen pitted olives which have been rinsed in boiling water. Cover and cook in the oven for half an hour, basting frequently. Take up the ducks, skim off the fat, thicken the gravy with a little flour and b.u.t.ter cooked together, pour the sauce over the ducks, and serve.