Boiled Fowl
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the fowl
Pluck the fowl.
Singe the fowl.
Clean the fowl.
Wipe the fowl.
Remove the sinews.
Cut the legs off at the drumstick.
Cut the neck off close to the body, leaving a long neck skin.
Loosen the skin around the legs.
Push the legs inside the cavity.
Twist the wings over the back of the bird.
Truss the wings and legs together with string.
Push the tail inside.
Fasten the ends of the drumstick.
Wrap the fowl in cloth or buttered paper with lemon slices on the breast.
Cook and serve
Plunge the fowl into boiling water.
Simmer for 1 to 1.5 hours, depending on size.
Remove the string and paper.
Place the fowl on a hot dish.
Keep warm.
Pour a suitable sauce over the fowl.
Garnish with cut lemon and hard-boiled egg yolk.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Fowl
- Provides the meat, which becomes tender through long, gentle simmering in water.
- Lemon
- Adds a bright acidity and aroma that lightly flavours the breast meat during cooking.
The step that matters
Plunge the fowl into boiling water. Starting in boiling water seals the surface and helps keep the skin and meat intact. Holding the water at a gentle simmer afterward keeps the meat tender rather than tough and stringy.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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