Pressed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the chicken
Place the cut-up fowls in a kettle with a tight cover.
Add 2 cups of water, salt, and pepper.
Cook until the meat easily separates from the bones.
Prepare and press
Remove the meat from the skin, bones, and gristle, and chop it for chicken salad.
Season the meat well and place it in a dish.
Pour the remaining cooking juice over the meat.
Let it cool; it will jelly and can be sliced or served in shape.
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
- Fowls
- Provide the meat that cooks tender and sets into a firm pressed mass.
- Cooking juice (in the method)
- Gelatin from the bones and skin sets as it cools, binding the meat into a jelly.
The step that matters
Let it cool undisturbed. The jelly sets only as the cooking liquid cools slowly, thanks to gelatin released from bones and skin. Moving or slicing it too early leaves it loose and crumbly.
“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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