Pressed Chicken
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the chicken
Cut up the chicken and boil it until the meat separates from the bones.
Remove all the bones and shred the meat.
Thicken and set
Boil the broth until it thickens to a jelly‑like consistency, or use less broth and add cornstarch to thicken.
Add the shredded meat to the broth and season with salt.
Bring to a boil, then pour into a mold and place a weight on top.
Once cooled, slice and serve.
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
- Chicken
- Provides the meat and the collagen from bones and skin that gels as the broth cools.
- Cornstarch
- Thickens the broth if it is reduced too little to set, adding body to the jelly.
The step that matters
Boiling the broth until it thickens. Aspic sets only when the broth is concentrated enough to gel as it cools. Gelatin from collagen does the setting, so a thin broth will stay liquid. Cornstarch can add body, but it does not produce the same clear, firm set.
“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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