Boiled Fowl
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare
Truss and prepare the fowl carefully, avoiding breaking the skin.
Wrap the fowl in a sheet of white buttered paper.
Cook
Place it in a clean stewpan or saucepan with plenty of lukewarm water.
Bring the water to a boil, then skim the surface.
Cook for 15 minutes, then turn the fowl over and cook for another 15 minutes.
If the fowl weighs about 3 pounds, this cooking time is sufficient.
Serve
Serve with a white sauce, béchamel sauce, or parsley and butter.
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
- Is the main protein, cooked gently in water so its flesh becomes tender and moist.
- White buttered paper
- Wraps the bird so the skin is shielded and stays intact during simmering.
The step that matters
Bring the water to a boil, then skim the surface. Skimming removes foam and coagulated proteins that rise as the water heats, keeping the broth clear and the bird's surface clean. Keep the cooking gentle after boiling to avoid toughening the meat.
“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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