A Boiled Fowl
Ingredients
Directions
Cook the fowl
Place the fowl in a pot and cover with water.
Add coarse sea salt to taste.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until fully cooked.
Remove the fowl and let it rest before carving.
Carve and serve
Carve the fowl by removing the legs and wings first, then the breast.
Serve hot, garnished with cauliflower if desired.
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 main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks through.
- Coarse sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the meat is flavoured as it simmers.
The step that matters
Simmering until fully cooked. Holding a gentle simmer rather than a hard boil cooks the meat evenly and keeps it tender. Boiling vigorously toughens muscle fibres and can leave the outside overcooked before the centre is done.
“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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