A Boiled Fowl
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the pot
Fill a large pot with water.
Add salt to the water.
Bring the water to a boil.
Add the whole fowl to the boiling water.
Reduce heat and simmer until fully cooked.
Carve
To carve, fix a fork in the center of the breast.
Remove the leg and wing together.
Separate the meat by cutting through the flesh and lifting it from the breast.
Disengage the neck-bones by cutting at the joint and breaking the short bone off.
Cut through the tender ribs to divide the breast from the body.
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 becomes tender and firm as it cooks through in simmering water.
- Sea salt
- Seasons the cooking water so the chicken takes up some flavor as it simmers.
The step that matters
Simmer until fully cooked. Simmering keeps the water below a hard boil, so the meat cooks through gently and stays moist rather than turning tough and stringy. Cooking should be confirmed by checking that the meat is cooked through before carving.
“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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