Boiled Chicken, 1849

Trying out a new historic receipt in the modern kitchen. Boiled meats routinely figure into mid-19th century bills of fare, and I haven't done much with them, so I thought I'd give it a try. The receipt I selected is from Mrs. Putnam's Receipt Book (Boston, 1849). It seems fairly straight forward:

BOILED CHICKENS--Dressed and boiled the same as a turkey. Some cooks do not stuff boiled chickens or turkeys, but the dressing adds as much to the boiled as to the roast. Pork boiled with chickens is very necessary. A pair of chickens requires from one to two hours to boil depending upon the size and age.

Like a boiled turkey, ok:

BOILED TURKEY. Is dressed the same as for roasting except in the dressing. Put in the pork chopped very fine instead of butter. In trussing, turn the wings on the back instead of the sides as for roasting; flour a cloth well, pin up the turkey tight, put it into boiling water where one or two pounds of salt pork have been boiling some time; let this boil with the turkey. Dish the pork with the turkey on a separate dish with some parsley. Serve with oyster sauce. A turkey weighing eight pounds requires an hour and a half to boil. 

While I appreciate the succinct receipts, this is quickly devolving into reading the whole chapter backward:

ROAST TURKEY-- A turkey should be well singed and cleaned of pinfeathers, then draw the inwards. Be sure you take every thing out that is inside. Lay the turkey into cold water, clean the gizzards, liver, heart, and neck, let all soak one hour if you have time. Wash all very clean, wipe the turkey very dry inside and out. Make a dressing of two cups of bread crumbs one tea spoonful of salt two large spoonsful of sweet marjoram two spoonsful of butter one egg and mix them well together. Cut the skin of the turkey in the back part of the neck that the breast may look plump fill the breast with the force meat and sew it up. If you have any more force meat than is required for the breast put the remainder into the body and skewer the vent tie the legs down very tight skewer the wings down to the sides and turn the neck on to the back with a strong skewer. Baste with salt and water once then frequently with butter fifteen minutes before dishing dredge with a little salt and flour and baste with butter for the last time. This will give a fine frothy appearance and add to the flavor of the turkey. To make the gravy put the gizzard neck and liver into a saucepan with a quart of water a little pepper salt and mace put it on the fire and let it boil to about a half pint. When done braid up the liver very fine with a knife put it back into the water it has boiled in then add the drippings of the turkey and a little flour and give it one boil stirring it all the time. Dish the gizzard with the turkey. Allow twelve minutes to a pound for the time to roast a turkey 

So, when all is said and done, that amounts to: after removing all feathers/organs, soak the bird in cold water; stuff the bird with a forcemeat of bread/pork/marjoram/salt/egg; tie the legs/wings in position; dredge with salt and flour; tie the chicken in a cloth and boil 1-2 hours with some salt pork.

That is what I did. I used some left-over ham for the salt pork, adding a generous pinch of salt to the water the chicken boiled in. It ended up going a bit over 2 hours, to finish when the bread was ready.

Et voila:

Pale, but it did exceed 165F.

For the gravy, I referred to the roast chicken receipt:

ROAST CHICKENS. Dress and roast the same as a turkey. A pair of chickens weighing six pounds requires an hour and a half to roast. Make the gravy the same as for a turkey except the mace which is to be omitted. 

And thus also back to the turkey one. As it says, I look the organs and stewed them down a bit, strained off the large bits, then finished it with some salt, pepper, and flour. It made a mild, but acceptable gravy. I really like mace with chicken, so I proceeded to add a pinch of it as well, which proved tasty.

Boiling chicken, boiling potatoes, boiling gravy.

The boiled fowl came out quite pale, without the crisp brown exterior I associate with a well-roasted piece of meat. As one would expect. The internal temperature exceeded 165F, so I deemed it safe to eat. The meat was so tender that it fell apart as I attempted to "carve" it. [I can't carve, so it was always going to be a bit of a mess.] 

The flavor was fine. It tasted like chicken. I'm not a huge stuffing fan, but I didn't notice any particular changes to the chicken meat from the use of the pork stuffing. I can see how this dish would be useful in a historic kitchen with a copper (ie, built-in water boiling apparatus), particularly if stove/hearth space is at a premium while preparing a large meal. Outside that logistic consideration or a deliberate attempt to follow a period bill of fare, I don't think I'll be making this often. I prefer the crisp finish of a roasted bird, and working on an electric range it's even easier to oven-roast a chicken than to boil it.