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Broiled Chickens
After having washed the chickens, split down the back bone and steam them for one hour. After having done this, place them on a gridiron over a hot bed of coals, when nicely browned put them on a warm platter with plenty of butter, pepper and salt. In broiling this way they cook more evenly and are better than to broil without steaming. Garnish chickens with parsley or hard boiled eggs, sliced around the platter.
A two-stage method — steam first, then finish over live coals — that still works, though the timings assume a tougher bird than anything sold today.
- The hinge: steam only to just-doneAn hour of steaming was calibrated to a farmyard bird of indeterminate age. A supermarket broiler of 3 to 4 lb, split, is cooked through in 20 to 30 minutes of steaming; longer and the breast turns to cotton before it ever reaches the fire. Steam until the thigh joint moves freely, then finish over heat.
- Split down the back boneThis is spatchcocking. Cut through the backbone with shears from tail to neck and press the bird flat, breast up, so it lies evenly on the grid. Leave the breastbone intact or the halves will curl.
- Gridiron over coalsA grate of parallel iron bars, or a hinged wire broiler, held over the fire. A charcoal or gas grill does the same job; under a broiler set 4 to 5 inches from the element also works. The bird is already cooked at this point, so the fire is for colour and skin only — five to eight minutes a side.
- DonenessTake the thigh to 165F on a thermometer. Because the steaming does the cooking, check at the end of that stage rather than trying to judge it after browning.
- Butter, pepper and saltThe butter works as a sauce rather than a garnish: a few tablespoons, with salt and coarse pepper, melting into the platter juices. A warmed platter matters — cold china sets the butter into streaks.
- Size of chickens intendedBroilers of the period were generally small birds, often in the range of 1½ to 2 lb apiece, though this recipe specifies nothing about size or number of servings. If using a single modern 4 lb chicken, count on four servings.
- The garnishHard-boiled eggs sliced around the rim and parsley is period presentation, not flavouring. Serve promptly if you want the skin crisp.
Broiled chicken was standard American breakfast fare in the second half of the nineteenth century, when a hot morning meal of meat, eggs, breads and coffee was assumed in any household with a cook and a coal range. The steam-then-broil sequence in this recipe is a practical answer to a problem modern cooks rarely face: birds were often laying hens or older cockerels past their prime, with muscle that dry heat alone would only toughen, and the moist first stage did the tenderising that age had prevented. The gridiron itself — a hinged wire frame or set of parallel iron bars held over the open firebox — carried over from the open hearth into the closed-stove era. Garnishing with sliced hard-boiled egg and parsley was a common platter dressing of the period, applied to fish, cold meats and poultry alike.