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Broiled Chickens or Quails
Cut chicken open on the back, lay on the meat-board and pound until it will lie flat, lay on gridiron, place over a bed of coals, broil until a nice brown, but do not burn. It will take twenty or thirty minutes to cook thoroughly, and it will cook much better to cover with a pie-tin held down with a weight so that all parts of the chicken may lie close to the gridiron. While the chicken is broiling, put the liver, gizzard and heart in a stew-pan and boil in a pint of water until tender, chop fine and add flour, butter, pepper, salt, and stir a cup of sweet cream to the water in which they were boiled; when the chicken is done, dip it in this gravy while hot, lay it back on the gridiron a minute, put it in the gravy and let boil for a half minute, and send to the table hot. Cook quails in the same way.- Mrs. A. S. Chapman.
This is spatchcocked chicken over live coals, with a giblet gravy made alongside. The method transfers cleanly to a charcoal grill or a hot oven; the timings do not.
- Cut open on the backSplit the bird along either side of the backbone and press the breastbone flat — what is now called spatchcocking. Pounding is not necessary if you crack the keel bone with the heel of your hand.
- The weighted pie-tinThis is the hinge of the recipe. A weight holds every part of the bird in contact with the heat so the thighs finish with the breast. A foil-wrapped brick or a cast-iron skillet set on top does the same job.
- Gridiron and coalsA hinged grill basket over medium charcoal is the closest equivalent. Build a two-zone fire: skin-side down over direct heat to brown, then finish over the cooler side, or the fat flare-ups will blacken it before the thighs are done.
- Twenty or thirty minutesTwenty or thirty minutes suits a small bird, and broiling fowl of this period were young and light — considerably smaller than a supermarket chicken. A modern 3.5 to 4 lb chicken, spatchcocked and weighted, is likely to want closer to 40 to 50 minutes. Cook to 165F in the thickest part of the thigh rather than by the clock.
- QuailsWhole quail run about 4 to 6 oz and are done in roughly 8 to 12 minutes total. Applying the chicken timing to them produces something dry and papery. Farmed quail can often be found frozen at butchers and specialty markets.
- Sweet creamMeans fresh unsoured cream, as opposed to the sour cream the period kitchen also kept on hand. Use heavy cream; there is no sugar involved.
- The giblet gravySimmering giblets in a pint of water for tenderness is sound, but the liver goes grainy and bitter if boiled long — add it for the last five minutes only. No quantities are given for the flour and butter; a tablespoon of each, cooked together before the giblet liquor goes in, gives the right body for about a cup of stock and a cup of cream.
- Dipping the birdThe dip-broil-dip sequence glazes the skin. Keep it brief, as the recipe says, or the crust you have just built will soften.
- YieldOne spatchcocked chicken serves two to three; allow one or two quail per person.
Broiling in this period means cooking on a gridiron directly over hardwood coals, not the overhead element that later took the name in American kitchens — a gridiron was standard hearth equipment and survived the arrival of the cast-iron range, which is why Buckeye Cookery (first published in Ohio in the 1870s and reissued through the 1880s) can assume every reader owns one. The book was compiled from contributions by named local women, and this entry carries Mrs. A. S. Chapman's name in the usual style. Chicken and quail are paired in a single set of directions, the two treated as interchangeable for the purpose. The giblet gravy is thrift of a familiar kind — the liver, gizzard and heart put to use, and the cooking water becoming the base of the sauce.