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Jellied Chicken
Cook six chickens in a small quantity of water, until the meat will part from the bone easily; season to taste with salt and pepper; just as soon as cold enough to handle, remove bones and skin; place meat in a deep pan or mold, just as it comes from the bone, using gizzard, liver and heart, until the mold is nearly full. To the water left in the kettle, add three-fourths of a box of Cox's gelatine (some add juice of lemon), dissolved in a little warm water, and boil until it is reduced to a little less than a quart, pour over the chicken in the mold, leave to cool, cut with a very sharp knife and serve. The slices will not easily break up if directions are followed.-Mrs. Prof. Roberts, Cape Girardeau, Mo.
A large-format pressed chicken in aspic, written for a household with a cold cellar and a crowd to feed. The technique is sound; the scale and the cooling instructions need attention.
- Scale it downChickens of the period generally ran smaller than modern birds, and the full mold would feed twenty or more. A quarter of the recipe -- about one 4 lb chicken and a scant cup of the reduced stock -- fills a standard 9x5 loaf pan and serves six to eight.
- Cox's gelatineJ. & G. Cox of Edinburgh sold gelatine by the box; a box is usually reckoned at about an ounce, which would make three-fourths of a box roughly 3/4 oz, or about three envelopes of modern powdered gelatine. For a quart of already gelatine-rich chicken stock that is generous; two envelopes per quart gives a firm slice, three gives a rubbery one. Bloom it in cold water first rather than warm.
- The stock is half the setting powerSimmering that many carcasses in "a small quantity of water" produces a broth that will gel on its own once reduced. Chill a spoonful on a saucer before adding all the gelatine and judge from there.
- Pack the meat warmThis is the hinge. Boning and layering the meat while it is still warm, then pouring hot liquid over it, lets the shreds knit as the aspic sets. Cold, dry meat packed loosely gives a loaf that crumbles under the knife no matter how much gelatine is used.
- Cool it in the refrigerator"Leave to cool" meant a cold pantry. A deep mold of warm meat and stock sits in the bacterial danger zone for hours on a modern countertop. Get it into the refrigerator once the steam has stopped rising and leave it overnight, at least 8 hours, before turning out.
- Season past the point that seems rightCold food tastes flatter than hot. Salt and pepper the broth until it is slightly too assertive warm; it will read as correct at refrigerator temperature. The optional lemon juice does the same work and is worth including.
- The gibletsGizzard and heart chop into the loaf without comment. Liver turns grainy and muddies the aspic — leave it out unless you want that flavour throughout.
- SlicingDip the mold briefly in hot water to release it, then cut with a thin blade warmed under the tap and wiped between slices. Half-inch slices hold; anything thinner tends to break.
Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping (1877) was compiled from contributions by named Midwestern housewives, and this entry carries its author's town and her husband's title in the usual community-cookbook fashion. Jellied or pressed chicken belongs to the cold larder — the dishes made in quantity on a cooking day, set in a deep pan, and sliced through the week for suppers, picnics and church socials. What makes the recipe possible at this scale is commercial gelatine sold by the box: J. & G. Cox of Edinburgh were among the best-known suppliers in the American market before Charles Knox's granulated product took over in the 1890s, and cookbooks of the period name brands the way we would name a cut of meat. Earlier households got the same set by boiling calves' feet for hours, which is why aspics were once a mark of an ambitious kitchen and, by the 1870s, simply a sensible way to use six chickens at once.