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Pressed Chicken
Take one or two chickens, boil in a small quantity of water with a little salt, and when thoroughly done, take all the meat from the bones, removing the skin, and keeping the light meat separate from the dark; chop and season to taste with salt and pepper. If a meat presser is at hand take it, or any other mold such as a crock or pan will do; put in a layer of light and a layer of dark meat till all is used, add the liquor it was boiled in, which should be about one tea-cupful, and put on a heavy weight; when cold cut in slices. Many chop all the meat together, add one pounded cracker to the liquor it was boiled in, and mix all thoroughly before putting in the mold; either way is nice. Boned turkey can be prepared in the same way, slicing instead of chopping.
A pressed chicken loaf that sets on its own gelatin rather than added gelatine. The whole thing hinges on the cooking liquor being concentrated enough to gel, so treat the boiling water as an ingredient and not a medium.
- "A small quantity of water"Use just enough to cover the birds, no more. The liquor is the only binder here; if it is dilute the loaf will crumble when sliced. Simmer a 4-5 lb chicken about 1 hour, until the meat pulls easily from the bone.
- Tea-cupfulPeriod teacup measures were not standardised; reckon it somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 cup rather than a modern mug. Strain the liquor and reduce it to about that volume; cooled on a spoon it should feel tacky and set to a soft jelly in the refrigerator. If it will not gel, a little unflavoured gelatine is a reasonable modern insurance.
- Meat presserA mold with a weighted or screw-down lid, sold for this sort of job; designs varied. A loaf pan works: line it with plastic wrap, pack the meat in hard, cover with a second pan or a board, and load it with a few cans, about 3-5 lb of weight.
- Pounded crackerA plain soda cracker, crushed fine, standing in as a thickener where the liquor is thin. Period crackers ran larger than a modern saltine, so allow a rounded tablespoon or so of crumbs; it firms the loaf without being detectable.
- Light and dark in layersThe layered version presumably serves appearance, slicing into a two-tone pattern on a cold platter. Chop by hand to a coarse dice rather than using a food processor, which turns the breast to paste and the whole loaf pasty.
- ChillingPress in the refrigerator, not on a counter, and give it at least 6 hours or overnight. Cooked chicken held at room temperature for hours is the one real risk in this dish; keep it cold and eat within three days.
- Season past the point that seems rightCold food reads bland. Salt and pepper the chopped meat while it is still warm, then taste a spoonful after it has cooled before committing it to the mold.
- Yield and servingTwo chickens will roughly fill a standard 9x5 loaf pan, depending on their size, and give something like 8-10 servings. Cut in 1/2-inch slices with a thin sharp knife, for sandwiches or a cold plate with mustard or pickles.
Pressed chicken belongs to the long tradition of cold moulded meats that let a household stretch a boiled fowl across several meals in the days before refrigeration made leftovers casual. Buckeye Cookery (1877, out of Marysville, Ohio) is a compilation of contributed household recipes, and its poultry chapter assumes a bird that arrived whole and had to be used entirely: broth, meat, and bones all accounted for. The technique is the same one behind English potted and brawn dishes -- collagen from skin and bones dissolves in a small amount of water, then sets the chopped meat into a sliceable block under weight. The mention of a "meat presser" is a period detail, though the recipe's "if a meat presser is at hand" and its list of substitutes suggest it was far from universal equipment. The recipe also offers boned turkey treated the same way.