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CHICKEN, BROILED (with Mushroom Sauce)
Pick and wash a chicken carefully, and dry it in a cloth; cut it down the back, truss the legs and wings as it for boiling, and flatten both sides as much as possible. It is always better to boil it gently for a few minutes before it is broiled, but this is often omitted. When cold, brush it all over with clarified butter, and remember to baste it now and then whilst cooking it; broil it over a clear, low fire. It should be placed a good distance from the fire, and the inside should be put to it first. The butter should be renewed three or four times. Serve very hot, and let stewed mushrooms be sent to table on a separate dish. Time, half to three-quarters of an hour. Sufficient for two persons. A small, young chicken should be chosen for this method of cooking.
This is spatchcocked chicken over coals, written for a gridiron and an open grate. The method translates directly to a charcoal grill or a gas grill run low, and reasonably well to an oven broiler.
- "Broiled" means grilledIn this book broiling is cooking on a gridiron over a fire, not under an overhead element. A charcoal or gas grill held at moderate heat, lid down for part of the time, is the closest match; an oven broiler works but you will need to move the bird further from the element than feels natural to avoid scorching before the thigh is done.
- Cut it down the backThis is spatchcocking. Split along the backbone, open the bird out, and press it flat, cracking the breastbone if needed. Two skewers pushed through crosswise keep it flat and make turning easy, which is more practical than the trussing described.
- Bird sizeA "small, young chicken" here is a bird of a few pounds at most, closer to a poussin or a spring chicken than a modern roaster; no weight is given in the text. A supermarket bird of 3 1/2 to 4 lb will feed four and needs longer than the stated time.
- The parboilThe few minutes of gentle boiling is insurance against a raw thigh joint, and it is worth doing for a larger bird. Drain and dry it thoroughly and let it cool before buttering, or the fat will not adhere and the skin will steam rather than colour.
- Clarified butterButter with the milk solids removed, so it can take grill heat without burning black. Ghee is the closest off-the-shelf equivalent, though it is cooked further and tastes nuttier. Ordinary melted butter will scorch over coals.
- Fire managementA "clear, low fire" means coals burned down past the flame stage, with no flare-up. Cut side to the heat first, since the bone side takes the longer, harsher cooking; finish skin side down briefly for colour.
- Doneness, not clock timeHalf to three-quarters of an hour suits a very small bird over gentle heat. Judge by an instant-read thermometer in the thickest part of the thigh, away from bone: 165F. Juices running clear at the joint is the period test and is less reliable.
- The mushroom sauce"Stewed mushrooms" here are mushrooms cooked down in butter with a little stock or cream, seasoned, and served in their own dish rather than poured over. Brown them hard first so they do not release water into the sauce.
- YieldTwo people, as stated, only with the small bird the recipe assumes.
Broiling over a gridiron was the everyday alternative to roasting on a spit in kitchens with an open grate, and it suited small birds that would dry out on the spit. Splitting a chicken down the back and flattening it is old practice across Europe, and the technique survives under names such as spatchcock in Britain and Ireland and pollo al mattone, chicken under a brick, in Italy. Cassell's dates from the late Victorian period, when coal ranges were displacing open fires; the recipe also calls for boiling the bird briefly first, an instruction noted here as often omitted, though no reason for it is given. The mushroom sauce sent separately may reflect a service convention of the period, in which sauces were often kept off the meat so diners could take them or not.