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RICE AND CHICKEN (another way)
Boil a chicken and a quarter of a pound of rice as in the preceding recipe. Drain off the rice and beat it thoroughly till quite smooth, with a slice of butter, a little pepper, salt, and grated nutmeg, and as much curry-powder as will make it a bright yellow colour. Spread part of the rice on a dish, lay the fowl upon it, and put the rest of the rice round it, leaving the breast uncovered. Make the surface of the rice smooth, and place upon it a border of hard-boiled eggs cut into quarters lengthwise. Strain the gravy in which the rice was boiled, and serve in a tureen.
A Victorian moulded dish: a poached fowl set on and surrounded by a smooth, curry-tinted rice paste, ringed with quartered eggs. It depends on two things the original assumes you already know — how long the bird took, and that the rice is meant to be worked into a spreadable mass rather than left in grains.
- The missing preceding recipeThe preceding recipe is not reproduced here, but this one's closing line — the gravy "in which the rice was boiled" — shows the rice was cooked in liquor that is then strained and served as the sauce, so keep it and do not let it reduce to nothing.
- A quarter of a pound of rice4 oz dry rice, a generous half cup, which cooks up to something like 2 cups. That is a modest amount for coating a whole bird; if you want full coverage rather than a thin layer, double it and scale the butter and seasoning with it.
- A slice of butterA period phrase for a piece cut from the block, about 1 to 2 tablespoons. Add it while the rice is still hot so it melts in as you work.
- Poaching the birdThe original probably assumes a mature boiling fowl, which would have needed two hours or more. A modern 4 to 5 lb chicken is done in 60 to 75 minutes at a bare simmer — water trembling, not bubbling — and should reach 165F at the thigh joint. A rolling boil will shred the breast and cloud the broth you need for the sauce.
- Beating the rice smoothThis is the hinge. Work the hot drained rice with a wooden spoon or a masher until the grains break down into a stiff, spreadable paste that will hold a moulded shape. Use short bursts if you resort to a food processor; the starch turns to glue quickly, and glue will not take a smooth surface.
- Curry-powder for colourThe recipe fixes the quantity by appearance rather than taste, though the powder sits among the seasonings and will flavour the rice as well. Commercial curry powders vary enormously in heat; a turmeric-forward mild blend gives the bright yellow intended, while a hot Madras-style powder will overwhelm the dish long before the colour arrives. Start with a teaspoon and add by half-teaspoons.
- The gravyStrained cooking broth, nothing more — it will be thin and needs salt. Skim the fat, taste, and reduce it a little if it is weak. Serve it hot in a jug or small tureen so the rice does not go soggy on the dish.
- Yield and servingA 4 to 5 lb bird serves four to six. Assemble on a warmed platter shortly before serving; the rice sets firm as it cools and is easiest to smooth while still warm. Carve at the table through the uncovered breast.
The bright yellow rice and the border of quartered eggs mark this as an Anglo-Indian dish filtered through the English kitchen, a cousin of the pilau and kedgeree. By the time Cassell's was compiled, commercial curry powder had been sold in British grocers for decades, and here it works less for its own sake than to give a dish colour and a suggestion of the East — the recipe asks for "as much curry-powder as will make it a bright yellow," a quantity defined by appearance rather than taste. The dish also belongs to a thrifty tradition of dressing up a boiled fowl: the bird was cooked simply to yield both meat and stock, the rice cooked in that stock so nothing was wasted, and the presentation — moulded rice, smoothed surface, egg border, uncovered breast for carving — did the work that richness could not. Recipes of this kind were often set out in pairs as "another way," showing a cook how one boiled chicken might be made to look like two different dinners.