Home › The Principles of Cookery › Rice and Chicken

Rice and Chicken

Wash half a pound of rice in two or three waters, throw it into boiling water, and let it boil gently for a quarter of an hour. Drain it on a sieve. Truss a plump young chicken for boiling. Put it into a stewpan with the rice, a slice of butter, a pinch of salt, six or eight peppercorns, and a small onion. Pour in as much veal stock or water as will cover the fowl and the rice, cover the saucepan closely, bring the liquor to the boil, then draw the saucepan to the side, and let all simmer very gently until the chicken is done enough. Take it up, and keep it hot. Strain the rice, and let it swell for a minute or two on a sieve before the fire. Strain the gravy, thicken it with a little flour and butter, add a quarter of a pint of cream, and further seasoning if required, then heat it again. Serve the fowl in the centre of a dish, with the rice neatly arranged round it, a little of the sauce poured over it, and the rest in a tureen. Serve immediately. Time to simmer the chicken, half an hour to three-quarters of an hour from the time the stock boils. Probable cost, 5s. or more, according to the price of the chicken. Sufficient for four or five persons.