Minced Chicken

A one-portion invalid dish: cold cooked chicken breast bound with a spoonful of flour and broth. The original assumes you know to cook it, so the method needs filling in.

• The missing stepNothing here says to heat the mixture, but the flour has to cook or the dish tastes of raw starch. Stir the flour into the cold broth or milk first, bring it to a simmer for two or three minutes until it thickens, then fold in the minced chicken and heat through to 165F.
• Fine flourPlain white wheat flour, sifted. In period usage "fine flour" generally indicated bolted white flour as against coarser household grades; ordinary modern all-purpose flour is at least as fine as anything meant here.
• New milkFresh whole milk, as opposed to skimmed or the previous day's. Use whole milk; skim gives a thin, watery sauce at these proportions.
• QuantitiesFive or six teaspoonfuls is roughly two tablespoons of liquid to half a teaspoon of flour — a very small amount, producing a moist mince rather than a sauced one. One breast makes a single invalid's serving.
• Mince, not shredChop the cooked breast to a near-paste with a knife rather than pulling it into fibres. The point of invalid cookery was food that needed almost no chewing; long shreds defeat it.
• BrothA light unsalted or low-salt chicken stock. Commercial stock is far saltier than a homemade household broth, so taste before adding the pinch of salt.
• Cold roast chickenUse meat that has been properly refrigerated and is within three or four days of roasting. Reheat once only, and take it to a full steaming heat rather than merely warm.
• ServingServe on a hot plate; thin dry toast or a spoonful of plain boiled rice suits it, though the recipe itself specifies nothing.