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Chicken Baked in Milk
1 roasting chicken 3 cups stale bread crumbs 1 cup seeded raisins 2 tablespoons melted shortening 3 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon salt Pepper 2 qts. rich milk Prepare chicken for roasting. Stuff with dressing made of crumbs, raisins, shortening, sugar, salt and pepper mixed in this order. Place stuffed chicken in roaster, add milk, cover and bake in moderate oven until tender, about 1 hour, turning and basting every 15 minutes. Thicken gravy in pan, season with salt, pepper and sugar to taste. Serves six.
A milk-braised stuffed chicken from a set of high-calorie invalid diets. The milk is the point: it enriches the bird and yields a sweetened gravy that carries a lot of energy in a small serving.
- Oven temperature"Moderate oven" here means 350F. The covered roaster keeps the milk from scorching, so no higher heat is needed or wanted.
- The hour is too shortA whole "roasting chicken" of the period ran 3-5 lb; one hour will not bring the thigh joint and the stuffing to a safe temperature. Cook until the thickest part of the thigh reads 165F and the centre of the stuffing reads 165F as well, which for a 4 lb bird braised at 350F is closer to 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
- Stuff loosely, or not at allPacked bread stuffing inside a bird heats slowly and is the usual reason the centre stays cool. Spoon it in loosely, or bake the dressing alongside in the milk and skip the guesswork.
- "Rich milk"In recipes of this period the term generally meant whole milk, often with cream added or not yet separated off. Use whole milk, or whole milk with a cup of cream replacing a cup of the milk. Skim milk will curdle to a thin, grainy liquid with little to thicken.
- Expect the milk to breakTwo quarts of milk held at 350F for well over an hour is likely to separate into curd and whey. That is normal for this style of dish; whisking the pan liquid smooth as you thicken it, or straining it, gives a presentable gravy.
- ShorteningThe recipe specifies only "melted shortening," which at the time could be a vegetable shortening or lard. Melted butter can be substituted measure for measure and improves the dressing.
- BastingEvery fifteen minutes with the lid off loses a great deal of heat and lengthens the cook. Two or three bastings over the whole time is plenty, since the bird is half-submerged.
- Thickening the gravyNo thickener is named. A standard working proportion is roughly 3 tablespoons flour whisked into a little cold milk per 2 cups of pan liquid, simmered a few minutes to cook out the raw taste.
- YieldSix portions as written, and richer than the plain roast chicken it resembles. Serve some of the gravy over the dressing, which is where most of the sugar and raisins end up.