Home › Poultry and Game › Smothered Chicken
Smothered Chicken
2 small chickens or 1 large one Salt and pepper Flour 2 or more tablespoons butter or other fat This is one of the most delicious ways of cooking chicken. Take off the neck and split the chicken down the back, wiping it with a damp towel. Season inside and out with salt and pepper, and dredge on all sides with flour. Lay the chicken, with the inside down, in a small baking-tin, and add a very little water. The pan should be very little larger than the chickens, otherwise the gravy will be too quickly evaporated. Cook slowly for one hour, basting every ten minutes after the first twenty minutes, or cook in a covered baking-pan. Should the chicken be decidedly lacking in fat, add butter or other fat. There will be plenty of gravy in the pan with which to baste if the pan is small. When done, place the chicken on a hot platter, add enough water to make two cups gravy and thicken with two tablespoons flour. Should the chicken be quite fat, remove all but two tablespoons of the oil from the pan before making the gravy. Season with salt and pepper, pour it over the chicken and serve at once. Any small birds may be dressed in this way with the most satisfactory results. The secret of success in this kind of roasting lies in very frequent basting and in not having too hot an oven.
A butterflied bird roasted low in a tight pan, basted until the drippings become the gravy. The recipe's own closing line is the whole method: frequent basting and a restrained oven.
- Oven temperaturen/a
- Pan size is not optionalThe instruction to use a tin "very little larger than the chickens" is what makes the dish work. A wide sheet pan spreads the drippings thin, they evaporate, and there is nothing left to baste with or to build gravy from.
- What "2 small chickens" meansPeriod small chickens were roughly 2 to 2 1/2 lb each; one large is 4 to 5 lb. A modern 4 lb bird split down the back fits the timing well; two 2 lb birds will be done closer to 50 minutes.
- Splitting the birdCut down either side of the backbone with shears and press the bird flat, then lay it skin side up. The text says "inside down," which is the same thing: cavity against the pan, skin exposed to the heat so it browns.
- DonenessOne hour is a guide, not a rule. Take the thickest part of the thigh to 165F to 170F; a flattened bird cooks faster and more evenly than a trussed one.
- Fat in the panModern supermarket chickens are rarely lacking in fat, so the two tablespoons of butter are usually unnecessary. Follow the second half of the instruction instead and pour off all but about two tablespoons of drippings before making the gravy.
- The gravyTwo tablespoons flour to two cups liquid gives a thin, pourable gravy in the period style. Whisk the flour into the reserved fat over heat for a minute before adding liquid, or it will taste raw and pasty.
- YieldA 4 to 5 lb bird serves four; the two cups of gravy are generous for that number and are meant to be poured over the chicken at the table.