To Stew a Turkey or Fowl

A plain braise for a bird past its roasting prime: the vegetables are cut small so they collapse into the liquid and become the sauce. The whole method depends on heat low enough that the water never really boils.

• The hinge: keep it below a simmer"as slowly as possible" implies a bare trembling rather than a boil, and in modern terms that is somewhere below the simmering point; a covered pan helps. A rolling boil will shred the breast into strings before the legs of an old bird give way.
• What an old fowl wasA hen past her laying prime, tough-muscled and full of flavour. Supermarket chicken will be tender in an hour and needs no such treatment; if you can find a boiling fowl or stewing hen, allow roughly 2 to 3 hours.
• Turkey timingA whole turkey will not fit most saucepans. Use legs and thighs, which suit long moist cooking, and reckon on 1.5 to 2 hours. Turkey breast dries out even in liquid, so keep it out or add it late.
• Cover with water, not stockAn old bird makes its own broth as it goes, which is half the point. Just cover, no more, or you dilute the result to nothing.
• Bunch of sweet-herbsPeriod shorthand for a small tied bundle of kitchen herbs, commonly parsley and thyme with a bay leaf, though the mixture varied. Tie it with string so it lifts out cleanly.
• VegetablesCabbage, turnip, celery and onion cut fine will disintegrate over two hours, which is intended. If you want vegetables to serve as vegetables, cook a second batch in the broth for the last 20 minutes.
• Finishing the liquorThe broth will be thin and rather pale. Strain it, skim the fat, and reduce hard or thicken with a little flour-and-butter paste before serving.
• YieldA 4-5 lb bird with its vegetables serves four to six, with plenty of broth left for soup.