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Boned Chicken
Pick and singe the chicken and cut off the head and feet, but do not draw it. With a sharp penknife slit the chicken down the back; then, keeping the knife close to the bones, scrape down the sides, and the bones will come out. Leave the drumsticks and wing bones in, but break them at the joints. Stuff the chicken with chopped cold, cooked ham, seasoned with salt and pepper, a teaspoon of summer savory, and the juice of one lemon; add two tablespoons of chopped salt pork. In stuffing, give the chicken, as far as possible, its original shape, and sew it up securely. Turn the ends of the wings under the back, cie or skewer them firmly, and tie the legs down close to the body, so that the top will present a plump surface to carve in slices across. Lard the chicken with two rows of fat pork on the top. Bake until done, basting often. Allow fifteen minutes to a pound in baking. Serve with aspic jelly.
A boned, stuffed and roasted fowl in the galantine tradition, written for cooks who had butchered poultry at home. Two things need translating: the boning sequence, and the fact that no oven temperature is given anywhere.
- "Do not draw it" — and what must still come outThe bird is left undrawn only because the viscera come away with the carcass as you lift the frame out through the back. Before stuffing, check the cavity carefully and remove any remaining lungs, kidneys, crop, windpipe and the oil gland at the tail; nothing but clean flesh should be left.
- Boning toolsA penknife is what a 1911 kitchen had to hand. A short, flexible boning knife does the job faster: work down each side keeping the blade scraping against bone, free the shoulder and hip joints, then lift the ribcage and breastbone out in one piece.
- Buying the birdA modern 4-5 lb roasting chicken is the right size. It will arrive plucked, drawn and headless, so the picking, singeing and cutting off of head and feet are moot — though a quick pass over a gas flame still deals with residual pin feathers.
- Oven temperatureNone is given anywhere in the recipe. A moderate roasting heat of around 350F suits a stuffed, larded bird that needs frequent basting.
- Timing and donenessFifteen minutes to the pound is a rough guide only, and a boned bird behaves differently from a bone-in one. Roast to 165F taken in the thickest part of the meat and again in the centre of the ham stuffing, which is the slowest point to heat.
- Larding"Two rows of fat pork on the top" means strips laid over the breast, or threaded through the surface with a larding needle. Thin-sliced fatback or unsmoked streaky bacon does the same work; without it the exposed, boned breast dries out.
- Summer savoryStill sold dried, though less common than it was. It is peppery and thyme-like; a teaspoon of dried thyme with a pinch of sage is the nearest substitute.
- Trussing"Cie" is a typesetting slip for "tie". Sew the back closed with a trussing needle and kitchen string, then tie the bird crosswise every inch or so, as you would a rolled roast, to hold the loaf shape while it cooks.
- ServingAspic jelly signals that this was often eaten cold, sliced straight across the plump top as the recipe says. Chill the roasted bird under a light weight overnight before slicing. Serves six to eight as a cold dish.
The Butterick Cook Book (1911) came from the same New York firm that sold dress patterns, and it was aimed at the middle-class housekeeper who wanted a company dish without a professional cook. A boned fowl is exactly that: the technique belongs to the French galantine, in which the bird is emptied of bone, packed with a forcemeat, reshaped and served cold in jelly, but here it is stripped of the pistachios and truffles a hotel kitchen would have used and stuffed with chopped cold ham and salt pork instead — thrift dressed as elegance. The instruction to leave it undrawn is a reminder that this was written for households buying poultry whole; the boning itself does the eviscerating. Aspic jelly would have been the natural finish, and the emphasis on a plump surface that carves "in slices across" points to the cold buffet table rather than the hot dinner.