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April 27
Menu: Fried Trout; Radishes; Grilled Chickens; Glazed New Potatoes Broiled Tomatoes; Stuffed Cucumber Salad; Cheese Sticks; Roman Cream; Coffee Grilled Chickens-Have small spring chickens, clean and wipe well, and split down back. Soak them for an hour in olive oil that is seasoned with an onion sliced, some salt, pepper, parsley and lemon juice. Lift them from this dressing, and without wiping at all, but sprinkling over them a little flour, set to broil over a clear fire. Melt 4 tablespoons Crisco, add to it juice of 1 lemon, glass of Madeira and tablespoon cooked ham chopped as finely as it is possible to get it. Have this sauce hot, and put over chickens when taking them up.
A spatchcocked bird, marinated in seasoned oil and finished with a Madeira-and-ham butter — straightforward once the archaic quantities and the fire are translated.
- The hinge: a clear fire"Clear fire" means coals burned down past the flame stage, glowing and even, with no smoke and nothing flaring. Oil-soaked chicken over live flame will catch; bank the coals to one side so the birds can finish over indirect heat once the skin has coloured.
- Spring chickensA spring chicken in 1913 was a young bird of roughly 1½ to 2½ lb, sold at a few months old. The nearest modern equivalent is a poussin or a small broiler; two 2 lb birds, split, will serve four.
- Split down backThis is spatchcocking. Cut either side of the backbone with shears, open the bird out and press the breastbone flat so it lies level on the grill and cooks evenly.
- Glass of MadeiraA wine glass in period cookbooks is about ¼ cup, sometimes as much as ½ cup; the measurement is genuinely loose. Start with ¼ cup and let it reduce a minute before mounting the sauce, or the sauce will taste raw and thin.
- CriscoThe book is a promotional volume, so shortening appears where a French cook would have used butter. Four tablespoons of butter makes a better pan sauce here; if you want the original texture, shortening is still sold under the same name.
- The flour dustingA light sprinkle only, patted on over the oil. It is there to help the skin brown and crisp; a heavy coating will scorch and taste of raw flour over coals.
- DonenessCook to 165F at the thickest part of the thigh, away from bone — roughly 25 to 35 minutes for a 2 lb split bird, skin side down first. The oil marinade browns the skin fast and can suggest the bird is done before it is.
- The ham"Cooked ham chopped as finely as it is possible to get it" means a mince close to a paste. Use a well-cured cooked ham for the salt note. Add it off the heat so it warms without frying.
- Stray textThe "Coffee" heading and the trailing "April 28 Shad, Stuffed and Baked" belong to the surrounding menu calendar, not to this dish.
The Story of Crisco (1913) was written by Marion Harris Neil for Procter & Gamble, two years after Crisco was introduced as the first widely marketed all-vegetable hydrogenated shortening, and its purpose was to show housekeepers that the new fat could stand in for butter and lard in every branch of cookery. The "Calendar of Dinners" section supplied a menu for each day of the year, which is why this recipe sits wedged between a coffee heading and the next day's baked shad. Broiled spring chicken was a familiar American preparation well before 1913, when young birds came to market seasonally in spring and were split and grilled rather than roasted. Madeira, long a staple of American sideboards because it survived the sea voyage well, was a common fortified wine for such sauces.