Roast Chicken

Singe, clean, wash, stuff and truss a chicken.

Place breast down on rack in dripping pan; sprinkle with salt, and spread with two tablespoonfuls butter and two table-spoonfuls flour, rubbed together. Put in hot oven at first, then reduce heat. When fat and flour begin to brown, pour one cup boiling water into the pan. Baste every 15 minutes, and turn the chicken, that it may brown evenly. A four-pound chicken requires one and one-half hours.

Stuffing

1/4 c. or 2 oz. butter.

1 c. bread or cracker crumbs.

1 tsp. to tbsp. mixed herbs.

1/4 c. boiling water.

Salt and pepper.

Melt butter, add crumbs, seasoning and water.

Gravy

Pour off liquid in which chicken has been roasted. Return to pan, four tablespoonfuls fat with four tablespoonfuls flour; add two cups stock, in which giblets, neck and tips of wings have been cooked. Cook five minutes. Season with salt and pepper, then strain.

Fricasseed Chicken

A fowl may be used for this purpose. Remove pin feathers, singe, cut off oil gland. Take out crop and windpipe at neck.

Cut off legs and wings, divide each into two parts. Notice position of inner organs, removing heart, liver and gizzard together, then take out lungs and kidneys, adhering to the back bone. Divide back, loosen shoulder blade, cut from wing joint to point of ribs and separate back from breast.

Rinse quickly, cover with boiling water and cook till tender. then brown in hot fat and serve with hot gravy. Or brown first, then stew in the gravy until tender.

The sauce may be made with water or strained tomato.

Mushrooms or other vegetables may be added.

Roast Turkey

Turkey should be cleaned and prepared for roasting in the same manner as chicken.

Dressing For Ten-Pound Turkey

6 c. dried bread crumbs.

3/4 c. chopped suet.

1 lb. of blanched and chopped chestnuts.

1/2 c. celery.

1 tbsp. chopped parsley.

1 onion, chopped fine.

2 tbsp. salt.

1 tsp. pepper.

2 tbsp. sweet herbs.

Enough boiling water to barely moisten it, so it will hold together. Fill turkey, then sew with heavy thread. Cover drumsticks with clean muslin to prevent them from drying out in cooking. Place turkey in baking pan, breast down; bake in a moderate oven for two hours, basting very often. It is a good plan to baste fowls with a thin mixture of flour and water; this helps to form a nice, brown crust on outside, and is a help in keeping in the juices and making the meat tender.

Giblet Sauce

Cook giblets till tender, remove the tough skins and chop fine. Take three tablespoonfuls of the turkey drippings and blend with three tablespoonfuls of flour. Carefully remove the rest of the fat from the dripping pan, after turkey is cooked, pour two cups water in the baking pan and let come to boiling point; then pour slowly into the flour mixture; cool till thick, then add giblets and season to taste.

Fried Chicken

Separate a chicken into pieces, according to directions given; for one chicken, take about half a cup of flour and mix with the flour one tablespoonful salt and a speck of pepper. Then cover each piece of chicken well with the flour. Put into an iron skillet three tablespoonfuls of lard and two of butter, when hot, add the pieces of chicken; turn fire very low, cover the skillet and cook about one hour, turning the chicken once during the process of cooking.

An old chicken may be prepared this way, by frying it quickly for a few seconds, then placing the pieces in a hot casserole and pouring over it two cups of boiling water and cooking slowly in a moderate oven for one and one-half hours. (Mushrooms and peas may be added if desired.) CHICKEN PIE.

Cut an old fowl into pieces and cook very slowly for several hours, until the meat will drop from the bones. Then remove all the bones and skins. Thicken the chicken broth with enough flour, mixed in cold water, to make it the consistency of rich gravy (to mix flour and water together without having it lumpy, take same amount of water as flour and work into a smooth paste). Add meat to gravy. There should be enough gravy to cover the meat well. Add two hard-boiled eggs, cut in slices, and two potatoes which have been parboiled and cut in dices. Season with salt and pepper and a little grated onion (or, if preferred, an onion may be boiled with the chicken). Pour into a deep baking dish and cover with rich crust.

Crust

1 1/2 c. flour.

1/2 tsp. salt.

2 tsp. baking powder.

5 tbsp. lard.

Enough milk to make a soft dough.

Sift dry ingredients together, rub in the lard, then add milk. Mix well together, roll one inch thick, place on top of hot chicken, make hole in center of dough, for steam to escape, trim edges neatly, spread with melted butter and bake in hot oven.

Chicken A La King

3 tbsp. butter.

4 tbsp. flour.

1 c. milk or cream.

1 c. mushroom juice.

2 tsp. salt.

1/8 tsp. pepper.

1/2 can pimentoes, cut in 1-inch squares.

1 green pepper, cut fine.

1/2 can mushrooms, cut in halves.

2 c. chicken, cut in small pieces.

Make a cream sauce of the first six ingredients, add peppers and mushrooms, cook slowly for about 10 minutes, then add chicken and serve on toast or in patty shells. This may be prepared in chafing dish.