Smothered Chicken

This is one of the most delicious ways of cooking chickens. Clean, 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, adding a cupful of water. The pan should be but little larger than the chicken ; otherwise the gravy will be too quickly evaporated. Cook slowly for one hour, basting every ten minutes after the first twenty minutes cooking. Should the chicken be decidedly lacking in fat, add a small table-spoonful of butter. 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, and thicken the gravy in the pan with a little flour, after adding another half cupful of water. Should the chicken be quite fat, remove all but a table-spoonful of the oil from the pan before making the gravy. Season with salt and pepper to taste, pour the gravy 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 lying in very frequent basting and in not having too hot an oven.

Broiled Chicken

Only tender chickens or those that may surely be made tender are ever cooked by broiling. Clean and singe the chickens as directed, picking out all pin-feathers. Split each chicken down the back, and wipe with a damp towel. Even when you are quite certain the chickens are tender, it is wise to steam them before broiling. This is done thus: Set the dripping-pan in the oven, and nearly fill it with boiling water. Place two sticks across the pan, extending them from side to side, and upon them lay the chicken. Invert a tin pan over it, and, shutting the oven door let the chicken steam for thirty minutes.

This process relaxes the muscles and renders the joints supple, besides preserving the juices that would be lost in parboiling. Transfer the chicken from this vapor bath to a wire broiler, and turn the inside of the chicken to the fire first. Cover the broiler with a tin pan, and broil until the fowl is tender and brown, turning it frequently and being careful the fire is not too hot. The chicken will finish cooking in half an hour. Lay it on a warmed platter, spread it with butter, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and serve. Some good cooks season before broiling, and in this case the chicken, after being sprinkled with salt and pepper, should be dusted all over with flour. The salt will draw out the juices, but the flour will unite with them, forming a paste that keeps the remaining juices well in the chicken. This plan may be followed for broiling beefsteak.

Baked Chicken (Camping Party Style)

Do not remove the feathers from the chicken. Take out the entrails and crop, making as small incisions as possible; and cut out the vent. Stuff with half the stuffing directed for roast turkey, or if this is not convenient, sew up the body securely without stuffing at all. Cover the chicken with wet clay, spreading it half an inch or even one inch thick. Bury the chicken in a bed of hot ashes, place coals on the top, and bake an hour and a-quarter, if the bird weighs two pounds. The feathers will peel off as the cake of clay is removed, leaving the flesh quite clean. This is an especially delicious dish for a hungry camping party.