Well, dear readers, it’s my final recipe for this project, and the only meat dish that’s a part of the banquetting menu. I’ll be back to post updates on the calligraphed book that I’m making and the e-book/print on demand book over the next few months, and I’d love to hear from readers about your experiences with my blog and my versions of the recipes! This final one is for boiled chicken (which sounds less than appetizing but believe me, it’s pretty good). Here’s Markham’s take on ‘an excellent way to boil chickens’ (from page 79 of Best):
If you will boil chickens, young turkeys, peahens, or any house fowl daintily, you shall, after you have trimmed them, drawn them, trussed them, and washed them, fill their bellies as full of parsley as they can hold; then boil them with salt and water only till they be enough: then take a dish and put into it verjuice, and butter, and salt, and when the butter is melted, take the parsley out of the chickens’ bellies, and mince it very small, and put it into the verjuice and butter, and stir it well together; then lay in the chickens, and trim the dish with sippets, and so serve it forth.
I chose this dish because it was one of the few that addressed how to prepare chicken (a much more affordable option in our local store). Most recipes dealt with fish/seafood, lamb, and waterfowl, with the occasional mention of capon and pork. The main preparations seem to be based in boiling the meat or roasting it on a spit. I had hoped to make this dish with capon but alas, at over $30 a bird in our local store, chicken seemed the more appealing option. Unlike today, verjuice (from red grapes) seemed to be popular on both poultry and darker meats. This recipe, like many of the meat recipes (although not all), seemed easy: most involved flavoring/stuffing the meat and then placing it in boiling water or on a spit before plating with a sauce. I was a little nervous about using something stuffed in the bird in a sauce (fear of raw chicken juices) so I cooked the chicken a bit longer than it probably warranted. Mine was a small chicken, so adjust as necessary based on the size of your bird!
-1 whole chicken (mine was a hair under 3 lbs)
-kitchen twine, for trussing
-salt
-1 cup light red wine (a Cabernet Sauvignon would be good here)
-2 tbsp butter
-1 bunch parsley
1. In a large stockpot, bring to a boil enough water to cover the chicken (I probably used ~8 cups) and some salt (I probably used 2-3 tbsp).
2.Take the bunch of parsley and cut of the stems.
3. Holding the bunch tightly, push it into the chicken cavity as far as it will go (leaving too much stem sticking out will make it more difficult to truss the chicken).
4. Truss the chicken.
5. Place the chicken into the boiling water and cook until the chicken is done (it springs back when you touch it and the juice runs clear). Set aside until it is cooled just enough to retrieve the parsley stuffing.
6. In a saucepan, bring the wine to a simmer with 1/2 tsp salt. Add the butter and continue gently simmering.
7. Meanwhile, chop the parsley finely and add to the sauce.
8. Pour the sauce over the chicken in a serving dish.
Well, that’s it for my final project recipes–thanks so much for coming along for the ride! I hope I’ve made these historic recipes seem a little more accessible and encouraged you to branch out and try a few. If you have, I’d love to know about it!
Modernizing Markham 