Herstoryan's Hearth: Poultry For Invalids (1880)

Soyer, Alexis. The Modern Housewife, or Menagere Comprising nearly One Thousand Receipts for the Economic and Judicious Preparation of Every Meal of the Day, and those for the Nursery and Sick Room; with Minute Directions for Family Management in all its Branches. Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., London. 1880. pp 59-60

POULTRY FOR INVALIDS.

129. ROAST CHICKEN. - Procure a nice plump chicken, which draw and truss, and cut the sinews; pass the spit through under the skewer as usual, and set it down before a clear fire: after being there five minutes, have ready a pat of butter, in the bowl of a wooden spoon, with which rub the chicken all over; if the fire is too fierce, put it back a short distance, that it may roast of a yellowish-brown colour; when a light smoke arises from the chicken, which will be in about twenty minutes from the time it is put down, it is done; but to be quite sure whether a bird is done, the better way is to press it lightly with your finger and thumb; should it feel quite set, it is sufficiently cooked.

130. BOILED CHICKEN. - Put a quart of water to boil in a saucepan, with a saltspoonful of salt, and two ounces of butter; when boiling lay in the chicken, which keep gently simmering for twenty minutes, when it will be done.

By adding a few vegetables of each description to the water, and straining it when you take out the chicken, you have a very excellent broth either for the sick or healthy, especially if, after skimming off the fat, you add a little vermicelli, which must be boiled in it five minutes.

As it is very improbable that a sick person would eat the whole chicken at once, I have annexed a few receipts, by which a chicken would suffice for four meals.

First, put a tablespoonful of rice in a stewpan, with half a pint of light broth; let it boil gently until the rice is in pulp, then put in the wing or leg of the previously-cooked chicken, which let remain to warm about five minutes; should the rice be too dry, add a little more broth; serve the fowl and rice together upon a hot plate. Secondly, if wanted plain, set it in a stewpan, with a few spoonfuls of stock, and let it warm, gently. Thirdly, it may be folded in a sheet of paper lightly oiled and warmed very gently upon a gridiron; and, Fourthly, plain broiled upon a gridiron, and served with a little light gravy.