Dinner at 1800: Fricasseed Chicken

I openly admit it – I cheated a little on this recipe. You see, the recipe said to singe the chicken and then cut it into pieces. A google search told me that singing the chicken was to help get the last of the feathers out, so that seemed an unnecessary step. And, although I have of course cooked full chickens before…that chicken in the refrigerated section that was already parsed out was calling my name. So, yes, I skipped the whole kill, singe, and cut a chicken into pieces bit and bought the chicken ready to be fried. And proceeded from there. This was actually a very straight-forward recipe…but chicken simmered in gravy? Yes, please! Oh, and as short as this is, don’t miss out on the fun bits in our Instagram video!

Fricasseed Chicken, Brown

The Frugal Housewife

Published in 1832

An easy enough recipe, I started by seasoning the chicken pieces with salt and pepper and then dredging them in flour. From there, I was instructed to fry them in butter until very brown. I didn’t know how much butter that might take and had even less of an idea of how long it would be, so I just threw an entire stick in and then watched the chicken closely, probably turning them far more frequently than I was supposed to. Eventually, I decided that golden brown was close enough to very dark, and removed them.

It was at that point the recipe got a little wishy-washy. By which I mean, it said to make a good gravy with sweet herbs according to my taste, clarifying that butter and flour should be used as suited myself “for thickness and richness”, and then told me to stew the chicken in the gravy.

And then the recipe went BACK to the gravy with additional commentary, recommending butter the size of a walnut and a tablespoon of flour, along with using about two pints of gravy for two chickens, and throwing out suggestions like adding onions if you wanted. Or a lemon. Or “tomatoes catsup”. After reading through the commentary like three times, I finally just did my normal gravy recipe, which does, in fact, use flour and butter, and threw in any seasonings I felt like, along with some lemon slices. I know, shocking that I opted against the ketchup.

I put the chicken pieces in, wondering how on earth anyone would have had a big enough pan for two whole chickens, and let it simmer for the allotted time. However, by the time I pulled it out, most of the gravy had simmered away, and the chicken was sticking to the bottom of the pan, which made me wonder what I had done wrong. Did I need more gravy? Was my pan too shallow? My heat too high, since, of course, there was no indication of how hot it should be?

Either way, it still looked pretty good, if absent skin now, and I went ahead and served it to my husband. And Tennyson. Because he wanted in on the action. Tennyson highly approved. Daniel enjoyed it…but it was more of a mediocre recipe. Not bad by any means, but also fairly easily forgotten. I wouldn’t mind trying it again, but would probably make more gravy and maybe add some more seasonings. Or maybe the ketchup. Just for fun.