Today I cooked chicken by leaving it on the counter for six hours. And no puke resulted! That is pretty well my only standard when it comes to historical recipes. Actually, that rule is flexible*.
Thermal cooking is the historical equivalent of the electric slow cooker. They were particularly in vogue during WWII, as a means to save fuel. Simply heat a pot of food up to boiling, then insulate to keep the temperature stable to finish the cooking.
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| This model from 1926-1930 |
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| This hay-based model from the late 19th Century |
My new toy has insulating foam instead of hay, but the principle is the same. As a bonus, it actually stays a bit warmer than a slow cooker for up to eight hours.
For its maiden voyage, I chose a recipe from Margaret Mitchell's classic work that so perfectly and nostalgically captures a bygone era of grace, abundance, and perserverence: The Fireless Cookbook. She also wrote some book about the American Civil War that did quite well, I believe.
Stewed Chicken
Draw and cut up a fowl. Put it, with the
giblets, in enough boiling salted water (one
teaspoonful of salt to each quart of water) to
cover it. Let it boil for ten minutes and put
it into a cooker for ten hours or more. If not
quite tender, bring it again to a boil and cook
it for from six to eight hours, depending upon
its toughness. Skim off as much as possible of
the fat from the liquor, pour off some of the
liquor and save it to use as soup or stock, and
thicken the remainder with two tablespoonfuls
of flour for each cup of liquid, mixed to a paste
with an equal quantity of water. A beaten
egg or two, stirred into the gravy just before
serving, improves it. Add pepper and salt
to, taste, and serve the chicken on a hot platter
with the gravy poured around it. The platter
may be garnished with boiled rice piled about
the chicken.
Curried Chicken
Prepare and cook one fowl as for stewed chick-
en, adding two onions, pared and cut into slices.
Add one tablespoonful of curry powder to the flour
when thickening the gravy. Or the chicken may
be rolled in flour and browned in butter, and the
curry powder added before putting it into the
cooker. It is served with a border of boiled rice.
Verdict: Not terribly photogenic. I did try. Chicken is kind of tricky to get just right; it is tricky to hit that sweet spot between chewy and dropping off the bones so you look like an idiot when you eat it. This had the most perfect, tender texture. The seasoning was reminiscent of the hospital, but what do you expect for 1909? I ended up dumping a... generous amount of extra curry powder in after tasting, and it was much improved.
I love my new toy forever and ever and next time we go camping it will be my bosom friend. But probably with a different recipe.
*There is a rule about mayonnaise not being used with Jello, though.
