[Sca-cooks] Chickens in Hochee-

[Stefan li Rous]

Adamantius replied to 'Lainie with:
> On May 31, 2005, at 4:28 PM, Laura C. Minnick wrote:
>
> > If I'd left the chicken in the broth that long, it would fall apart
> > (as it was, I had a hard time getting it out of the pot), which
> > would rather defeat the purpose of stuffing it, I'd think. So I'm
> > back to wondering how the garlic and the chicken are done through
> > at the same time.
>
> I assume that either the garlic cloves are smaller in period, or the
> chickens tougher, or both. While I'm not suggesting this recipe was
> done with a boiling fowl, you might get better results with either a
> free-range or even a Kosher roasting chicken, either of which might
> need longer cooking.

I wondered about whether this meant the period chickens were tougher 
than the modern ones, too. However, wouldn't there also be a number of 
other recipes in which this problem of the chickens being tougher 
appears?

If most of the chickens were tough, then I would think that boiled 
chicken recipes might outnumber the baked or roasted recipes. But then 
humoral theory might impact this as well.

I think cutting up the garlic smaller is what I would try. I might have 
tried sauteing the garlic in oil or butter before using it, except the 
recipe doesn't mention that. Nor does it call for pickled garlic which 
would seem also to soften it. Hmmm. Is there any period mention of 
pickling garlic or otherwise preserving it? Or was it just hung up in a 
dry place? Which from personal experience does not give an unlimited 
storage time. :-)

Stefan
--------
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
    Mark S. Harris           Austin, Texas          
StefanliRous at austin.rr.com
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