Test 1 - Boiling Fowl - Braised Chicken

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 186

I suppose by 'fowl' it can be any bird: chicken, goose, duck?

"A fowl of uncertain age is better boiled.

"Truss as if roasting, but instead of stuffing, put the liver and gizzard inside with two large onions stuck with a clove. Flour the bird thoroughly and put into a pan full of boiling water, immediately draw from the fire, and never again allow to come above simmering point.

"After the bird has been in a few minutes, skim the pan very carefully, and after it has cooked a little, shred in a really good mixture of nicely prepared vegetables, carrot, turnip, one stick of celery (don't overdo this, as it is very strong flavouring), and a good bunch of herbs.

"Simmer till, when you lift the drumstick, the joint gives way easily.

"If the bird is to be eaten hot, lift out, drain and serve on a hot dish with the vegetables around it. Remove the trussing string and skewers, and sprinkle just enough finely chopped parsley over it to look appetising, or coat with thick sauce (for boiled fowl has a pallid look). Serve with hot onion or parsley sauce made with the broth, plain boiled potatoes, and the mixed vegetables which have been cooked in the broth.

"It will be very tender and juicy. The best gravy is its own clear broth.

"If it is to be eaten cold (and a cold boiled fowl is less dry than a cold roast one), leave it to grow cold in the broth. Then drain and pour a very thick lemon sauce over it. A little green parsley also sprinkled on the bosom makes it decidedly better looking; so do cut vegetable shapes laid on it.

"Garnish around with watercress and the red carrots in alternate piles.

"Cold boiled fowl can be a very decorative dish, as well as a very succulent one.

"Note. The reason people do not like boiled fowl is that it is usually watery when served. This is a pity, for a well-boiled fowl should be juicy and succulent. The secret is to drain it very carefully. When lifted from the pot, let it hang upright in a warm place for several minutes. It is quite a good trick to hang it from the hook in the resting jack or warm oven. When it has ceased to drip and is steaming, put it on to a slice of hot toast. Then you may mask it with sauce, decorate it with vegetables, and serve it upon a triumphantly dry, hot dish."

0 - Originally I decided to try this recipe with a young rooster we dispatched this fall. He was very aggressive with us and with his chickens, so we didn't want his genes to propagate and create an ill-tempered flock of birds. I was looking for a recipe for an old, strong-tasting bird, but now I have my doubts - even though he's a young bird, the testosterone would be very strong-and-foul-tasting in the meat, making an unpleasant dish. But is braising the correct method to make the meat palatable? Well, here's someone who agrees that it's a good way of dealing with a rooster: http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/07/cook-old-chicken.html

And then there's this: https://sunstonefarmandlearn.com/2009/05/26/favorite-rooster-recipes/

It is a stronger-tasting recipe, but also requires a long braising period. Hmmm. This last one isn't historical, but I may put it on the Experimental Mouffette!

Ok, here goes - I will braise Chicklett as a poule-au-pot as described by Dorothy.
1 - It worked! I put in way too much salt, but it worked! I cooked it way too long, but it worked! I'm not sure what the flour is supposed to do, so I'm gonna cross it out.

1 rooster, whole or in pieces

2 onions

21 cloves

1/4 cup flour

Optional - liver and gizzard

A mix of herbs, such as:

1 bay leaf

1 sprig thyme

1 sprig tarragon

Salt (lots)  2-3 Tbsps

11 peppercorns

6 cloves garlic peeled

A mix of vegetables such as: 

2 large leeks or 4 small, cleaned, trimmed and thickly sliced

4 carrots, scraped and cut into chunks

3 celery stalks, cut into finger lengths

1 small turnip, sliced

3 parsnips, scraped and sliced

A few sprigs of parsley

1. Allow the rooster carcass to season in your refrigerator for up to four days, depending on age - this will allow the muscle tissue to start softening.
2. Preheat oven to 425F.
3. Stick the onions with the cloves.
4. If using a whole rooster, stuff the onions inside along with the liver and gizzard, if using.
5. Dredge the bird or pieces in flour.
6. Put bird in large oven-ready pot - cover with water or chicken broth.
7. Bake in the oven for about an hour. 
8. Reduce temperature to 250F(is this right? it should continue to barely simmer) (it could also be brought to a boil and then simmered gently on the stove-top).
9. If there is scum on top, remove this before adding the herbs and veg.
10. Return to the oven and continue cooking until the internal temperature of the thigh near the bone reads 180F, or "till, when you lift the drumstick, the joint gives way easily."
11. IF the chicken is meant to be eaten cold, leave it in the hot broth and take it out of the oven. Allow it to cool in the liquid and it will be succulent and not dry. Dorothy recommends a lemon sauce for cold chicken.
12. For a HOT chicken, Dorothy recommends to "let it hang upright in a warm place for several minutes. It is quite a good trick to hang it from the hook in the resting jack or warm oven. When it has ceased to drip and is steaming, put it on to a slice of hot toast." I'm not sure what the function of the 'hot' toast might be other than as a sponge to soak up any liquid that might continue to escape and keep the serving plate dry!
13. Anyway, arrange vegetables around the bird or pieces, along with some cress to add some vibrant colour.

Untested - Apple Soup

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 417

"Nym appeles sethe hem frete throue an her [hair] sieve - cast it on a pot and caste thereto good fat broth, and sugar and safron (and on Fisshe days almond mylke and oile of olive), and boile hit mease and caste onto good pouder [seasoning] and gif forth."

0 - I don't know about this one!

3 apples, peeled, cored and chopped fine
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups beef? lamb? chicken? (fat broth)
__ sugar
__ saffron
salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a soup pot. Cast in the apples and fry until it turns to sauce and starts to brown(?)
2. Add broth, sugar and saffron. Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Blend the soup, adjust the seasoning and serve.

Untested - Apple Charlotte

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 417

"Butter a piedish and cover thickly with crumbs of stale bread, dust with nutmeg or spice. Peel, core, and chop up enough windfall apples to fill the dish to overflowing, and pack them in with a few crumbs, sugar, dots of butter, and, if possible, scraps of candied lemon peel. Cover the top thickly with more crumbs and dot with butter, and bake, covered the first part of the time; when the apples soften, remove the cover and let the crumbs crisp and brown. This dish should turn out a neat spicy brown loaf full of apple pulp. It is impossible to time exactly, as so much depends on the apples' cooking qualities; dried apple pulp takes about 30 minutes. Served with hot chocolate sauce."

NOTE: most recipe sources recommend pre-cooking the apple, melting the butter and dipping the lining bread with it, etc. I will try to follow Dorothy's instructions to see how the apple cooks and the bread browns without pre-cooking, melting and dipping. I suspect it will take much longer than 30 minutes to cook with raw ingredients! Many sources also recommend a higher temperature. I will keep it low so that the apple inside has a chance to cook.
- http://www.chezm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=222:apple-charlotte-a-la-julia-child&catid=47:desserts&Itemid=57
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/applecharlotte_81084
- http://chefgeorgehirsch.com/dailyfood/classic-apple-charlotte.html

6 medium apples, peeled and cored and chopped quite small
10-15 slices stale bread, cut quite thin
1⁄8 tsp nutmeg
1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup butter
A little candied lemon peel, minced (optional)
Optional - Rum or Calvados

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
2. Butter a baking dish (I use oven-ready soup pots, and decide how much of each ingredient I need to fill it. There are Charlotte molds if you don't already have one).
3. Line the dish with thin slices of stale bread OR, crumble the bread and pack it onto the sides, whichever works best for you. 
4. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, nutmeg and candied lemon peel.
5. In layers, add the apples, remaining bread (crumbled), butter and sugar mixture, until all used up, ending with a bread, butter and sugar layer on top.
6. Cover and bake for about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the bread crumbs on top start to brown.
7. Serve with chocolate sauce or custard.

Testing - Apple Pudding

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 417

1 - I am perplexed. This is an odd dessert, and Dorothy's parenthetical comment that this is now called apple amber does not help. All examples of apple amber, English and Irish both, instruct to line the pie dish with the crust, separate the egg to mix the yolk with the apple and make a fluffy meringue to top it. This is not at all how I read Dorothy's recipe, yet it makes more sense. I mashed the cooked apples until they were not quite smooth and no longer chunky, and whisked in the whole eggs, but only used 1 lemon, not 2. It was very odd. While still warm it tasted like scrambled eggs with apple, and the next day, while a bit more custardy, it wasn't great. I'll research a bit more. I like covering it with crust instead of lining it, but from what I understand about making custards, it would mean I'd separate the eggs and only use the yolks for the custard.

"Apple Pudding, 1700 (now called apple amber)
"Peel and quarter eight gold-runnets, or twelve golden-pippins; cast them into water, in which boil them as you do for Apple sauce; sweeten them with loaf sugar, squeeze in them two lemons, and grate in their peels; beat eight eggs, and beat them all together; pour it into a dish, cover with puff-paste, and bake it an hour in a slow oven."

1 recipe of sweet pie crust
2 lbs (6 med.) cooking apples, peeled, cored and grated chopped
1⁄4 cup butter
2 Tbsps - 1⁄4 cup of sugar
2 1 lemons, for the juice AND the grated rind
8 eggs yolks

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. In a pot, add a few Tbsps of water and then the apple and butter. Bring to a boil and cook the apple as if you were making apple sauce. Depending on the texture you want, either mash with a potato masher to retain some texture or press through a food mill for a smoother texture. 
3. Add the sugar, lemon juice and rind.
4. Thoroughly whisk the eggs then beat them into the apple mash.
5. WHAT KIND OF BAKING DISH?
6. Cover with the pie crust, and poke a few hole with a knife of fork to allow steam to escape through the crust instead of just around the rim.
7. Bake for about an hour.