The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1883-12-06
A Boon for Austin-The Greatest
Discovery Of the Age.

DASCOSCAl Va LHC LiSCs
Any person who has eaten a chicken
in Austin will jump more than four
teen feet high and clap his hands in
all the wild, hilarious glee of a school
girl, when he reads the following
from that excellent authority, the
Scientific American. just to think of
it-nO more tough chickensl What
an incalculable boonl especially in this
city, where chicken never finds its
way to table until it has served all
the other uses to which a hen can be
put or q rooster adapted. Prof.
w. Matthew the discoVerer
Of this art of tranSU.ogrifcation of an
old superannuated hen to a luscious
spring chicken Will forever be the re-
cipient Of untold blessings from the
benighted clearinghouse deniZenS of
the capital of Texas. In the name of
suffering humanity we commend this
discovery to the prayerful cOnsidera-
ton of every bOarding-hOuSe keeper
and cook in Austin and we suggest to
all vendors Of these fowls when they
sell one with the spring all out of the
posteriOr portion of its breast bone to
give the victim Of misplaced conf
dence slip with the Scientific Amer
leans recipe printed thereon. The
professor says: 81 may mention an
experiment that l have made lately.
[ killed Superannuated kenmore
than six years old, but otherwise in
very good condition. Cooked in the
ordinary way she would have been
uneatably tough. Instead of being
thus cooked, she was gently stew ed
about four hours. | cannot guaTan-
tee to the maintenance OF the theOret-
ical temperature, having suspicion OF
some simmerlng. After this she was
left in the water until it cooled,
and on the following day was roasted
in the usual manner, /. e., in a roasting
oven. The result was excellent; as
tender as a full grown chicken roasted
in the ordinary way, and OF quite
equal flavor, in spite OF the very good
broth obtained by the preliminary
stewing. This surprised me. l an
ticipated the softening of the tendons
and ligaments, but supposed that the
extraction of the juices would have
spoiled the flavor. 1t must have dilu-
ted it, and that so much remained was
probably due TO the fact that an old
fowl is more fully Favored than a
young chicken. The usual farm house
method of cooking old hens is to stew
them simply: the rule in the Mid
lands being one hour in the pot for
every year of age. The feature of
the above experiment. was the
supplementary roasting. AS the
laying season is now coming
to an end, the old hens will
soon be a drug in the market, and
those among my readers who have
not q hen roost OF their own will
oblige their poulterers by ordering
hen that is warranted to be four
years old or upward. If ne deals
fairly, he will supply specimen upon
which they may repeat my expert
ment, very cheaply. 1t offers the
double economy Of utilizing nearly
waste product and obtaining chicken
broth and roast fowl simultaneously.
One of the great advantages of
stewing is that it affords means of
obtaining a savory and very whole
some dish at minimum cost A
small piece of meat may he stewed
with large quantity of vegetables,
the juice of the meat savoring the
whole. Besides this, it costs far less
fuel than roasting.