Evening star., 1952-06-05
By Violet Faulkner

Bone a chicken" the recipe
reads. It sounds so deceptively
simple, but have you ever at
tempted to do it? Let me assure
you it's no job for an amateur.
"It's almost a lost art" says
Mel Lee Kaumanns, busy young
Washington hostess. IT was IL
years old when my mother called
me to the kitchen and said it was
time for me to learn. Three years
ago when I visited my family in
the Philippines we decided one
day to have chicken relleno. But
none of my sisters could bone
the chicken. So I said I'd try. I
thought If it doesn't come out
we'll have stewed chicken" Then
she went on to explain 1t was the
older generation who used to do
this, now the younger ones haven't
the time, and there's no one to
teach the servants.
The Kaumanns Mel Lee
and Fritz are the soul of hos
pitality and entertain their host
of friends frequently. When Mel
Lee plans to treat her guests to
chicken relleno the preparations
start the day before. The first
step, and believe me, it's an i'm
portant one. is to market for the
right kind of chicken. The after
noon I arrived to watch the pro-
cess she had just come in from
the market because the first
chickens she ordered were not
to her liking. The chicken must
be plump stewing bird, weigh
ing around s pounds, with an
absolutely unbroken skin, and un-
drawn!
The Boning Begins
First down the back of the
chicken (starting at the neck)
she cuts a to inch slit in the
skin. Then with a firm twist of
her slender hands she bends the
wing back to break the Joint
attaching wing to body. With
sensitive fingers she locates the
wing bone, pushes it through the
flesh and gets good, firm grip
on the end of it. With rather
dull knife she begins to work the
meat away from the bone. al
dull knife? Yes, because never
at any time during the boning
must the outer skin be broken
by so much as a pin point.
Wing bones out, she moves on
to the thighs where the technique
is much the same. The joint
next the carcass must be broken
clean so the joint is free and the
tendonS looSened. Again the
flesh is pushed back to the second
joint which is cut, thus exposing
the drumstick. It's something
like turning a dress inside out to
work on the seams -. the skin
folds inside as you scrape. then
all bones gone, you tuck the meat
back into place and pull it right
side out again. Sounds so easy, but
don't fool yourself, it takes plenty
of know-how. Gently, SO gently
with the tips of the fingers the
skin Is loosened around the car
cass, and you're ready to tackle
the breast bone.
At this point you must work
carefully so as not to puncture
the thin skin that covers the
ridge of bone. This accomplished,
the entire carcass can be lifted
out intact.
Reody for the Morinode
From here on in the rest of
the recipe is simple by compare
son. You're in the clear once the
feat of boning is out of the way.
It takes Mel Lee about 20 minutes
per chicken. But" she says, "If
I'm going to the trouble of boning
one. I might as we'll bone two.
Besides, it's so wonderful cold"
I wonder if there's ever any left
to serve that way. Not from what
I saw.
Now, the chicken is put in a |
lnarinade to stand overnight.
Place the boned chicken in a |
shallow pan and fold the skin over
carefully so the spices won't have
a chance to darken the meat.
For the marinade use 4 peeled
garlic buds. quartered, piece of
green ginger, sliced, / teaspoon
monosodium glutamate, l table
spoon mixed picking spices, u
cup tarragon vinegar. u cup white
vinegar. Turn chicken occasion
ally to marinate on all sides.
On to the Stuffing
The next day remove chicken
from marinade, wipe off spices,
and lay it fiat on a bread board.
Mix together pound of the best |
0f,nilnd 1non hoof a dioaI ny,;or,