Civil War Recipe Tutorial:

TO MAKE A FRENCH PILAU

Original Recipe:

Boil a pair of fowls; when done, take them out and put your rice in the same water, first taking out some of the liquor. When the rice is done, butter it well; cover the bottom of your dish with half of it; then put the fowls on it, and add the remainder of the liquor; cover the fowls with the other half of the rice, make it smooth, and spread over it the yolks of two eggs, well beaten. Bake in a moderate oven.

Source:

Sarah Rutledge ("A Lady of Charleston"): The Carolina Housewife, W. R. Babcock & Co., Charleston S. C., 1847

Modern-Day Adaptation:

None, other than to use one chicken instead of two, and to cut it into quarters after boiling.

Results:

We used two cups of rice to be sure of having enough to cover the chicken in the baking pan, and it turned out to be entirely adequate. Although it would seem that putting additional chicken broth ("liquor") onto already-cooked rice would turn it into soup, this was not the case and the grain absorbed the additional liquid nicely. In fact we could have used more of it than we did, since the baking process left the top layer of rice somewhat dry.

The egg yolk we applied with a pastry brush to get it to cover the amount in the baking pan, although it never did turn brown or otherwise show signs of "doneness" while in the oven. (That brownness which is visible in the photograph developed several minutes later.) The rice was left with a very pleasant taste from boiling in the fresh made chicken broth. Unfortunately the lack of additional spices or flavorings left the dish as a whole somewhat less than memorable.