Back in the old CWi Cookbook section we chose a number of historic recipes and actually made them, at home. One of the more popular results of this project was an item called “Chicken Pudding – Old Virginia Way.” Here’s the recipe as it appears in the 1875 version of Anna Maria Collins’ The Great Western Cook Book, Or Table Receipts, Adapted to Western Housewifery:
Take two very young tender chickens, cut them up, wash them in cold water, until perfectly clean and white, wipe them very dry with a linen napkin, roll them up closely, while you prepare your batter.
Break eight eggs in a pan, a tea-spoonful of salt, and one of black pepper, a quarter of a pound of butter, eight heaped table-spoonsful of flour, one quart of rich milk; beat this mixture until it is very smooth and light; then put in the chickens, stir it well, and pour it in a pan well buttered, set it in a very hot oven or stove; after it commences to brown on top, put a sheet of white paper on the top. It will take more than one hour to bake it.
Modern-Day Adaptation:
For “rich milk”, we used a blend of whole milk and Half-and-Half. We baked this dish in a 400 degree oven for 2 1/2 hours. After the first hour, we covered with aluminum foil in place of paper. Note that both raw eggs and raw chicken begin this dish, necessitating extra-long cooking to ensure thorough doneness.
Results:
The dish was tested by three people. All agreed that the “Pudding” which forms tasted like scrambled eggs, and enjoyed it. The chicken was as tender as could possibly be hoped for, with a pleasant taste that permeated the meat. A delicious entree which we served with Broccoli in cheese sauce – a good vegetable option.
For a family of three or four you might want to halve all ingredients. Using one chicken, and 1/2 of all other ingredients, we were left with the pictured result, which easily fed three adults with plenty left over.
A note on the amount of eggs – we used 4 “Jumbo” sized eggs. Eggs in the 1860’s tended towards the small side, and our dish could easily have been made with a smaller number of the larger eggs.
