Smothered Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 pound broilers
• butter
• salt
• pepper
• paprika
• flour
• streaky bacon
• tomatoes
• green peppers
• onions
• water

Instructions

1. Get two pound broilers, fat and tender. Have them split down the back and make them clean.
2. Season by buttering inside and out, sprinkling with salt, pepper and paprika, and dredging with flour.
3. Lay them breasts down upon a low rack in a deep pan. Cover with slices of streaky bacon, shingling the slices well.
4. Dredge with pepper and flour, then lay in sliced tomatoes, shredded green peppers, and a few small parboiled onions.
5. Add lumps of butter rolled in flour, dotting them all about the bacon.
6. Pour in enough water to barely reach the top of the rack, cover the pan close, and cook in a hot oven, about an hour.
7. Uncover after three-quarters of an hour and add a half-cup more water — this is for the gravy. Cover again and finish cooking.
8. The chickens should be brown all over but meltingly tender. Take up on a hot dish, breaking the bacon slices as little as possible.
9. Serve the vegetables separate, also the gravy from the pan. The vegetables can be omitted.