Fricassee of Small Chickens
Source: Mary Randolph, 1824
History
'Fricassee of Small Chickens' appears in Mary Randolph's The Virginia House-Wife, an 1824 cookbook considered the first regional American cookbook. As printed, the recipe joints four chickens, then stews the pieces with 'pepper, salt, and a little mace,' covered with water, until tender; half a pint of the cooking water is thickened with two tablespoons of flour rubbed into four ounces of butter, enriched with half a pint of new milk, and finished with 'a gill of white wine, stirring it in carefully that it may not curdle' before the chickens are returned and heated through. The dish's name records the cooking method, not an origin story: a fricassee is 'a stew made with pieces of meat that have been browned in butter, then served in a sauce flavored with the cooking stock'. The word entered English in the 1560s from the French fricasser, 'mince and cook in sauce', and the technique is documented in French cookery well before that — recipes fitting the description appear in the medieval French cookbook Le Viandier (c.1300), which used the term friquassee in its 1490 printed edition. Beyond the term's French lineage and the recipe's place in Randolph's book, the record does not document a specific social meaning for this dish or for its use of mace.
Ingredients
- 4 Small chickens
- Pepper
- Salt
- A little Mace
- Water
- 2 tablespoons Flour
- 4 ounces Butter
- 0.5 pint Water
- 0.5 pint New milk
- 1 gill White wine
Instructions
- Prepare the chickens by removing the legs and wings, separating the breasts from the backs, cutting off the necks, and dividing the backs across. Clean the gizzards carefully and wash all pieces thoroughly.
- Put the gizzards, livers, and all other chicken pieces into a sauce pan. Season with pepper, salt, and a little mace. Cover with water and stew until tender.
- Remove the cooked chicken pieces from the pan and set aside. Rub the flour into the butter to form a paste, then whisk this into half a pint of the cooking water. Add the milk and boil everything together for a few minutes.
- Carefully stir in the gill of white wine, stirring gently so it does not curdle. Return the chicken pieces to the pan and shake the pan continuously until they are sufficiently hot. Serve up.