Pressed Chicken in 1920

Canton Daily News, Canton, Ohio August 16, 1920, page 5

Dress, singe, clean and cut up a 4 or 5 pound fowl. Put into a kettle and cover with boiling water, bring to the boiling point and let boil rapidly five minutes. Skim, reduce the heat and add one small onion thinly sliced, one stalk of celery cut in pieces, two springs of parsley and one-half teaspoon of peppercorns. Cover and let simmer until tender (three to four hours) and the meat falls from the bones. Add one-half tablespoon of salt the last hour of cooking. Remove chicken from the stock and reduce the stock by boiling gently to one cup; strain and skim off all the fat. Remove the skin, fat and bones, season the meat with salt, (if needed) and black pepper. Cut a hard cooked egg in thin slices lengthwise (use an egg slicer for this purpose). Arrange the larger slices lengthwise in the bottom of an agate or glass brick shaped bread pan (that has first been wet inside with cold water) surround each slice of egg with capers, leaving a small space between both the slices of egg and capers. Pack the shreds of meat lengthwise and solidly above the decorations, being careful not to disturb the latter; pour over slowly the strained stock, allowing it to percolate through the shreds of meat. Set a weight above the meat and let chill in a cool place overnight. In the summertime it is almost necessary to add one teaspoon of gelatine, first softened in one tablespoon of cold water then dissolved in the hot stock before adding it to the meat. This will insure a firm loaf. Invert mold on a serving platter, lay a cloth wrung from hot water on the bottom of mold for one minute if the loaf does not drop out of the mold after having run a thin knife around the edges. Garnish loaf with parsley and nasturtium blossoms.