School and Home Cooking

by Carlotta C. Greer

CHICKEN AND RICE

POULTRY.—Poultry includes chicken (or common fowl), turkey, duck, and goose—domestic birds suitable for food. Pigeon and squab are not considered poultry. Chickens that are three or four months old are called spring chickens or broilers. Birds older than one year are sometimes called fowls.

[Illustration: FIGURE 71.—REMOVING TENDONS FROM THE LEG OF A FOWL.]

SELECTION OF CHICKEN AND FOWL.—Chickens and fowls have certain characteristics which make them readily distinguishable. Chickens have soft feet, a soft and flexible breast bone, many pin feathers, and little fat. Fowls have hard and scaly feet, rigid breast bone, long hairs, and much fat surrounding the intestines.

DIGESTION OF POULTRY.—The muscle of chicken, fowl, and turkey contains little fat; the fat that exists is in layers directly under the skin and around the intestines. The fibers of the muscle are short. For this reason, and also because they have so little fat, these meats are readily digested. The white meat contains less fat than the dark.

[Illustration with caption: FIGURE 72—FOWL TRUSSED FOR ROASTING. BREAST
VIEW]

DRESSING AND CLEANING POULTRY.—Singe, by holding the bird over a flame of gas, alcohol, or burning paper. Cut off the head, push back the skin, and cut off the neck close to the body. Cut through the skin around the leg one inch below the leg joint. If it is a fowl, take out the tendons; remove them separately, using a skewer (see Figure 71). Remove the pin feathers with the point of a knife or with a strawberry huller. Cut the oil bag from the tail.

[Illustration: FIGURE 73—FOWL TRUSSED FOR ROASTING,—BACK VIEW.]

The internal organs are not always removed before the chicken is sold. If they have not been removed, make an opening under one of the legs or at the vent, leaving a strip of skin above the vent. Remove the organs carefully,—the intestines, gizzard, heart, and liver should all be removed together. Care must be taken that the gall bladder, which lies under the liver, is not broken; it must be cut away carefully from the liver. The lungs and kidneys, lying in the hollow of the backbone, must be carefully removed. Press the heart to extract the blood. Cut off the outer coat of the gizzard. The gizzard, heart, and liver constitute the giblets to be used in making gravy. Wash the giblets. Place them all, with the exception of the liver, in cold water; heat quickly and cook (at simmering temperature) until tender. Add the liver a short time before removing the other giblets from the stove, as it does not require long cooking.

Clean the bird by wiping it thoroughly inside and out with a damp cloth, stuff and truss for roasting, or cut into pieces for fricassee or stew. If the bird is stuffed, the incision in the skin may be fastened together as directed for Baked Fish.