Science in the Kitchen / A Scientific Treatise On Food Substances and Their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome Recipes

by E. E. Kellogg

Poultry should be entirely free from disagreeable odors. Methods are employed for sweetening fowls which have been kept too long in market, but if they need such attention, bury them decently rather than cook them for the table.

Turkeys should have clear, full eyes, and soft, loose spurs. The legs of young birds are smooth and black; those of older ones, rough and reddish.

Geese and ducks, when freshly killed, have supple feet. If young, the windpipe and beak can be easily broken by pressure of the thumb and forefinger. Young birds also have soft, white fat, tender skin, yellow feet, and legs free from hairs.

The legs of young pigeons are flesh-colored. When in good condition, the breast should be full and plump, and if young, it is of a light reddish color. Old pigeons have dark flesh; squabs always have pinfeathers.

Partridges, when young, have dark bills and yellow legs.

The breast of all birds should be full and plump. Birds which are diseased always fall away on the breast, and the bone feels sharp and protrudes.

To Dress Poultry and Birds.—First strip off the feathers a few at a time, with a quick, jerking motion toward the tail. Remove pinfeathers with a knife.

Fowls should be picked, if possible, while the body retains some warmth, as scalding is apt to spoil the skin and parboil the flesh. When all the feathers but the soft down have been removed, a little hot water may be poured on, when the down can be easily rubbed off with the palm of the hand. Wipe dry, and singe the hairs off by holding the bird by the legs over the flame of a candle, a gas-jet, or a few drops of alcohol poured on a plate and lighted. To dress a bird successfully, one should have some knowledge of its anatomy, and it is well for the amateur first to dress one for some dish in which it is not to be cooked whole, when the bird may be opened, and the position of its internal organs studied.

Remove the head, slip the skin back from the neck, and cut it off close to the body, take out the windpipe and pull out the crop from the end of the neck. Make an incision through the skin a little below the leg-joint, bend the leg at this point and break off the bone. If care has been taken to cut only through the skin, the tendons of the leg may now be easily removed with the fingers.

If the bird is to be cut up, remove the legs and wings at the joints. Then beginning near the vent, cut the membrane down between the breastbone and tail to the backbone on each side, and separate just below the ribs. The internal organs can now been seen and easily removed, and the body of the bird divided at its joints.