Fowl is found in market throughout the year, but is at its best from March until June.
Philadelphia, until recently, furnished our market with Philadelphia chickens and capons, but now Massachusetts furnishes equally good ones, which are found in market from December to June. They are very large, plump, and superior eating. At an early age they are deprived of the organs of reproduction, penned, and specially fatted for killing. They are recognized by the presence of head, tail, and wing feathers.
Turkeys are found in market throughout the year, but are best during the winter months. Tame ducks and geese are very indigestible on account of the large quantity of fat they contain. Goose meat is thoroughly infiltrated with fat, containing sometimes forty to forty-five per cent. Pigeons, being old birds, need long, slow cooking to make them tender. Squabs (young pigeons) make a delicious tidbit for the convalescent, and are often the first meat allowed a patient by the physician.
The flesh of game, with the exception of wild duck and wild geese, is tender, contains less fat than poultry, is of fine though strong flavor, and easy of digestion. Game meat is usually of dark color, partridge and quail being exceptions, and is usually cooked rare. Venison, the flesh of deer, is short-fibred, dark-colored, highly savored, tender, and easy of digestion; being highly savored, it often disagrees with those of weak digestion.
Geese are in market throughout the year; Massachusetts and Rhode Island furnishing specially good ones. A goose twelve weeks old is known as a green goose. They may be found in market from May to September. Young geese which appear in market September first and continue through December are called goslings. They have been hatched during May and June, and then fatted for market.
Young ducks, found in market about March first, are called ducklings. Canvasback Ducks have gained a fine reputation throughout the country, and are found in market from the last of November until March. Redhead Ducks are in season two weeks earlier, and are about as good eating as Canvasback Ducks, and much less in price. The distinctive flavor of both is due to the wild celery on which they feed. Many other kinds of ducks are found in market during the fall and winter. Examples: Widgeon, Mallard, Lake Erie Teal, Black Ducks, and Butterballs.
Fresh quail are in market from October fifteenth to January first, the law forbidding their being killed at any other time in the year. The same is true of partridge, but both are frozen and kept in cold storage several months. California sends frozen quail in large numbers to Eastern markets. Grouse (prairie chicken) are always obtainable,—fresh ones in the fall; later, those kept in cold storage. Plover may be bought from April until December.
To Select Poultry and Game. A chicken is known by soft feet, smooth skin, and soft cartilage at end of breastbone. An abundance of pinfeathers always indicates a young bird, while the presence of long hairs denotes age. In a fowl the feet have become hard and dry with coarse scales, and cartilage at end of breastbone has ossified. Cock turkeys are usually better eating than hen turkeys, unless hen turkey is young, small, and plump. A good turkey should be plump, have smooth dark legs, and cartilage at end of breastbone soft and pliable. Good geese abound in pinfeathers. Small birds should be plump, have soft feet and pliable bills.
To Dress and Clean Poultry. Remove hairs and down by holding the bird over a flame (from gas, alcohol, or burning paper) and constantly changing position until all parts of surface have been exposed to flame; this is known as singeing. Cut off the head and draw out pinfeathers, using a small pointed knife. Cut through the skin around the leg one and one-half inches below the leg joint, care being taken not to cut tendons; place leg at this cut over edge of board, press downward to snap the bone, then take foot in right hand, holding bird firmly in left hand, and pull off foot, and with it the tendons. In old birds the tendons must be drawn separately, which is best accomplished by using a steel skewer. Make an incision through skin below breastbone, just large enough to admit the hand. With the hand remove entrails, gizzard, heart, and liver; the last three named constitute what is known as giblets. The gall-bladder, lying on the under surface of the right lobe of the liver, is removed with liver, and great care must be taken that it is not broken, as a small quantity of the bile which it contains would impart a bitter flavor to the parts with which it came in contact. Enclosed by the ribs, on either side of backbone, may be found the lungs, of spongy consistency and red color. Care must be taken that every part of them is removed. Kidneys, lying in the hollow near end of backbone, must also be removed. By introducing first two fingers under skin close to neck, the windpipe may be easily found and withdrawn; also the crop, which will be found adhering to skin close to breast. Draw down neck skin, and cut off neck close to body, leaving skin long enough to fasten under the back. Remove oil bag, and wash bird by allowing cold water to run through it, not allowing bird to soak in cold water. Wipe inside and outside, looking carefully to see that everything has been withdrawn. If there is disagreeable odor, suggesting that fowl may have been kept too long, clean at once, wash inside and out with soda water, and sprinkle inside with charcoal and place some under wings.
Poultry dressed at market seldom have tendons removed unless so ordered. It is always desirable to have them withdrawn, as they become hard and bony during cooking. It is the practice of market-men to cut a gash through the skin, to easier reach crop and windpipe. This gash must be sewed before stuffing, and causes the bird to look less attractive when cooked.