Selecting Poultry—Chicken not more than 5 months old is “‘spring chicken’’; chicken over a year old, fowl. Full grown poultry is finer in flavor than young birds. In a chicken or young fowl the feet are yellow and soft, and the breast- bone yielding. Older fowl have horny scales, a hard breast-bone, thicker and yellower skin, and more fat, and hairs. A young turkey is known by the same points as a young fowl. Good turkeys have, besides plump breasts, black legs and white flesh. A young gobbler has small spurs. As a rule hen turkeys are best. In a young duck or goose, the windpipe is brittle enough to snap readily between the thumb and finger; and the feet are soft and yellow. Neither ducks nor geese are good if more than 1 year old. Dressing and Cleaning Poultry—Remove hairs and down by singeing over a flame. Draw out pin-feathers, using a small pointed knife or tweezers. Cut off the head. Cut through skin around leg 1% inches below the leg joint, care being taken not to cut tendons; snap bone at this cut; then pull off the foot, and with it the tendons. In old birds remove tendons separ- ately, using a steel skewer. Cut through skin below breast-bone, just large enough to admit hand. With the hand remove the entrails, gizzard, heart, and liver. Be careful not to thrust the finger into the centre, for if the gall bladder is broken, it will impart a bitter taste to whatever it may touch. Remove lungs and kidneys from ribs and backbone, also crop and windpipe, draw down neck skin, cut off neck close to body, leaving skin long enough to fasten under the back. Remove oil bag and wash bird carefully, then wipe inside and outside. 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. To Truss a Fowl—After stuffing the fowl, sew the skin of the neck over the back. Then run a long skewer through the wing, and then through the body and out through the other wing, pressing them close to the body. Also press a skewer through the thigh and body, and out through the other thigh. Pass a string over the projecting ends of the skewers, and tie it firmly at the back to keep the bird trussed. The legs can be crossed over the tail and tied. The wings and thighs can be tied in place by winding a string around the body, if you haveno skewers. Cut the string off carefully when done, so as not to tear the flesh. To Make Old Fowls Tender—Take an old fowl and stew or steam it from 2 to 4 hours; then roast it in the oven, basting frequently. 44 Blue Ribbon Cook Book Garnishes and Relishes—Turkey, use parsley, celery tips, rings of carrots, or sauteed sausages. Goose, use watercress and bright red cranberries. Serve cranberry sauce with turkey, apple sauce with goose, orange sauce or currant jelly with wild duck. Roast Chicken—Dress, clean, stuff and truss a 4 pound chicken. Rub with salt and Blue Ribbon pepper and place in a covered roasting pan, and cover breast with bacon strips. Dredge bottom of pan with flour. Place in a hot oven, and when flour is browned baste with 14 cup of butter melted in 4% cup boiling water✪ Roast Chicken. Reduce oven ieat and baste every 10 minutes until chicken is done. If water dries from the bottom of the pan, add more. A 4 pound chicken requires 114 hours to roast. Plain Stuffing—Take 2 cups fine bread crumbs, season with salt and pepper, and add 1 teaspoon each of Blue Ribbon parsley and summer savory, and 14 teaspoon Blue Ribbon marjoram; moisten with 14 cup melted butter✪ Plain Stuffing. Fill the cavity in the fish or meat, but do not crowd it in; sew up, or wind the meat with a string. This is excellent for fish, poultry, game, etc. For ducks use Blue Ribbon sage, instead of Blue Ribbon summer savory, parsley and marjoram. If stuffing is to be served cold, add 1 beaten egg.

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Selecting Poultry—Chicken not more than 5 months old is “‘spring chicken’’; chicken over a year old, fowl. Full grown poultry is finer in flavor than young birds. In a chicken or young fowl the feet are yellow and soft, and the breast- bone yielding. Older fowl have horny scales, a hard breast-bone, thicker and yellower skin, and more fat, and hairs. A young turkey is known by the same points as a young fowl. Good turkeys have, besides plump breasts, black legs and white flesh. A young gobbler has small spurs. As a rule hen turkeys are best. In a young duck or goose, the windpipe is brittle enough to snap readily between the thumb and finger; and the feet are soft and yellow. Neither ducks nor geese are good if more than 1 year old. Dressing and Cleaning Poultry—Remove hairs and down by singeing over a flame. Draw out pin-feathers, using a small pointed knife or tweezers. Cut off the head. Cut through skin around leg 1% inches below the leg joint, care being taken not to cut tendons; snap bone at this cut; then pull off the foot, and with it the tendons. In old birds remove tendons separ- ately, using a steel skewer. Cut through skin below breast-bone, just large enough to admit hand. With the hand remove the entrails, gizzard, heart, and liver. Be careful not to thrust the finger into the centre, for if the gall bladder is broken, it will impart a bitter taste to whatever it may touch. Remove lungs and kidneys from ribs and backbone, also crop and windpipe, draw down neck skin, cut off neck close to body, leaving skin long enough to fasten under the back. Remove oil bag and wash bird carefully, then wipe inside and outside. 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. To Truss a Fowl—After stuffing the fowl, sew the skin of the neck over the back. Then run a long skewer through the wing, and then through the body and out through the other wing, pressing them close to the body. Also press a skewer through the thigh and body, and out through the other thigh. Pass a string over the projecting ends of the skewers, and tie it firmly at the back to keep the bird trussed. The legs can be crossed over the tail and tied. The wings and thighs can be tied in place by winding a string around the body, if you haveno skewers. Cut the string off carefully when done, so as not to tear the flesh. To Make Old Fowls Tender—Take an old fowl and stew or steam it from 2 to 4 hours; then roast it in the oven, basting frequently. 44 Blue Ribbon Cook Book Garnishes and Relishes—Turkey, use parsley, celery tips, rings of carrots, or sauteed sausages. Goose, use watercress and bright red cranberries. Serve cranberry sauce with turkey, apple sauce with goose, orange sauce or currant jelly with wild duck. Roast Chicken—Dress, clean, stuff and truss a 4 pound chicken. Rub with salt and Blue Ribbon pepper and place in a covered roasting pan, and cover breast with bacon strips. Dredge bottom of pan with flour. Place in a hot oven, and when flour is browned baste with 14 cup of butter melted in 4% cup boiling water. Reduce oven ieat and baste every 10 minutes until chicken is done. If water dries from the bottom of the pan, add more. A 4 pound chicken requires 114 hours to roast. Plain Stuffing—Take 2 cups fine bread crumbs, season with salt and pepper, and add 1 teaspoon each of Blue Ribbon parsley and summer savory, and 14 teaspoon Blue Ribbon marjoram; moisten with 14 cup melted butter. Fill the cavity in the fish or meat, but do not crowd it in; sew up, or wind the meat with a string. This is excellent for fish, poultry, game, etc. For ducks use Blue Ribbon sage, instead of Blue Ribbon summer savory, parsley and marjoram. If stuffing is to be served cold, add 1 beaten egg.

Blue Ribbon cook book