Experimental cookery

The term dressed weight is used as in poultry classification and market- ing. A dressed bird is bled and has the feathers removed. Market prices from butcher shops are usually for the dressed and not the drawn weight. The drawn weight is the weight after removal of the head, feet, and diges- tive organs. As given in Table 35, the average losses for all classes of poultry are 12, 20, 19, and 12 per cent for dressing, drawing, cooking, and inedible loss, respectively. Thus the cooked meat is less than 40 per cent of the live weight. For the convenience of those buying poultry from the markets, the data in the preceding table are given in the following table, but based on the drawn weight, which makes the percentages higher. Lowe and Keltner found that the edible meat without skin, based on the uncooked weight of 116 halves of roasters as prepared for the oven, aver- aged slightly more than 50 per cent. When the skin was included the edible portion was considerably higher. The cost of the edible meat and of the total edible portion for the dif- ferent classes of poultry given in Tables 35 and 36 is given in Table 37. Roasting of poultry. The percentages lost in cooking poultry reported by Lowe and Vernon, and tabulated in Tables 35 and 36, were obtained by roasting the chickens in tight-fitting covered roasters at 250°C. for 30 minutes and then the temperature was lowered to 175°C. The pans were 246 MEAT TABLE 36 Data for Dressing and Cooking Losses of Different Classes of Poultry Based on the Drawn Weight, Per Cent Number of birds. . . . Drawn weight Cooked weight Fat loss Moisture loss Total cooking loss . . Weight of inedible cooked portion. . . Weight of cooked meat Weight of drippings, Weight of cooked meat and drip- pings Broih U 97.0 71.8 25.0 20.3 51.4 1.0 52.4 Fryers 14 97.4 75.9 21.6 17.6 58.1 Young roasters 9 97.5 79.1 4.1 14.2 18.3 20.0 59.0 8.9 67.9 Capons 10 99.1 71.1 12.1 16.2 28.3 14.3 56.7 17.5 74.2 H( 16 98.5 68.8 12.6 17.1 29.7 14.9 54.0 16.3 70.3 Average all classes 62 97.9 73.3 22.6 17.4 55.8 TABLE 37 Cost of Edible Meat for Different Classes of Poultry {Lowe and Vernon) Live weight average, pounds Dressed weight average, pounds Cost per pound dressed weijrht Cost per pound cooked meat Cost per pound edible meat plus drippings Broilers. Fryers. . Roasters Hens. . . Capons. 1.87 2.95 4.51 5.03 7.38 1.67 2.66 4.01 4.63 6.65 $0.40 0.34 0.30 0.31 0.43 $1,090 .778 .639 .738 .900 $1,070 .778 .550 .567 uncovered for the last 15 minutes of cooking and the heat increased to brown the roasts. In the covered pans used in these experiments, very little browning occurred while the roasts were covered. Methods and cooking temperatures. In roasting poultry, one is con- fronted with the problem of cooking tender and less tender muscles at the same time. As a result, when the breast is at its prime, the thigh and leg ROASTING OF POULTRY 247 muscles may be slightly tough and, vice versa, when the thigh and leg are cooked sufficiently to soften the connective tissue, the breast is past its prime and is becoming dry. Another problem in cooking poultry is the skin. If it is moist and tender, the appearance is less attractive because it is not so brown. When the skin is not consumed this point is not important.