Foods and home making

Cleaning Poultry. — The hairs on poultry should be removed. This is done by singeing the bird. Hold it over a gas flame so that the flame strikes all parts of the skin. Poultry may be singed also by holding it over burning paper. In case there are pinfeathers, remove them with the point of a knife or with a strawberry huller. If the butcher has not cut off the head of the bird, this should be done. Then the neck should be cut off. However, if the poultry is to be stuffed, it is well not to cut off the skin covering the neck. Loosen the skin from the flesh and bone of the neck, pull the skin back and cut off the neck close to the body. Take out the wind pipe and crop. Cut the oil bag from the tail. Poultry must be drawn if the butcher has not already done it. The way poultry is drawn depends upon whether it is to be left whole for roasting or cut into pieces before cooking. Direc- tions for the different ways of drawing fowl are given with the method of cooking. Since only tender meats are suitable for roasting, only chick- ens or young turkeys are suitable for baking in an uncovered pan. However, a fowl may be roasted, in a covered pan. A longer time is required for roasting a fowl than a chicken. Drawing Poultry for Roasting. — After the skin of poultry is cleansed, it may be drawn as follows : (When drawing poultry, protect the table or meat board by covering it with a piece of paper.) Cut through the skin and flesh of poultry under one of the legs. An incision may be made also at the vent, leaving a strip of skin above the vent. Loosen the organs carefully. Great care must be taken not to break the gall bladder, which lies under the liver. Even a small amount of gall will make the poultry taste bitter. After loosening the organs, remove them, cutting all around the vent. 396 Dinner The intestines , gizzard , /tear/, and /iter should be removed to- gether. The lungs lying in the hollow of the back bone must be carefully removed. Now clean the bird by washing it carefully inside and out. Cleaning the Giblets. — The giblets , i.e., the liver, gizzard, and heart, should be prepared for cooking as follows : Cut the gall bladder from the liver, again taking care not to break or cut into it. Remove the intestines from the other organs. Cut the tough membrane from the heart. Inside the gizzard there is a sack which must be removed. To do this, cut through the flesh to the skin surrounding the sack. Then loosen the gizzard from the sack. Around the flesh of the gizzard there is a coating of tough membrane. It is well to cut away this membrane. Stuffing Chicken or T urkey. — Chicken or turkey is usually stuffed with a bread mixture. Stale bread crumbs are used as the basis of the stuffing. Many different materials and season- ings may be added to the bread crumbs. The following recipe for stuffing may be varied by the addition of different seasoning or herbs and other ingredients : STUFFING 1 quart 1 * soft (not fresh) bread Dried herbs (1 teaspoon ground crumbs sage or mixture of J teaspoon £ teaspoon pepper each of marjoram, savory, and 2 teaspoons salt thyme) \ cup butter Mix the crumbs, seasoning, and herbs together. In a frying pan or saucepan, melt the butter. Add the crumbs. Stir and heat until the crumbs are slightly browned.