Gancel's culinary encyclopedia of modern cooking

Suckling pig is a young one of six or eight weeks, which has been nourished with milk. The suckling pig is served whole, stuffed and roasted; also boned and carved raw, cooked with aromates and served in jelly. Venison. A deer is cut in four portions: Haunch, back and breast, shoulder, neck. ..Venison is not very often bought, but when it is you can tell to its being “high” or not by running a cleaver into ■the shoulder and observing the scent on it when withdrawn. The fat should be thick and clean. If the cleft of the haunch is smooth and close the animal is young. Moose, bear, reindeer, wild. boar are the same. Leg and saddle for roasting or broiling, shoulder and neck for stew. TO CHOOSE POULTRY AND GAME > Poultry. Domestic tufkeys, chicken, duck, geese, pigeons, hares, partridges, .pheasants, etc., are .divided into two classes — ■478 — —young and old. The young ones are distinguished by their soft feet, soft cartilage at the tip of the breast bone, the skin is moist, smooth and fine textured. Turkey. The cock bird, when young, has a. smooth black leg with a short spur. The eyes are bright and full, and the feet supple, when fresh; the absence of these signs denotes age and staleness; they may be judged by the same rules. Young, roasting or broiling; old, boiling or braizing. Chickens. The young cock has a smooth leg and a short spur; when fresh, the meat is close and dark. Hens, when young, have smooth legs and combs; when old, these will be rough. A good capon or fattened female chicken, 7 to 8 months (Poularde) has a thick belly and large rump, a poll comb, and a swelling breast. Spring chicken is best to roast, broil or saute. Capon, roast or braize; “Poularde,” roast or braize. Hens for boiling. Ducks.' May be selected by the same rules. The wing should be tender, the fat more yellow, and the webbing of medium texture, not as in the case of old ducks. Spring duckling, roast or broiled; old, for braizing or stew. Geese. In young geese always select plump firm geese. The feet and bills will be yellow and free from hair. When fresh, the feet are pliable; they are stiff when stale. Young, roast and broil; old, braize or stew. Pigeons and Squabs. Young pigeons or squabs have pink legs, and light red flesh on the breast; the old ones are dark. Squabs are young, tame pigeons, and are generally raised for market purposes. They are as large as old ones, but are covered with pin feathers, and in quality resemble young ones when fresh, have supple feet, and they will be firm; if discolored they are stale. Squab, roasting or broiled; old, braized or stewed. DIVERS GAME Game. Pheasants may be chosen. The young birds are known by the short or round spur, which in the old is long and pointed. Young, broiling or roasting; old, braizing. Partridges. Yellow beaks and dark legs are signs by which a young bird may be known; a rigid vent when fresh. — 479 — When this part is green the bird is stale. Young, roasting or; broiling; old, braizing. ' ; " Y . >, Moor Game. Grouse, wood cocks, snipes, quail, ortolans, plover, red birds, rail birds, etc., may be chosen by the rules given above. Roasting and broiling, sometimes saute. Venison is dark red, with some white fat. Roasting, broiling and sauteing. ’ * ■ '■ • •'