TO SELECT POULTRY AND PREPARE IT FOR BEING COOKED.

A young turkey has a smooth leg, and a soft bill, and if fresh, the eyes will be bright, and the feet moist. Old turkeys have scaly, stiff feet.

Young fowls have a tender skin, smooth legs, and the breast bone readily yields to the pressure of the finger. The best are those that have yellow legs. The feet and legs of old fowls look as if they had seen hard service in the world.

Young ducks feel tender under the wing, and the web of the foot is transparent. The best are thick and hard on the breast.

Young geese have yellow bills, and the feet are yellow and supple; the skin may be easily broken by the head of a pin; the breast is plump, and the fat white. An old goose is unfit for the human stomach.

To keep fowls in warm weather, take out the heart and liver and parboil them, set them aside in a cool place, to be used in the gravy. Wash the fowls as clean as possible from the blood, and plunge one at a time into a kettle of boiling water for five minutes, moving it about, that the water may penetrate every part. Drain and wipe them dry and pepper the inside and the necks. This process will enable you to keep them two days in warm weather. In cold weather all sorts of poultry should be kept at least a week; but care should be taken that they do not freeze, as they are not quite so good for being frozen.

Pick out the pin feathers very carefully. A pair of tweezers is sometimes necessary to take out those which a knife will not remove. Cut out the oil bag above the tail. Singe off all the hair by turning it quickly over a blazing paper. Cut off the legs at the joint above the feet; trim the neck, and if too long cut off some of it; draw out the crop and be sure to take out every thing from the inside. The best way of removing the crop is to make an incision along the backbone, just below the neck. It can be removed in this way as easily as by the common method, and the appearance of the bird, when laid on the dish, is much better. Be careful, in removing the gall bag, not to break it, as it will make every spot it touches bitter, and the most careful washing will not remove it. If there is much fat, trim off some of it. Throw the liver, heart, and gizzard into water and wash them. Wash the fowl in several waters. It is then ready to be stuffed and skewered, as directed under the head, To roast a Turkey. Some persons think fowls much better not to be washed; but they cannot be clean without.

The sharpness of the breast bone, which is a defect in the appearance of a fowl on the table, may be remedied in the following way: When preparing it to be cooked, take a small sharp knife, and passing it up the body, cut off the little slender bones which join the hug-me-close[13] to the side. Then push down the breast bone by pressing heavily upon it. A little practice will make it easy to do this.

To Roast a Turkey.

Observe the directions under the head, To prepare Poultry for being cooked. Make a stuffing, and fill both the breast and body. Sew it up with a needle and coarse thread; tie the skin over the end of the neck with a thread or piece of twine. Push a short skewer through above the tail, and a long one through the body under the thighs; then tie the ends of the legs down with a twine, close upon the short skewer. Push another long skewer through the body, so as to confine the wings, and tie them round with a twine. Put the spit through the length of the body, and fasten it with two skewers; flour it, and put it to the fire with a little water in the roaster. It should be roasted rather slowly. A turkey weighing twelve pounds should roast three hours; one weighing six or seven, an hour and a half. When half done, flour it again thickly; when this is browned, baste it often. If much fat roasts out, dip off most of it when the turkey is about half done, and put a small piece of butter into the gravy, and baste the turkey with it. Having washed the heart, liver, &c., boil them an hour and a half, in a sauce-pan in a pint of water; skim them when the water first boils up; if it boils away, add more.

To make the gravy, take out the heart and gizzard, mash the liver, and put it back into the water in which it was boiled, and pour the gravy also out of the roaster into it; set it on the coals, add browned flour, wet smooth, and a little butter and pepper, and boil it a minute or two, and then serve it. The liver should never be put under the wing, or laid upon the dish, but always be used in the gravy, as it is greatly improved by it.

More directions respecting gravies may be found under the head, Directions for making various kinds of Gravies.

To Boil a Turkey.

Stuff a young turkey, weighing six or seven pounds, with bread, butter, salt, pepper, and minced parsley; skewer up the legs and wings as if to roast; flour a cloth and pin around it. Boil it forty minutes, then set off the kettle and let it stand, close covered, half an hour more. The steam will cook it sufficiently. To be eaten with drawn butter and stewed oysters.

To Roast Chickens.

Observe the same directions in stuffing them as for a turkey. If you wish to roast several before an open fire, the spit may be put through side-ways, instead of length-ways, and four or five can thus be roasted at once, in a large roaster. Boil the inwards and make the gravy as for a turkey. Roast them an hour and a half.

To Boil Chickens.

Make the same dressing as directed for a boiled turkey, or boil them without stuffing if preferred. Skewer them up into a good shape, as when prepared to roast, and boil them an hour and a quarter. Serve them with drawn butter and cut parsley. It is an improvement to mash the livers and put into the butter. If chickens can be carefully skimmed, they need no cloth around them.

To Broil Chickens.

Cut them open through the back, take out the inwards, wash them and wipe them dry; place the inside down on the gridiron. They must broil slowly, and care be taken they do not burn. Turn them in ten minutes. To keep them flat, lay a tin sheet upon them, with a weight. Broil twenty-five minutes, and dress with butter, pepper, and salt. They can be broiled best over wood coals.

To Fricassee Chickens.

Boil them forty minutes in water enough barely to cover them. Take off the scum as fast as it rises. Take them up and carve them in the usual way. Put part of the water in which they were boiled into a spider or stew-pan. For two chickens rub a piece of butter as large as an egg, and a spoonful of flour together, and stir into the water as it boils up. Add some salt, and a gill of cream, or milk. Lay in the pieces of chicken, cover the pan close, and stew them gently eight or ten minutes. Parsley cut fine is a decided improvement.

Chicken Salad.

Boil or roast a nice fowl. When cold, cut off all the meat, and chop it a little, but not very small; cut up a large bunch of celery and mix with the chicken. Boil four eggs hard, mash, and mix them with sweet oil, pepper, salt, mustard, and a gill of vinegar. Beat this mixture very thoroughly together, and just before dinner pour it over the chicken.

Chicken Pie.

Boil chickens in water barely to cover them, forty minutes. Skim the water carefully. Take them out into a dish, and cut them up as they should be carved if placed upon the table. If the skin is very thick remove it. Have ready, lined with a thick paste, a deep dish, of a size proportioned to the number of chickens you wish to use; put in the pieces, with the hearts and livers, in layers; sprinkle each layer with flour, salt, and pepper, and put on each piece of chicken a thin shaving of butter; do this till you have laid in all the pieces; put rather more of the spice, flour, and butter over the top layer than on the previous ones, and pour in as much of the liquor in which the chickens were boiled as you can without danger of its boiling over. Lay on the upper crust, and close the edges very carefully with flour and water; prick the top with a knife. Cut leaves of crust and ornament it. Bake two hours. The crust for chicken pie should be twice as thick as for fruit pies. Use mace and nutmeg if you wish.

To Roast Ducks.

Flour them thick and baste them often. If they are roasted before the fire, an hour is long enough; if in a stove, an hour and a half. For making the stuffing and gravy, see the directions.

To Boil Ducks.

Scald and lay them in warm water a few minutes, then lay them in a dish, pour boiling milk over them, and let them lie in it two or three hours. Then take them out, dredge them with flour, and put them into a saucepan of cold water, cover close and boil them twenty minutes. Then take them out and set them, covered, where they will keep warm, and make the sauce as follows:—

Chop a large onion and a bunch of parsley fine, and put them into a gill of good gravy. [See receipt for Stock.] Add a table-spoonful of lemon juice, a little salt, pepper, and a small piece of butter. Stew these ingredients half an hour; then lay the ducks into a dish, and pour the sauce over them.

To Roast a Goose.

Boil it half an hour to take out the strong, oily taste, then stuff and roast it exactly like a turkey. If it is a young one, after being boiled, an hour's roasting will be sufficient.

To Boil Partridges.

Put them in a floured cloth into boiling water, and boil them fast fifteen minutes. For sauce, rub a very small piece of butter into some flour, and boil in a teacup of cream. Add cut parsley if preferred.

To Roast Partridges.

Prepare them like chickens, and roast three quarters of an hour.

To Roast Pigeons.

Pick out the pin feathers, or if there are a great many, pull off the skin. Examine the inside very carefully. Soak them half an hour in a good deal of water, to take out the blood. Then boil them with a little salt in the water, half an hour, and take off the scum as fast as it rises. Take them out, flour them well, and lay them into a dripping-pan; strain the water in which they were boiled, and put a part of it into the pan; stir in it a little piece of butter, and baste the pigeons often. Add pepper and sweet marjoram if you prefer. Roast them nearly two hours. Pigeons need to be cooked a long time.

Pigeons in Disguise.

Prepare them just as directed in the receipt above, and boil them long enough to remove all the blood, then pepper and salt them, make a good paste, roll each pigeon close in a piece of it; tie them separately in a cloth, taking care not to break the paste. Boil them gently an hour and a half, in a good deal of water. Lay them in a hot dish, and pour a gravy over them made of cream, parsley, and a little butter.

Pigeon Pie.

Pick, soak, and boil pigeons with the same care as directed in the receipt for roasting them. Make a crust just as for chicken or veal pie. Lay in the pigeons whole, and season with pepper, salt, shavings of butter, and sweet marjoram; flour them thickly, then strain the water in which they were boiled, and fill the dish two thirds with it. Lay the top crust over, and close the edges well. Make many incisions with the point of a knife, or a large fork, and bake an hour and a half.

Woodcocks, Quails, and other small birds.

Pull off the skin, split them down the back with a sharp knife, pepper the breasts, and lay the inside first upon the gridiron. Broil them slowly at first, skewer a small bit of pork upon each one. Turn them after seven or eight minutes. Broil them twenty minutes.

If you wish to make a pie, do just as directed for the pigeon pie.

Calcutta Curry.

Boil and joint two chickens. Fry three or four slices of salt pork, and when they are nearly brown add a large spoonful of butter. Cut three or four onions fine, and fry them a light brown; then remove them, and the pork, and fry the chickens gently in the fat; strew over the meat while it is frying a spoonful and a half of good curry powder, and dredge in flour. Then add hot water to make sufficient gravy; if the gravy is not thick enough, mix a little flour smooth in cold water, and stir in. Add salt to suit your taste. This dish is best when stewed slowly. Garnish with slices of lemon.

Partridges, pigeons, rabbits, sweet-breads, breasts of mutton, lamb, and veal, are all used for curries.

There is a difference in the quality of curry powder. The above measure, is for the strongest kind, and is enough for a quart of gravy. The East Indians never use flour in thickening the gravy, but depend on the curry powder.

To prepare rice for Calcutta curry, wash a pint in several waters, and put it into a kettle, containing a gallon of warm water, with salt in it. Cook it ten minutes from the time it begins to boil; then pour it into a sieve, and when the water is entirely drained out, shake the sieve, and the particles of rice will separate, and it is ready to serve.