Poultry

“ Roast Fowl
HOW TO SELECT
A chicken’s feet are soft and smooth and the end of the breastbone is flexible. Poultry that is to be carried over from the season of plenty is carefully selected and specially fed and prepared. Only the choicest corn and milk fed poultry is worthy of the skill and science displayed in modern cold storage. Scientific methods of packing fresh poultry, and shipment in the refrigerator cars originated by the packers, assures the most select fresh poultry in season. The undrawn poultry is preferred to the drawn poultry in the market. ”

“ Poultry.—Both poultry and game are less nutritious than meat, but they are more digestible, and consequently are better food than meat for persons of weak digestive organs and sedentary habits. They are both excellent for persons who think or write much. Fresh poultry may be known by its full bright eyes, pliable feet, and soft moist skin; the best is plump, fat, and nearly white, and the grain of the flesh is fine. The feet and neck of a young fowl are large in proportion to its size, and the tip of the breast-bone is soft, and easily bent between the fingers ”

“ The term Poultry, includes all the domesticated birds reared for the table—fowls, capons, turkeys, geese, ducks, and guinea fowl. Those who live in the country and intend to rear fowls for the consumption of their families, should have a poultry-yard, called by the French, a basse cour. It should be well sheltered, with a warm aspect, and sufficiently inclined to be always dry. It should also be supplied with sand or ashes, and there should be also a supply of running water, of which poultry are fond. A green patch of earth should be next to the poultry-yard, to allow the fowls free exercise. ”

“ Poultry should be well covered with white fat; if the bottom of the breast bone be gristly, it is young, but if it be a hard bone, it is an old one. Fish are judged by the liveliness of their eyes, and bright red of their gills. Dredge every thing with flour before it is put on to boil, and be sure to add salt to the water. ”

“ Poultry that have a big run and plenty of grass require no more than two regular meals a day, viz., soft food early in the morning, and a feed of grain just before going to roost, but do not give more than they will pick up readily; directly they cease to run for it cease feeding.
HINTS ABOUT POULTRY.
Give your hens sulphur in their food occasionaly—just before laying is a good time; give it every second morning for a week. It will brighten their feathers and purify their blood. ”

“ In my treatise, I have shown that, in America, all the hogs and pigs, all the poultry of every sort, the greater part of the oxen, and a considerable part of the sheep, are fatted upon this corn; that it is the best food for horses; and that, when ground and dressed in various ways, it is used in bread, in puddings, in several other ways in families; and that, in short, it is the real staff of life, in all the countries where it is in common culture, and where the climate is hot. When used for poultry, the grain is rubbed off the cob. ”

“ Some poultry-keepers recommend that the grain should be boiled, which makes it swell greatly, and consequently fills the fowl's crop with a smaller quantity, and the bird is satisfied with less than if dry grain be given; but others say that the fowls derive more nutriment from the same quantity of grain unboiled. ”

“ In the selection of poultry, the housewife should realize that poultry breeders have so developed certain breeds, even of the same species, that they are better for table use than others. The flesh of any breed of poultry may be improved by feeding the birds good food and giving them proper care ”

“ Many and many a pleasant stroll they had among the poultry markets, where ducks and fowls, with necks unnaturally long, lay stretched out in pairs, ready for cooking; where there were speckled eggs in mossy baskets; white country sausages beyond impeachment by surviving cat or dog, or horse or donkey; new cheeses to any wild extent; live birds in coops and cages, looking much too big to be natural, in consequence of those receptacles being much too little; rabbits, alive and dead, innumerable. ”

“ Now there are many reasons why children, Junior Naturalists especially, should know something about poultry. It may be that [518] you live on a farm and will want to raise chickens, ducks, and turkeys some day; and the farmer who knows his poultry best will be most successful in raising it. But whether you live in country or city you will like to study these interesting birds. ”

“ Young stock in cornfield on a fancier's farm
While farmers usually care more for horses, cattle, sheep, and hogs, many [Pg 122] become interested in poultry, and if they are natural fanciers and good business men, it often happens that the growing of fancy poultry becomes one of the most important industries on the farm. ”

“ Grass is of the greatest value for all kinds of poultry, and where they have no paddock, or grass-plot, fresh vegetables must be given them daily, as green food is essential to the health of all poultry, even of the very youngest chickens. ”

“ With poultry, as in the case of meats of any kind, it is the composition that determines the method of cookery; and, as the structure and composition of the tissue of poultry do not differ materially from those of meats, the application of the various cooking methods is practically the same. Young and tender birds that have comparatively little flesh, such as young chickens, squabs, and guinea fowl, are usually prepared by such rapid methods as frying and broiling. ”

“ We have seen those who in every other respect were true gentlemen and ladies, carve poultry or a piece of meat in such a barbarous manner as to banish all desire to eat, and almost the ability to taste the big, uncouth, mangled lump that was put, or rather thrown, on the plate. ”

“ POULTRY are of more importance to us than game, and the flesh, containing less nitrogen, is not so stimulating as beef or mutton. Old fowls are often tough and indigestible, and have often, also, a rank flavor like a close hen-house, produced by the absorption into the flesh of the oil intended by nature to lubricate the feathers.
GAME contains even less fat than poultry, and is considered more strengthening. The flesh of rabbits and hares is more like poultry or game than meat, but is too close in fiber to be as digestible. Pigeons and many other birds come under none of the heads given. ”

“ TO CHOOSE POULTRY. Young, plump, well-fed, but not over-fatted poultry is the best. The skin of fowls and turkeys should be clear, white, and finely grained, the breasts broad and full-fleshed, the legs smooth, the toes pliable and easily broken when bent back; the birds should also be heavy in proportion to their size. ”

“ You can study grammar and take care of poultry at the same time. Miss Brook has a famous stock of poultry. It is one of her amusements; but she is going to start you off with a few ordinary fowls, and see how you manage them. Then, if you are industrious, after you have paid for the first ones, she will let you have a better lot. I am to repair the old poultry-house, down at the foot of the barnyard, and you are to do the rest. I suppose, at first, mother would be as willing to buy her eggs and chickens of you as of anybody else. ”

“ The rearing of poultry is one of the things which I do in order to benefit my country. Quite ordinary chickens satisfy my personal needs, and the egg of the modest barndoor fowl is all I ask at breakfast-time. ”

“ If we go out of the house into the stable-yard or the pasture-field we meet others of them: the noble horse, the patient and docile cow, the woolly sheep, the sturdy goat. In the poultry-yard still others meet us: the cackling hen, proud of her new-laid egg; the crowing rooster, the quacking duck, the gracefully swimming goose or swan, the peacock with its splendid tail, even the buzzing bee, flying home laden with wax and honey.
If all our human friends should desert us, the dog would cling to us still. ”

“ That such has been the method employed in the formation of the more distinct races of our poultry, is proved by the fact that a continuance of the same careful selection is needful to perpetuate them in perfection. ”

“ Pigs and poultry succeed to cattle and horses, and the author is equally at home in regard to the management of these as of the more valued varieties of stock—as learned in their various breeds, and as skilful in the methods of fattening, killing, and cutting up. ”

“ It is to the results of such study and development that we owe the many varieties of poultry, pigeons and birds. The poultry raiser may now determine whether he desires birds with large bodies for the table, or the smaller egg-producers, or whether he prefers other qualities, and he may select from the different varieties such as are possessed of the desired requisites. ”

“ White-legged poultry should always be selected for boiling as it is of better colour when dressed than any other. Truss the fowls firmly and neatly, with the legs drawn into the bodies, and the wings twisted over the backs; let them be well covered with water, which should be hot, but not boiling when they are put in. ”

“ Feeding the Poultry.—I know a little girl, who feeds her mother’s poultry; and I believe she takes the entire care of them. She gives them corn to eat, and fresh water to drink, every day. There is one chicken, which she says is very greedy, and always tries to get more than his share ”

“ Fill the center with chopped cold poultry, which may be chicken, turkey, duck, or goose. Add peas, chopped carrots, potato, and a few slices of onion in any desirable proportion. Over this pour sufficient left-over gravy or white sauce to cover well. First, steam thoroughly; then uncover the utensil and bake slowly until the vegetables are cooked and the entire mixture is well heated. Serve from the casserole or baking dish.
SERVING AND CARVING POULTRY
79. Poultry of any kind should always be served on a platter or in a dish that has been heated in the oven or by running hot water over it. ”

“ When there is a variety of poultry, each kind should be separately lodged. Plenty of space, water accessible, gravel, living plants and loose soil are the principal things to render poultry comfortable. The worms and insects obtained from the loose soil furnish them animal food, and sand or gravel is necessary to promote digestion. It is best not to draw poultry when preparing it for market, as it keeps longer when the air is excluded. In winter some farmers let their poultry freeze, and pack them in boxes of dry straw, and send them to market. ”

“ The ample supply of poultry, of all descriptions, fed in coops on the poop, and a small flock of sheep, perhaps from twenty-five to forty in number, maintained there on hay, &c. enable the captain, for the most part, to exhibit fresh meat, of some sort, every day; which added to abundance of prime beef and pork for his use, together with tongues, pickles, sauces of all kinds, potatoes, rice, pastry, olives, &c. &c. form a tout ensemble, where even the most dainty may find something acceptable to the palate. ”

“ Poultry and game keep for some length of time, if the weather be dry and cold, but if moist or warm, will be more liable to taint, than venison or any kind of meat, except veal. A piece of charcoal put inside of any kind of poultry will greatly assist to preserve it. Poultry should be picked, drawn and cropped. Do not wash, but wipe it clean, and sprinkle the parts most likely to taint with powdered loaf sugar, salt, and pepper. As I should reject the use of all chemical processes, for the preservation of meat, I do not recommend them to others. ”

“ In choosing poultry, select those that are fresh and fat, and the surest way to determine whether they are young is to try the skin under the leg or wing. If it is easily broken, it is young; or, turn the wing backwards, if the joint yields readily, it is tender. When poultry is young the skin is thin and tender, the legs smooth, the feet moist and limber, and the eyes full and bright. The body should be thick and the breast fat. Old turkeys have long hairs, and the flesh is purplish where it shows under the skin on the legs and back. ”

“ From numerous sources of information, we learn that prime English beef is underdone, which causes rather a run on mutton. Revenons, &c., is the watchword in many households. Poultry flies rather high for the time of year, and grouse is also up. ”

“ They have great abundance of poultry, as likewise of red and fallow deer, with wild boars, hares, goats, and kine. They have plenty of cheese, but have no butter, and use no milk, because they consider it to be of the nature of blood. ”

“ It is, in general, very proper for cold clay-lands, but should be carefully dried before it is spread; being apt, during wet weather, to clod together in lumps.—The dung of poultry, is of a heating nature, abounds with salts, and greatly tends to promote vegetation; it is more speedy in its operations, than that of animals, feeding on the leaves of plants. ”

“ The quantities of eggs, fowl, and game which are needed to supply so many tables must be enormous; and as one sees very few live poultry anywhere, it has occasioned me surprise to think how they can be procured. ”

“ Many people suppose that poultry can live upon vegetables alone and this is probably true. Experience, however, shows that poultry does not thrive and fatten well on purely [109] vegetable food. This fact was brought out very prominently in the experiments at the Cornell station where poultry of the same origin and character was fed two kinds of diet, one being partly of animal food and the other purely vegetable foods. The ration of the animal food consisted of Indian corn meal, wheat flour, ground oats, wheat bran, wheat middlings, pea meal, linseed meal, meat, and fresh bone. ”

“ A warm poultry-house, high feeding, and care that they do not remain too long exposed to severe weather, are the best means of preventing this disfigurement. Some birds are occasionally produced, handsomely streaked with red on the hackle and back. ”