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Classic
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page 70
POULTRY AND GAME.
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. About
March they deteriorate in quality.
Young ducks and geese are plump, with light, semi-transparent fat,soft
breast-bone, tender flesh, leg-joints which will break by the weight of the
bird, fresh-colored and brittle beaks, and wind-pipes that break when pressed
between the thumb and forefinger. They are best in fall and winter.
Young pigeons have light red flesh upon the breast, and full, fresh-colored
legs; when the legs are thin and the breast very dark the birds are old.
Fine game birds are always heavy for their size; the flesh of the breast is firm
and plump, and the skin clear; and if a few feathers be plucked from the inside
of the leg and around the vent, the flesh of freshly-killed birds will be fat
and fresh-colored; if it is dark and discolored, the game has been hung a long
time. The wings of good ducks, geese, pheasants, and woodcock are tender to the
touch; the tips of the long wing feathers of partridges are pointed in young
birds and round in old ones. Quail, snipe and small birds should have full,
tender breasts. Poultry should never be cooked until six or eight hours after it
has been killed, but it should be picked and drawn as soon as possible. Plunge
it in a pot of scalding hot water; then pluck off the feathers, taking care not
to tear the skin; when it is picked clean, roll up a piece of white paper, set
fire to it, and singe off all the hairs. The head, neck and feet should be cut
off, and the ends of the legs skewered to the body, and a string tied tightly
around the body. When roasting a chicken or small fowl there is danger of the
legs browning
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