CHAPTER XIV.

=Poultry.= [Illustration] 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. This applies equally to geese and ducks, of which the breasts likewise should be very plump, and the feet yellow and flexible: when these are red and hard, the bills of the same colour, and the skin full of hairs, and extremely coarse, the birds are old. White-legged fowls and chickens should be chosen for boiling, because their appearance is the most delicate when dressed; but the dark-legged ones often prove more juicy and of better flavour when roasted, and their colour then is immaterial. Every precaution should be taken to prevent poultry from becoming ever so slightly tainted before it is cooked, but unless the weather be exceedingly sultry, it should not be quite freshly killed; pigeons only are the better for being so, and are thought to lose their flavour by hanging even a day or two. Turkeys, as we have stated in our receipts for them, are very tough and poor eating if not sufficiently long kept. A goose, also, in winter, should hang some days before it is dressed, and fowls, likewise, will be improved by it. All kinds of poultry should be _thoroughly cooked_, though without being overdone, for nothing in general can more effectually destroy the appetite than the taste and appearance of their flesh when brought to table half roasted or boiled. TO BONE A FOWL OR TURKEY WITHOUT OPENING IT. After the fowl has been drawn and singed, wipe it inside and out with a clean cloth, but do not wash it. Take off the head, cut through the skin all round the first joint of the legs, and pull them from the fowl, to draw out the large tendons. Raise the flesh first from the lower part of the back-bone, and a little also from the end of the breast-bone, if necessary; work the knife gradually to the socket of the thigh; with the point of the knife detach the joint from it, take the end of the bone firmly in the fingers, and cut the flesh clean from it down to the next joint, round which pass the point of the knife carefully, and when the skin is loosened from it in every part, cut round the next bone, keeping the edge of the knife close to it, until the whole of the leg is done. Remove the bones of the other leg in the same manner; then detach the flesh from the back and breast-bone sufficiently to enable you to reach the upper joints of the wings; proceed with these as with the legs, but be especially careful not to pierce the skin of the second joint; it is usual to leave the pinions unboned, in order to give more easily its natural form to the fowl when it is dressed. The merrythought and neck-bones may now easily be cut away, the back and side-bones taken out without being divided, and the breast-bone separated carefully from the flesh (which, as the work progresses, must be turned back from the bones upon the fowl, until it is completely inside out). After the one remaining bone is removed, draw the wings and legs back to their proper form, and turn the fowl right side outwards. A turkey is boned exactly in the same manner, but as it requires a very large proportion of forcemeat to fill it entirely, the legs and wings are sometimes drawn into the body, to diminish the expense of this. If very securely trussed, and sewn, the bird may be either boiled, or stewed in rich gravy, as well as roasted, after being boned and forced; but it must be most gently cooled, or it may burst. ANOTHER MODE OF BONING A FOWL OR TURKEY. Cut through the skin down the centre of the back, and raise the flesh carefully on either side with the point of a sharp knife, until the sockets of the wings and thighs are reached. Till a little practice has been gained, it will perhaps be better to bone these joints before proceeding further; but after they are once detached from it, the whole of the body may easily be separated from the flesh and taken out entire: only the neck-bones and merrythought will then remain to be removed. The bird thus prepared may either be restored to its original form, by filling the legs and wings with forcemeat, and the body with the livers of two or three fowls mixed with alternate layers of parboiled tongue freed from the rind, fine sausage meat, or veal forcemeat, or thin slices of the nicest bacon, or aught else of good flavour, which will give a marbled appearance to the fowl when it is carved; and then be sewn up and trussed as usual; or the legs and wings may be drawn inside the body, and the bird being first flattened on a table may be covered with sausage meat, and the various other ingredients we have named, so placed that it shall be of equal thickness in every part; then tightly rolled, bound firmly together with a fillet of broad tape, wrapped in a thin pudding-cloth, closely tied at both ends, and dressed as follows:—Put it into a braising-pan, stewpan, or thick iron saucepan, bright in the inside, and fitted as nearly as may be to its size; add all the chicken bones, a bunch of sweet herbs, two carrots, two bay-leaves, a large blade of mace, twenty-four white peppercorns, and any trimmings or bones of undressed veal which may be at hand; cover the whole with good veal-broth, add salt, if needed, and stew it very softly, from an hour and a quarter to an hour and a half; let it cool in the liquor in which it was stewed; and after it is lifted out, boil down the gravy to a jelly and strain it; let it become cold, clear off the fat, and serve it cut into large dice or roughed, and laid round the fowl, which is to be served cold. If restored to its form, instead of being rolled, it must be stewed gently for an hour, and may then be sent to table hot, covered with mushroom, or any other good sauce that may be preferred; or it may be left until the following day, and served garnished with the jelly, which should be firm, and very clear and well-flavoured; the liquor in which a calf’s foot has been boiled down, added to the broth, will give it the necessary degree of consistence. French cooks add three or four onions to these preparations of poultry (the last of which is called a _galantine_); but these our own taste would lead us to reject. Rolled, 1-1/4 to 1-1/2 hour, galantine, 1 hour. _Obs._—A couple of fowls, boned and rolled, make an excellent pie. TO BONE FOWLS FOR FRICASSEES, CURRIES, AND PIES. First carve them entirely into joints, then remove the bones, beginning with the legs and wings, at the head of the largest bone; hold this with the fingers, and work the knife as directed in the receipt above. The remainder of the birds is too easily done to require any instructions. TO ROAST A TURKEY. [Illustration: Turkey for roasting. ] In very cold weather a turkey in its feathers will hang (in an airy larder) quite a fortnight with advantage; and, however fine a quality of bird it may be, unless sufficiently long kept, it will prove not worth the dressing, though it should always be _perfectly sweet_ when prepared for table. Pluck, draw, and singe it with exceeding care; wash, and then dry it thoroughly with clean cloths, or merely wipe the outside well, without wetting it, and pour water plentifully through the inside. Fill the breast with forcemeat (No. 1, Chapter VIII.), or with the finest sausage meat, highly seasoned with minced herbs, lemon-rind, mace, and cayenne. Truss the bird firmly, lay it to a clear sound fire, baste it constantly and bountifully with butter, and serve it when done with good brown gravy, and well-made bread sauce. An entire chain of delicate fried sausages is still often placed in the dish, round a turkey, as a garnish. It is usual to fold and fasten a sheet of buttered writing paper over the breast to prevent its being too much coloured: this should be removed twenty minutes before the bird is done. The forcemeat of chestnuts (No. 15, Chapter VIII.) may be very advantageously substituted for the commoner kinds in stuffing it, and the body may then be filled with chestnuts, previously stewed until tender in rich gravy, or simmered over a slow fire in plenty of rasped bacon, with a high seasoning of mace, nutmeg, and cayenne, until they are so; or, instead of this, well-made chestnut sauce, or a dish of stewed chestnuts, may be sent to table with the turkey. _Obs. 1._—Baron Liebig’s improved method of roasting will be found at p. 171, and can be followed always instead of the directions given here. 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 hours. _Obs. 2._—A turkey should be laid at first far from the fire, and drawn nearer when half done, though never sufficiently so to scorch it; it should be _well_ roasted, for even the most inveterate advocates of underdressed meat will seldom tolerate the taste or _sight_ of partially-raw poultry TO BOIL A TURKEY. [Illustration: Turkey for boiling. ] A delicate but plump hen-turkey of moderate size should be selected for boiling. Free the skin most carefully from all the stumps, and draw the bird, using the greatest precaution not to break the gall bladder; singe it with writing paper, take off the head and neck, cut through the skin round the first joint of the legs, and draw them off: this is best accomplished by fastening the feet to a strong hook, and then pulling the bird away from it. Wash it exceedingly clean, and then wipe it dry, fill the breast with the forcemeat No. 1 or 2 of Chapter VIII., or with the oyster, chestnut, or French forcemeat, of which the receipts are given in the same chapter. In trussing it draw the legs into the body, break the breast-bone, and give the turkey as round and plump an appearance as can be. Put it into plenty of _warm_ water, or into as much boiling water as will rise about an inch over it, and when it has quite boiled for ten minutes, cool it down by the addition of cold water, and then take out a portion of it, leaving only as much as will keep the bird thoroughly covered until it is ready for table.[87] Clear off the scum with the greatest care as it is thrown to the surface, and boil the bird _very gently_ from an hour and a half to two hours and a quarter. A very large turkey would require a longer time, but it is unsuited to this mode of cooking. When the oyster-forcemeat is used, a large tureen of rich oyster sauce should accompany the dish; but celery sauce, or good white sauce, may otherwise be sent to table with it; and a boiled tongue or a small ham is usually served in addition. For a plain family dinner, a delicate cheek of bacon is sometimes substituted for either of these, and parsley and butter for a more expensive sauce. _Fast boiling_ will cause the skin of the bird to break, and must therefore be especially avoided: it should hang for some days before it is dressed, for if quite freshly killed it will not be tender, but it must be _perfectly_ sweet to be fit for table. Truss the turkey by the directions of introductory chapter on trussing. Footnote 87: As we have elsewhere stated, all meat and fish are injured by being cooked in a much larger quantity of water than is absolutely required for them. Moderate-sized turkey, 1-1/2 to 2 hours; large turkey, longer; very small one, less time. TURKEY BONED AND FORCED. (_An excellent dish._) [Illustration: Cradle Spit. ] Take a small, well-kept, but quite sweet hen-turkey, of from seven to eight pounds weight, and remove, by the receipt for a fowl (page 265), all the bones except those of the pinions, without opening the bird; draw it into shape, and fill it entirely with exceedingly fine sausage meat, beginning with the legs and wings; plump the breast well in preparing it, and when its original form is quite restored, tie it securely at both ends, and at the extremities of the legs; pass a slight iron skewer through these and the body, and another through the wings and body; then lay a twine over the back of the turkey, and pass it under the ends of the first skewer, cross it in the centre of the back, and pass it under the ends of the second skewer; then carry it over the pinions to keep them firmly in their place, and fasten it at the neck. When a cradle spit, of which the engraving below shows the form, and which opens with a joint to receive the roast, is not at hand, a bottle jack will be found more convenient than any other for holding the turkey; and after the hook of this is passed through the neck, it must be further supported by a string running across the back and under the points of the skewer which confines the pinions to the hook; for, otherwise, its weight would most probably cause it to fall. Flour it well, place it far from the fire until it is heated through, and baste it plentifully and incessantly with butter. An hour and three quarters will roast it well. Break and boil down the bones for gravy in a pint and a half of water, or good veal broth, with a little salt, a few slices of celery, a dozen corns of pepper, and a branch or two of parsley. Brown gently in a morsel of fresh butter, a couple of ounces of lean ham, add to them a slight dredging of flour, and a little cayenne, and pour to them the broth from the bones, after it has boiled for an hour, and been strained and skimmed; shake the stewpan well round, and stew the gravy until it is wanted for table; clear it entirely from fat, strain, and serve it very hot. An eschalot or half an onion may be browned with the ham when either is liked, but their flavour is not, we think, appropriate to poultry. The turkey may be partially filled with the forcemeat No. 1 or 3 of