Game includes all wild animals and birds suitable for food, such as quail, partridge, plover, wild duck, deer, reindeer, and moose. TO SELECT POULTRY AND GAME Chicken and Fowl. Fowl have hard and dry feet and stiff cartilage at end of breastbone. A four-pound fowl serves six. Chicken have soft feet, smooth skin, and soft cartilage at end of breastbone. A four-pound chicken serves four to six. Guinea chickens have a slightly gamey flavor. They are gen- erally sold with wing feathers left on. Guinea chickens may be cooked and served in any of the ways suitable for chickens of their age and size. Squab guineas are young guineas. Capons are considered a little choicer than ordinary chickens. They have rounded, well-fleshed bodies, and pale combs. They usually weigh seven to eight pounds and serve eight generously. Broilers or spring chickens or squab chickens are young, tender birds. Allow one-half small broiler to a person. Canned chicken. Chicken meat or small whole chickens may be bought in cans. Duck should be soft and white. A duckling is a young duck but may weigh as much as six pounds. Goose should have a pliable, yellow bill and soft, fat, yellow feet. A four-pound goose serves six. A green goose is a young native goose. POULTRY AND GAME 3351 Pigeons should be plump. Allow one pigeon to a person. Squabs are young pigeons that have not been allowed to fly. Allow one squab to each person. Turkey should be smooth and have soft and pliable cartilage at end of breastbone. Game Birds should have soft feet and pliable bills. Rabbits. Young rabbits have soft ears and paws, short necks, and smooth, sharp claws. Venison. Deer should hang two weeks or longer, according to taste, before using. Fat should be white and firm. PREPARATION OF POULTRY FOR COOKING To Singe. Hold over a flame (from gas, alcohol, or burning paper) and constantly change position to expose all of surface to flame, thus burning off hairs and down. Teo Dress and Clean. (Poultry may be prepared at market, but it is wise to examine it carefully to be sure it has been properly done.) Cut off the head and draw out pinfeathers, using a small pointed knife. Cut through the skin around the leg one and one-half inches below the leg joint, care being taken not to cut tendons; place leg at this cut over edge of board, press downward to snap the bone, then take foot in right hand, holding bird firmly in left hand, and pull off foot, and with it the tendons. In old birds the tendons must be drawn separately, which is best accomplished by using a steel skewer. To Draw, make an incision through skin below breastbone, just large enough to admit the hand and remove: Entrails and giblets (gizzard, heart, and liver). Retain giblets. Gall bladder (on under surface of right lobe of liver). Do not break, as even a small amount of the bile would give bitter flavor to any part touched. Lungs (red, spongy, on each side of backbone, between ribs). Remove every particle. Kidneys (in hollow, near end of backbone). 332 THE BOSTON COOKING-SCHOOL COOK BOOK Feel under skin close to neck with first two fingers and pull out windpipe, and crop, which is attached to skin close to breast. Draw down neck skin and cut off neck close to body, leaving skin long enough to fasten under the back. Cut out oil bag at base of tail. Wash bird by allowing cold water to run through it, not allowing bird to soak in cold water. Wipe inside and outside, looking carefully to see that everything has been withdrawn. If there is disagreeable odor, suggesting that fowl may have been kept too long, clean at once, wash inside and out with soda water, and sprinkle inside with charcoal, and place some under wings.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

Game includes all wild animals and birds suitable for food, such as quail, partridge, plover, wild duck, deer, reindeer, and moose. TO SELECT POULTRY AND GAME Chicken and Fowl. Fowl have hard and dry feet and stiff cartilage at end of breastbone. A four-pound fowl serves six. Chicken have soft feet, smooth skin, and soft cartilage at end of breastbone. A four-pound chicken serves four to six. Guinea chickens have a slightly gamey flavor. They are generally sold with wing feathers left on. Guinea chickens may be cooked and served in any of the ways suitable for chickens of their age and size. Squab guineas are young guineas. Capons are considered a little choicer than ordinary chickens. They have rounded, well-fleshed bodies, and pale combs. They usually weigh seven to eight pounds and serve eight generously. Broilers or spring chickens or squab chickens are young, tender birds. Allow one-half small broiler to a person. Canned chicken. Chicken meat or small whole chickens may be bought in cans. Duck should be soft and white. A duckling is a young duck but may weigh as much as six pounds. Goose should have a pliable, yellow bill and soft, fat, yellow feet. A four-pound goose serves six. A green goose is a young native goose. Pigeons should be plump. Allow one pigeon to a person. Squabs are young pigeons that have not been allowed to fly. Allow one squab to each person. Turkey should be smooth and have soft and pliable cartilage at end of breastbone. Game Birds should have soft feet and pliable bills. Rabbits. Young rabbits have soft ears and paws, short necks, and smooth, sharp claws. Venison. Deer should hang two weeks or longer, according to taste, before using. Fat should be white and firm. PREPARATION OF POULTRY FOR COOKING To Singe. Hold over a flame (from gas, alcohol, or burning paper) and constantly change position to expose all of surface to flame, thus burning off hairs and down. To Dress and Clean. (Poultry may be prepared at market, but it is wise to examine it carefully to be sure it has been properly done.) Cut off the head and draw out pinfeathers, using a small pointed knife. Cut through the skin around the leg one and one-half inches below the leg joint, care being taken not to cut tendons; place leg at this cut over edge of board, press downward to snap the bone, then take foot in right hand, holding bird firmly in left hand, and pull off foot, and with it the tendons. In old birds the tendons must be drawn separately, which is best accomplished by using a steel skewer. To Draw, make an incision through skin below breastbone, just large enough to admit the hand and remove: Entrails and giblets (gizzard, heart, and liver). Retain giblets. Gall bladder (on under surface of right lobe of liver). Do not break, as even a small amount of the bile would give bitter flavor to any part touched. Lungs (red, spongy, on each side of backbone, between ribs). Remove every particle. Kidneys (in hollow, near end of backbone). Feel under skin close to neck with first two fingers and pull out windpipe, and crop, which is attached to skin close to breast. Draw down neck skin and cut off neck close to body, leaving skin long enough to fasten under the back. Cut out oil bag at base of tail. Wash bird by allowing cold water to run through it, not allowing bird to soak in cold water. Wipe inside and outside, looking carefully to see that everything has been withdrawn. If there is disagreeable odor, suggesting that fowl may have been kept too long, clean at once, wash inside and out with soda water, and sprinkle inside with charcoal, and place some under wings.

Boston Cooking-School cook book