Miss Corson's practical American cookery and household management

poultry: After some attention has been paid to the location of the joints, care should be taken, in carving poultry, to fix it firmly with the fork to prevent slipping in the dish, and then to make clean cuts from the point where the knife is inserted. To hack the flesh, is to destroy' much of the satisfaction of the eater ; besides, well-carved poultry serves so many more at table than that which is hacked and torn. It is quite possible to take from a chicken which weighs about four pounds cooked, at least fourteen good pieces, averaging in size about three inches square. Of course it would not be feasible to illustrate the carving which accomplishes such a result, without many designs showing the successive stages in carving ; but some description is included in that of the following cut of a fowl outlined for carving. LARDED FOWL. The strings used to keep the fowl in shape while cooking will of course be removed by the cook before it is served. To carve it, first insert the fork firmly in the breast-bone, at the point marked by the figure i ; instead of cutting off the entire leg, first cut off the drumsticks at 2, and then the second joints, thus avoiding one of the most uncomfortable parts of carving poultry ; with a very sharp, thin-bladed carv- Larded Fowl. ing-knife, the entire fowl can be carved without removing the fork from the breast-bone. After the drumsticks and second joints are taken off, cut at the dotted line marked 3, in towards the^body, removing the wings ; next insert the point of the knife between the neck-bone where it joins the backbone and the wing-side-bone, — a small flat bone which unites with the collar of the breast-bone at the dotted line marked 4, about midway of the merry-thought or wish-bone, — and cut back towards the wing-joint, and thence downwards parallel with the upper part of the back-bone. With the wing-side-bone remove a portion of the white meat of the upper part of the breast. After the legs, wings, and wingside-bones are removed, and the merry-thought taken off if it is desired separate, the point of the carving-knife can be inserted where the ribs join the sides of the breast-bone, where the dotted line marked 5 joins the dotted line 4 ; by turning the sharp edge of the knife outwards, the point being towards the thigh, and cutting from the inside out through the ribs where they join the breast-bone to the point at the lower end of the breast-bone marked 6, on both sides of the bird, the breast and entire back of the fowl can be separated. As the carving-fork still remains in the breast-bone, the breast can be cut in as many pieces as are desired before it is withdrawn. Finally, the back-bone can be broken where it joins the lower part of the ribs, at figure 7, and the two thigh-side-bones and the rump cut apart. A little study of this diagram and description, and practice with a reasonably tender fowl, will soon enable the carver to proceed with ease and precision. TO CARVE BOAST TURKEY. The directions for carving a fowl will apply to a turkey unless it is a very large one, and then probably only the /lOast Turftetf, Breast carved. breast and second joints of the legs will be required; in this case, cut off the drumsticks and second joints as directed in