POULTRY - Choosing & Prepration of Poultry

POULTRY - Choosing & Prepration of Poultry

Choosing poultry

                       Only young birds are suitable for roasting older birds may be boiled, steamed, braised or stewed. A roasting chicken should be about nine months to a year old; geene and other birds for roasting should not also be older than one year.

Signs of a young bird

( i ) The feathers, especially the quills on the wings, should be easy to pull out.

(ii) There should be down all over the body, but especially under the wings

(iii) No long hair on the body.

(iv) The skin should be white or clear and smooth.

( iv ) The feet should be supple, with smooth, even, over-lapping scales.

(vi) The comb and wattle should be small and not well developed.

Signs which show that a bird is fresh

(i) Feathers - light and fluffy.

( ii ) Eyes - prominent and clear

(iii) No marked or unpleasant smell

(iv) Feet - moist and not stiff and dry 

(v) Skin clear with no dark or greenish tinge.

Points which denote good condition in ducks

                  The breast should be plump. The bill and feet are yellow in young birds, but they darken with age. The webbing of the feet should be smooth, tender and easily broken, and the underbill soft and pliable.

Preparation

                             Storing poultry Fowls and ducks are best used fresh and should not be stored longer than 1 or 2 days before cooking. Protect them from flies and hang by the feet in a dry airy place.

Plucking 

                   If poultry is plucked while still warm the feathers are easier to remove.

(i) When plucking, do not sit in a draught or the feathers will blow about..

(ii) Put the bird on a large sheet of strong paper.

(iii) Take care not to tear the skin, especially when plucking game birds. 

(iv) Hold the bird firmly with the left hand and pluck with the right.

(v) Pluck out small handfils at a time, starting from under one wing then continue plucking until one side is completely clear.

(vi) Remove all the pin feathers with a knife.

Singeing 

                        A bird can be singed in either of the two following ways. Care should be taken not to scorch or blacken the skin. 

(i) Hold the bird by its head and feet, and quickly and carefully singe off the hairs over a small gas jet.

(ii) Hold the bird in the left hand and singe with a lighted taper or paper spill.

The giblets These can be used for making stock for gravy to serve with the roast bird, for enriching the stock when the bird is boiled, or for making giblet pie or giblet stew. The liver and kidneys are not boiled with the fowl, as they tend to darken the meat. They may be half-cooked, chopped and used as part of the stuffing or cooked in other ways.

Instructions for cleaning giblets are given below.

Liver: Carefully cut away the gall bladder, taking great care not to break it.

Stomach. Remove any fat and reserve it. Scrape the gizzard lining well.

Heart: Cut free of tubes, cut open, and scrape away all congealed blood.

Kidney: With a large bird, such as a turkey or goose, these are large enough to be used. Cut them open and cut out the core.

Neck: Serape away all congealed blood. 

Wash the liver, gizzard, heart, kidney and neck in salt water and rinse well.

Drawing the tendons If a bird is not young and tender, it is advisable to draw the tendons from the legs before roasting.

( i ) Carefully cut through the skin of the leg at the knee joint, taking care not to cut the tendons at the same time.

(ii) Break the joint and swing the leg free to expose the tendons.

(iii) Pull out the tendons one at a time with a strong metal skewer.

There will be 7 of them in each leg.

Stuffing Birds can be roasted, stuffed or unstuffed, but they are usually stuffed. Stuffing can be put inside the bird only, or both inside and at the crop, covered by the skin of the neck.

Veal forcemeat may be used for the inside and sausage meat for the crop or vice versa. Pack the veal forcemeat, or any similar stuffing, fairly loosely to allow for swelling.

Trussing

Method (A)

                  A trussing needle and some thin, clean string will be necessary. A trussing needle is a strong steel needle about 23 cm. (9") long with a large eye.

(i) Fold the skin of the neck over the back of the bird, and cross the tips of the wings over to keep it securely in position.

(ii) Turn the bird breast upwards and put the tail through the vent.

(iii) Thread the trussing needle and pass it just under the top joint of the right wing through the bird and out through the same joint in the left wing. Run the needle back through the bird so that it enters and comes out just above the bottom joint of the wings.

(iv) Tie the ends of the string securely in a bow, taking care not to drag the flesh

(v) Re-thread the needle, press the legs well into the sides towards the wings, plumping out the breast, and run the needle through the back of the bird, just under the thigh joint, and return through a point near the ends of the legs. Tie both ends of the string firmly together.

Method (B) 

( i) Fold the skin of the neck over the stuffing and secure firmly with a small skewers.

( ii ) Turn the bird breast upwards and put the tail through the vent.

(iii) Pass a large skewer through the wing pinions to hold them securely in position.

(iv) Tuck the legs well into the sides of the bird to plump out the breast, then tie the legs firmly together with a string, pass the string underneath the bird, cross it, then bring it up again and twist it round the wing. Skewer and tie firmly.

Trussing a fowl for boiling

(i) Cut the skin of the legs all round at the knee joint, crack the joints and pull the shanks off with as many of the sinews as possible.

( ii ) Thread the trussing needle and secure the wings in the same way as for the roasting bird, or fix them securely with a skewer.

(iii) Carefully loosen the skin round the legs, and slip them into the body of the bird. Secure in position with the trussing needle and string or with a skewer.