How To Select Poultry

In selecting poultry full-grown fowls have the best flavor, provided they are young. The age may be determined by turning the wing backward; if it yields it is tender. The same is true if the skin on the leg is readily broken. Older poultry makes the best soup. The intestines should be removed at once, but frequently in shipping they are left in and hence, when removed, the fowl needs washing in several waters. The next to the last water should contain 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda, which sweetens and renders all more wholesome. The giblets are the gizzard, heart, liver and neck.

Roast Turkey

Carefully pluck the bird and singe off the down with lighted paper; break the leg bone close to the foot, hang up the bird and draw out the strings of the thigh. Never cut the breast; make a small slit down the back of the neck and take out the crop that way, then cut the neck bone close, and after the bird is stuffed the skin can be turned over the back and the crop will look full and round. Cut around the vent, making the hole as small as possible, and draw carefully, taking care that the gall bag and the intestines joining the gizzard are not broken. Open the gizzard, take out the contents and detach the liver from the gall bladder. The liver, gizzard and heart, if used in the gravy, should be boiled 1 1/2 hours and chopped as fine as possible. Wash the turkey and wipe thoroughly dry, inside and out; then fill the inside with stuffing, and sew the skin of the neck over the back. Sew up the opening at the vent, then run a long skewer into the pinion and thigh through the body, passing it through the opposite pinion and thigh. Put a skewer in the small part of the leg, close on the outside, and push it through. Pass a string over the points of the skewers and tie it securely at the back.

Sprinkle well with flour, cover the breast with nicely-buttered white paper, place on a grating in the dripping pan and put in the oven to roast. Baste every 15 minutes, a few times with butter and water, and then with the gravy in the dripping pan. Do not have too hot an oven. A turkey weighing 10 pounds will require 3 hours to

Roast Goose

Get a goose that is not more than 8 months old, and the fatter it is the more juicy the meat. The dressing should be made of 3 pints of bread crumbs, 6 ounces of butter, a teaspoon each of sage, black pepper and salt and chopped onions. Don't stuff very full, but sew very closely, so that the fat will not get in. Place in a baking pan with a little water and baste often with a little salt, water and vinegar. Turn the goose frequently so that it may be evenly browned. Bake about 2 1/2 hours. When done, take it from the pan, drain off the fat and add the chopped giblets, which have previously been boiled tender, together with the water in which they were done. Thicken with flour and butter rubbed together; let boil, and serve.

Baked Chicken

Take a plump chicken, dress and lay in cold salt water for 1/2 hour; put in pan, stuff and sprinkle with salt and pepper; lay a few slices of fat pork over; cover and bake until tender, with a steady fire; baste often; turn so as to have uniform heat.