Roast Fowl

After a fowl has been dressed and cleaned fill with stuffing, truss securely in compact shape, and lay on its back on a rack in a roasting pan. Dredge with flour, salt, and pepper, dot with bits of butter and place in a hot oven. As soon as the flour is browned, begin to baste with a cup of hot water, and 2 tablespoons fat, and baste every 10 minutes.

Cook until breast is tender - 1 1/2 hours for a four-pound fowl. For a large fowl or an old fowl, the time must be increased.

Stuffing for Roast Fowl

4 cups bread crumbs 2 teaspoons salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

1/3 cup melted butter or other fat 2/3 cup boiling water 1 egg,(if desired)

Mix in the order given, combine thoroughly and use to stuff fowls and turkeys. If a dry, crumbly dressing is desired omit the boiling water. The addition of the egg makes a richer dressing.

How To Carve a Fowl

The first requisite in successful carving of a fowl is that the carver have a knowledge of the location of all the bones and joints. A sharp carving knife is an absolute necessity.

It is desirable to have an extra plate and fork at the carver's place, the plate to hold the joints as they are removed, the fork to use in dividing the joints.

When sent to the table the fowl should be on its back on the platter with the legs at the right hand of the carver.

The first thing to be done is to put the carving fork in the breast, just a little below the point of the breast, pressing it down firmly so that the tines are on either side of the breast bone just above the wish-bone. The fork must be held there all through the carving and the fowl must not be moved.

There is a rule that the wings of a bird which flies must be removed first, the legs of a bird that walks. Remove both joints on one side first.

To Remove Leg - Holding the fork in the left hand, press back the leg on the nearer side of the body, then cut down through the skin and joint right across the joint so that some meat will be left on the hip bone.

To Remove Wing - Cut through the joint taking same white meat from the breast with the wing. Then if there are many persons to be served so that the greater part of the fowl will be needed, remove the leg and the wing on the farther side.

Carve the white meat on the breast, slicing it off carefully in thin cross slices; when down almost to the breast bone, disjoint and remove the wish-bone with the remaining white meat.

Turn the body to one side, cut off the dark meat left at the base of the leg joint, then cut out the oyster, a choice piece of dark meat on the lower side part of the back and close to either side of the backbone. With it remove the skin and meat from the shoulder blade.

Then at last remove the fork and separate the pieces which lie along the side of the breast bone where the fork has been held.

Open the front of the fowl so that the dressing can be removed with a spoon.

To Separate the Joints - Separate the second joint from the drum-stick. Notice the white mark where the fibers join at the joint (for they run in distinctly different directions) and cut through the mark right between the bones that meet at the joint.

Small pieces of meat may be removed from the side of the second joint. The second joint is considered the most juicy and best flavored cut in the fowl.

The meat may be carefully cut from the drum stick and it will then be more enjoyed. If the tendons have been removed, the meat on the drum stick is very good.

Serve the cuts as attractively as possible, particularly if the meat is served cold. Lay the pieces skin side up. In serving put pieces of both light and dark meat on each plate.

To Cut up a Fowl for Stew, Fricassee or Frying

After singeing the fowl and removing the head, feet, and oil sack, cut off the legs, and separate at the joint into drum sticks and second joint. Cut off the wings and separate them at the middle joint. Separate the body by cutting carefully between the breast and the back through the ends of the ribs on either side. Disjoint the neck-piece from the breast. Separate the neckpiece from the end of the back and carefully lift out all the entrails lying in the back. Remove the kidneys from the back and the lungs from the neck-piece, and wash these two cuts thoroughly.

Separate the wish-bone, with the meat that is on it, from the breast. Cut the breast across in two pieces with the cleaver. This will give thirteen cuts. If the breast is large it may be further divided. The neck may be cooked with the giblets and used in making gravy.

Cuts of Fowl

2 drum sticks

2 second joints of legs

2 wings

2 second joints of wings

1 back

1 neck piece

1 end of neck

2 cuts of breast

1 wishbone piece 1 gizzard 1 heart 1 liver

Stewed Fowl

After cleaning and cutting up the fowl, cover pieces with boiling water, and cook rapidly 15 minutes. Then add 1 tablespoon salt, and cook at low temperature until tender, 1 1/2 hours or more.