Bones are a much more valuable acquisition to the soup kettle, if they be added uncooked. Poultry and birds, boned and filled with forcemeat, may be served either hot or cold, and have the advantage of being easily carved. They may be boned in either of two ways, according to the shape they are to assume; one is used when the skin and flesh is to be rolled around stuffing; the other when the natural shape is to be restored by stuffing. In either case it is desirable to keep the skin as whole as possible.

De-Boning To Preserve Shape

In this process the skin with the flesh attached is to be separated intact from the bones which support it; the fingers and the back of a sharp, pointed knife are most serviceable in pushing and scraping the flesh from the bones, and the sharp edge of the knife when cutting is desirable. Singe, remove the pin-feathers, head, tendons, and lastly, the feet, wipe carefully, but do not draw the bird, as a firm foundation upon which to work is desirable.

Loosen the skin around the end of the leg bone, and cut through the skin on the back from the neck to about the middle of the back. Beginning on one side, scrape the flesh with the skin from the backbone to the free end of the shoulder-blade, push the flesh from this and then follow the bone to the articulation of the wing, then down to the middle joint of the wing, free this and disjoint the bone at the tip-joint; free the flesh from the other shoulder-blade and wing in the same way, then push the flesh from each collar-bone down to the breastbone, separating the crop from the flesh. The skin lies very close over the edge of the ridge of the breastbone, and great care must be exercised to keep it whole; use the fingers rather than the knife. Now separate the flesh from the ribs, taking care not to penetrate the lining into the inside; push the flesh from the second joint, then from the leg, pulling the flesh down over the ends of the legs, where the skin was loosened at first, just as one often turns a glove wrong side out, when it does not come off easily; free the bones on the other side in the same way, then push the skin from the backbone until the rump is reached; cut through the bone, leaving a part of it in the rump. Now, when the skin on the under part is separated from the lining membrane, the edible portion of the bird (saving the giblets) is in one piece and the bony structure with the internal organs in another.

De-Boning For A Galantine

Prepare the fowl as before, but cut the skin down the whole length of the backbone, then work the flesh from the bones on either side just as before, except that the skin upon the wings and legs need not be so carefully freed from the bones, as it is pulled inside to give a rectangular shaped piece.