As has been implied, poultry must be properly prepared before it is ready for cooking; likewise, the method of cookery determines how it must be prepared. For example, if it is to be roasted, it must be drawn; if it is to be stewed, it must be drawn and cut into suitable pieces; and so on. The various steps that must be taken to make poultry suitable for cooking are therefore considered here in detail.



DRESSING A CHICKEN.--Although, as has been shown, the housewife does not have to dress the chicken that she is to cook--that is, kill and pluck it--there may be times when she will be called on to perform this task or at least direct it. A common way of killing chicken in the home is simply to grasp it firmly by the legs, lay it on a block, and then chop the head off with a sharp hatchet or a cleaver. If this plan is followed, the beheaded chicken must be held firmly until the blood has drained away and the reflex action that sets in has ceased. Otherwise, there is danger of becoming splashed with blood.

After a chicken has been killed, the first step in its preparation, no matter how it is to be cooked, consists in removing the feathers, or plucking it, as this operation is called. Plucking can be done dry by simply pulling out the feathers. However, a bird can be plucked more readily if it is first immersed in water at the boiling point for a few minutes. Such water has a tendency to loosen the feathers so that they can be pulled from the skin easily. Unless the chicken is to be used at once, though, dry plucking is preferable to the other method. Care should be taken not to tear or mar the skin in plucking, and the operation is best performed by pulling out the feathers a few at a time, with a quick jerk. In a young chicken, small feathers, commonly called pin feathers, are apt to remain in the skin after plucking. These may be pulled out by pinching each with the point of a knife pressed against the thumb and then giving a quick jerk.

Whether live poultry is dressed by a local butcher or in the home, the length of time it should be kept after killing demands attention. Such poultry should either be cooked before rigor mortis, or the stiffening of the muscles, has had time to begin, or be allowed to remain in a cool place long enough for this to pass off and the muscles to become tender again. Naturally, if this softening, or ripening, process, as it is sometimes called, goes on too long, decomposition will set in, with the usual harmful effects if the meat is used as food.

SINGEING A CHICKEN.--On all chickens except very young ones, whether they are home dressed or not, hairs will be found on the skin; and, as has been mentioned, the older the bird the more hair will it have. The next step in preparing a chicken for cooking, therefore, is to singe it, or burn off these hairs. However, before singeing, provided the head has not been removed, cut it off just where the neck begins, using a kitchen cleaver or a butcher knife. To singe a dressed chicken, grasp it by the head or the neck and the feet and then revolve it over a gas flame or a burning piece of paper for a few seconds or just long enough to burn off the hairs without scorching the skin. After singeing, wash the skin thoroughly with a cloth and warm water. Then it will be ready for drawing and cutting up.