Although the ways of cooking chicken may fall into any one of these groups, it may be well to add a special word on the subject. When buying a chicken we can distinguish between chicken and fowl in this way: a fowl has hairs on the body and not so many pin-feathers ; the skin is also coarser, there are scales on the feet, and the end of the breast-bone is stiff and not pliable as in a chicken. A hand-picked chicken is more tender than one that has been scalded before the feathers are removed, although the other has a smoother, more attractive appearance.

To dress a chicken or fowl, make a small incision between the end of the breast-bone and the tail, not deep enough to cut through the membrane surrounding the entrails. The fat can be easily separated from the body of the bird and all the entrails can be removed at once if this membrane has not been pierced. Be careful to remove the lungs which lie close to the breast-bone and which do not come out with the entrails. The kidneys also must be removed separately. The crop can be slipped out through the neck opening without making an incision below the neck. The tendons of the legs may be pulled by making a cut through the skin above the joint before removing the feet. Remove all pin-feathers and singe off the hairs.

After the bird has been stuffed and sewed up, it is trussed for baking. One skewer is put crosswise through the bone by the tail; another skewer is put through the body at the largest part of the legs; a third is so placed in the upper part of the body as to hold both wings in place and the end of the neck which has been brought down on the back. A string is wound around the ends of the legs and the ends of the tail skewer, holding them securely in place; then it is laced across the back of the chicken around the other two skewers making a harness to keep the wings and neck in place without having any string across the breast of the bird.

To dress a chicken

If a giblet gravy is desired, the liver, heart, and gizzard are removed from the entrails. Care must be taken to cut away from the liver the gall-bladder and any discolored parts. The clotted blood should be thoroughly washed out of the heart. The fat around the gizzard can be easily pulled off, and the thin membrane on the outside of the fleshy portion can be cut away with a sharp knife. The flesh can then be separated very easily from the heavy membrane enclosing the sac with its disagreeable contents. The prepared giblets should be dropped into boiling water at once and simmered until tender. They may then be set aside to be used for the gravy when the chicken is served.

One word further. Since pork and its products, with the exception of bacon, contain so much fat in close combination with the protein material, they are difficult to digest and should not be given to children nor adults who have weak digestion. Crisp bacon fat is, however, one of the most digestible of the fats and can be used freely in combination with potatoes and other vegetables.

To truss a bird for roasting

The giblets

A "Frikasie"

{Colonial Recipe) Mrs. John Burroughs, 1734

"Take ye fowls; cut them in pieces, and clean them. Season with pepper and salt, a little mace, nutmeg, cloves, some parsley, a little bit of onion. Let them lay 2 hours, then flowr them well, fry in sweet butter, and make ye butter hott before you put them in. Fry a fine brown. Wash ye pan, and put them in again with a pint of gravy. Lett them swimyer in ye gravy. Take the yolks of 3 eggs with a little grated nutmeg, a little juce of lemon and 2 spoonsful of wine. Shake it over the fire til it is as thick as cream, pour over ye frikasie, and so serve it to ye table hot."

Croquettes

2 cups cold fowl or veal cut fine 1/2 teaspoon salt Cayenne 1 teaspoon lemon juice

4 drops onion I teaspoon parsley 1/2 teaspoon celery salt for veal

Mix meat and seasoning, add as much white sauce as you can to be able to handle the mixture and yet have a soft creamy croquette when served. For this amount make 1 cup white sauce, using but 4 tablespoons butter and 6 tablespoons flour to the pint.

Chill the mixture, shape quickly, crumb, egg, and crumb. Fry but six at once, as more cool the fat too much.