Capons or Fowls (No. 58)

The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's ... · Kitchiner, William · 1817
Source
The Cook's Oracle; and Housekeeper's Manual
Status
success · extracted 12 days ago
Not a recipe
No
Ingredients (22)
main
stuffing
paste for fattening
sauces
Instructions (23)
  1. Capons or fowls must be killed a couple of days in moderate, and more in cold weather, before they are dressed, or they will eat tough.
  2. A good criterion of the ripeness of poultry for the spit, is the ease with which you can then pull out the feathers; when a fowl is plucked, leave a few to help you to ascertain this.
  3. They are managed exactly in the same manner, and sent up with the same sauces as a turkey, only they require proportionably less time at the fire.
  4. A full-grown five-toed fowl requires about an hour and a quarter to roast.
  5. A moderate-sized one requires an hour.
  6. A chicken requires from thirty to forty minutes.
  7. Pork sausages fried (No. 87) are in general a favourite accompaniment, or turkey stuffing; see forcemeats (Nos. 374, 5, 6, and 7).
  8. Put in plenty of stuffing, so as to plump out the fowl, which must be tied closely (both at the neck and rump), to keep in the stuffing.
  9. Some cooks put the liver of the fowl into this forcemeat, and others mince it and pound it, and rub it up with flour and melted butter (No. 287).
  10. When the bird is stuffed and trussed, score the gizzard nicely, dip it into melted butter, let it drain, and then season it with Cayenne and salt; put it under one pinion, and the liver under the other.
  11. To prevent the gizzard and liver from getting hardened or scorched, cover them with double paper buttered.
  12. Take care that your roasted poultry be well browned; it is as indispensable that roasted poultry should have a rich brown complexion, as boiled poultry should have a delicate white one.
Fattening Poultry
  1. The art of fattening poultry for the market consists in supplying them with plenty of healthy food, and confining them.
  2. Ducks and geese must be prevented from going into water, which prevents them from becoming fat, and they also thereby acquire a rancid, fishy taste.
  3. They are put into a dark place, and crammed with a paste made of barley meal, mutton-suet, and some treacle or coarse sugar mixed with milk.
  4. They are found to be completely ripe in a fortnight.
  5. If kept longer, the fever that is induced by this continued state of repletion renders them red and unsaleable, and frequently kills them.
  6. Exercise is as indispensable to the health of poultry as other creatures; without it, the fat will be all accumulated in the cellular membrane, instead of being dispersed through its system.
  7. Fowls which are fattened artificially are by some epicures preferred to those called barn-door fowls.
Selection and Preparation
  1. The age of poultry makes all the difference: nothing is tenderer than a young chicken; few things are tougher than an old cock or hen, which is only fit to make broth.
  2. The meridian of perfection of poultry is just before they have come to their full growth, before they have begun to harden.
Sauces and Hash
  1. For sauces, see No. 305, or liver and parsley, No. 287, and those ordered in the last receipt.
  2. To hash it, see No. 533.
Original Text
Capons or Fowls,—(No. 58.) Must be killed a couple of days in moderate, and more in cold weather, before they are dressed, or they will eat tough: a good criterion of the ripeness of poultry for the spit, is the ease with which you can then pull out the feathers; when a fowl is plucked, leave a few to help you to ascertain this. They are managed exactly in the same manner, and sent up with the same sauces as a turkey, only they require proportionably less time at the fire. A full-grown five-toed fowl, about an hour and a quarter. A moderate-sized one, an hour. A chicken, from thirty to forty minutes. Here, also, pork sausages fried (No. 87) are in general a favourite accompaniment, or turkey stuffing; see forcemeats (Nos. 374, 5, 6, and 7); put in plenty of it, so as to plump out the fowl, which must be tied closely (both at the neck and rump), to keep in the stuffing. Some cooks put the liver of the fowl into this forcemeat, and others mince it and pound it, and rub it up with flour and melted butter (No. 287). When the bird is stuffed and trussed, score the gizzard nicely, dip it into melted butter, let it drain, and then season it with Cayenne and salt; put it under one pinion, and the liver under the other; to prevent their getting hardened or scorched, cover them with double paper buttered. Take care that your roasted poultry be well browned; it is as indispensable that roasted poultry should have a rich brown complexion, as boiled poultry should have a delicate white one. Obs. “The art of fattening poultry for the market is a considerable branch of rural economy in some convenient situations, and consists in supplying them with plenty of healthy food, and confining them; and ducks and geese must be prevented from going into water, which prevents them from becoming fat, and they also thereby acquire a rancid, fishy taste. They are put into a dark place, and crammed with a paste made of barley meal, mutton-suet, and some treacle or coarse sugar mixed with milk, and are found to be completely ripe in a fortnight. If kept longer, the fever that is induced by this continued state of repletion renders them red and unsaleable, and frequently kills them.” But exercise is as indispensable to the health of poultry as other creatures; without it, the fat will be all accumulated in the cellular membrane, instead of being dispersed through[137] its system. See Moubray on breeding and fattening domestic Poultry, 12mo. 1819. Fowls which are fattened artificially are by some epicures preferred to those called barn-door fowls; whom we have heard say, that they should as soon think of ordering a barn-door for dinner as a barn-door fowl. The age of poultry makes all the difference: nothing is tenderer than a young chicken; few things are tougher than an old cock or hen, which is only fit to make broth. The meridian of perfection of poultry is just before they have come to their full growth, before they have begun to harden. For sauces, see No. 305, or liver and parsley, No. 287, and those ordered in the last receipt. To hash it, No. 533.
Notes
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