KILLING AND PREPARING POULTRY FOR MARKET. 



191 



CHAPTER X. 



KILLING AND PREPARING POULTRY FOR MARKET. 



IP you wish to prepare your poultry in the 

 nicest manner for the market, so that it will in- 

 variably secure the best price, observe the fol- 

 lowing rules, viz. : First, fat them well, and al- 

 low them to remain in the pens twenty-four 

 hours without food previous to being killed. 

 Then, when you kill them, instead of wringing 

 their necks, cut their heads off at a single blow 

 with a sharp ax or cleaver, and then hang them 

 up by their legs and allow them to bleed freely, 

 and pick them immediately, while warm. Some, 

 however, prefer to run a small pen-knife into 

 the jugular-vein by the side of the neck, just 

 under the joles. In this case, let the heads re- 

 main on. In picking, great care should be taken 

 not to tear the skin ; the wings should not be 

 cut off, but picked to the end. If the head 

 should be cut off, the skin of the neck should 

 be neatly tied over the end. Most persons like 

 to see the heads of fowls left on ; it makes a 

 better show. The heads of ducks and geese 

 should always be cut off. No cut should be 

 made in the breast ; all the offal should be taken 

 out behind, and the opening should be made as 

 small as possible. 



Some persons send their poultry to market 

 with their intestines in. This, to say the least, 

 is a dirty, slovenly practice, doing great injury 

 to the flesh, as it partakes of the flavor of the 

 excrements when suffered long to remain un- 

 dressed, and is otherwise impaired from the 

 stagnant blood. After removing the intestines, 

 wipe out the blood with a dry cloth, but no wa- 

 ter should be used to cleanse them. With a 

 moist cloth take off the blood that may be found 

 upon the carcass, and hang them in a cool, dry 

 room until ready to carry to market, or other- 

 wise to be used. Do not remove the gizzard 



from its place; but, if the fowl be very fat, 

 make a larger hole, turn the leaves out, and 

 fasten them with a small skewer. When pre- 

 pared in this way, your poultry will be much 

 nicer, and entitled to a better price than when 

 butchered and dressed in the ordinary way. 



We have often noticed the careless, slovenly 

 manner, and little attention paid to external 

 appearance of poultry offered for sale in our 

 markets ; and we have noticed the quick sale 

 and higher price when due regard was paid to 

 have the skin all sound and clean ; the breast 

 not mutilated by a long cut, the shrinking skin 

 exposing the drying meat covered with hay- 

 seed or chaff, but well covered all over with fat, 

 of a rich golden yellow. Much of the poultry 

 exposed for sale has been through the process 

 of scalding to facilitate picking; this practice 

 should never be resorted to. It turns the rich 

 yellow of the fat into a tallowy hue, and often- 

 times starts the skin, so that it peels off unless 

 very carefully handled. 



Much care and attention is required after the 

 poultry is dressed and cool. It should be care- 

 fully packed in baskets or boxes, and, above all, 

 it should be kept from the frost. A friend 

 who was very nice in these matters, used to 

 bring his turkeys to market in the finest order 

 possible, and always obtained a ready sale and 

 the highest price. His method was to pick 

 them dry, while warm, and dress them in the 

 neatest manner; then take a long, deep, nar- 

 row, tight box, with a stick running from end 

 to end of the box, and hang the turkeys by the 

 legs over the stick, which prevents bruising or 

 disfiguring them in the least. 



Too much should not be exposed at a time 

 for sale, nor should they be hauled over too oft- 



