16 BULLETIN 467, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



between the flavor of fresh and of properly handled stored birds. 

 While frozen poultry will keep in good condition for several days after 

 thawing, the flavor is better if the bird is cooked as soon as possible 

 after the frost is out. 



The way in which frozen birds are thawed makes a great difference 

 in the length of time they keep in condition. It used to be cus- 

 tomary to thaw them by soaking in cold water, but this has been 

 proved undesirable not only because the water is very likely not to 

 be clean, but also because soaked birds ''go off" in quality very 

 rapidly. Soaking in hot water, as is sometimes done in market for 

 a "rush order," is even worse. A much better way is to keep the 

 birds for 24 hours at ordinary ice-box temperature (45° to 50° F.). 

 As has been already stated, the sooner the birds are used after thaw- 

 ing, the better, and whenever possible birds should be bought stiff 

 and thawed at home. This means buying poultry a day before it is 

 needed, but it is the surest way of having it properly thawed. In 

 warm weather it should be put in the refrigerator to thaw, but in 

 cold weather a moderately cool room will do as well. If it is impos- 

 sible to do the thawing at home, the marketman should not be 

 allowed to do it until a short time before delivery. 



Although frozen poultry is hardly to be chosen when fresh birds 

 are in the market, it undoubtedly has the advantage of furnishing 

 chickens, turkeys, and other birds when the natural supply is lacking 

 and thus increasing the variety of the meat list. It also does some- 

 thing toward keeping prices more uniform than they would other- 

 wise be. 



MARKS OF GOOD TABLE POULTRY. 



FRESHNESS. 



In a freshly killed bird the feet feel moist, soft, and limber, and 

 if it was dressed with the head on, the eyes look bright and full. As 

 it becomes stale the eyes shrink and the feet dry and harden; when 

 too stale, i. e., when decomposition is well under way, the body turns 

 dark and greenish or becomes slimy. The flesh should be neither 

 flabby nor stiff, but should give evenly and gently when pressed by 

 the ringer. It is very difficult to distinguish between good cold 

 storage and freshly killed poultry. 



AGE. 



One of the commonest ways of testing the age of dressed poultry 

 is to take the end of the breastbone farthest from the head between 

 thumb and finger and attempt to bend it to one side. In a very 

 young bird, say a "broiler" chicken or a green goose, it will be 

 easily bent, like the cartilage in the human ear; in a bud a year or 



