APPENDIX G 



367 



HOW TO PUSH AND HOW 

 TO COOK SQUABS, by Fred 

 M. Parkeson. I have seen peo- 

 ple pay seventy-five and eighty 

 cents for a chicken in the mar- 

 kets here that could not~ begin 

 to furnish as much meat as a 

 pair of my four-weeks-old Ply- 

 mouth Rock Homers, not men- 

 tioning the difference in the 

 quality of the meat. Yet if you 

 or I asked them why they did 

 not try the squabs instead of 

 the chicken they would say: 

 " Well, I don't know how to 

 cook them." I dare say that 

 every eight out of ten house- 

 keepers in this State have never 

 cooked a squab. Now the ques- 

 tion arises, why? I can answer 

 it. Every morning excepting 

 Sundays there are pedlars going 

 from house to house here in San 

 Francisco selling fruits, vege- 

 tables, rabbits, eggs, butter and 

 even live chickens. But I have 

 yet to see for the first time any 

 one going to the homes to sell 

 squabs. There seems to be a 

 mistaken idea th^t the working 

 class of people cannot afford to 

 buy squabs, and that squabs 

 are for the rich only, but such 

 is not the case, as can easily 

 be proven by the way that the 

 working class buys other high- 



friced articles of food in general. 

 wish that I were so situated 

 that I could put in a stock of five hundred 

 pairs of Plymouth Rock Homers, I would not 

 hesitate so far as paying me a nice profit is 

 concerned. I wish to offer a recipe for cooking 

 squabs. This recipe has been prepared exclu- 

 sively by Mr. Victor Hirtzler, chef of the St. 

 Francis Hotel, San Francisco, California: 



Squab en Casserole 



Squab, or a small bird of any kind, is very 

 good cooked in a casserole. Have the squab 

 cleaned, then dust ever so lightly with flour and 

 put into the casserole with a piece of butter the 

 size of an egg. Cook for twenty minutes, then 

 add one small tender onion, cut fine, three or 

 four mushrooms and a little chopped celery 

 which has been parboiled in salted water. Let 

 this bake together for ten minutes then add 

 half a cup of strained brown gravy and two 

 spoonfuls of sherry. Let simmer for ten 

 minutes until the squab is tender. It should 

 be very tender when done. Place a napkin 

 neatly about your baking dish and serve hot. 

 Brown gravy is made by browning two spoon- 

 fuls of butter in an iron pan until it is at an 

 even color. Stir all the time. Then add two 

 cups of hot water and a spoonful of beet 

 extract and simmer for half an hour. Salt and 

 strain. You will find this to be one of the 

 most delicious dishes you ever tasted. 



PLYMOUTH ROCK HOSIERS IN TEXAS. 

 The two marked with an X are a prize pair of silvers. 



TRY ROASTED SQUABS LIKE THIS. 



Prepare much the same as you would chickens. 

 Scald, pluck and clean, tie their wings against 

 the body, place in baking pan on backs, put 

 quarter -inch hot water in pan, place on bottom 

 of hot oven and cook slowly thirty minutes, 

 then baste and put another baking pan over 

 them and put on grate in oven for one hour, 

 basting occasionally while cooking. Remem- 

 ber a slow fire is better than a hot one, and the 

 oftener basted the better, but do not cool 

 oven opening too frequently. Cooked in this 

 way, you have a dish fit for kings. None of 

 the thin parts are burned and bitter. The 

 flesh leaves the bones freely. The wings, legs 

 and small muscles on the back are all good, 

 delicious. After trying them this way, you 

 will find you can afford them much oftener 

 than you thought you could, as there is more 

 meat on the legs, wings and thin parts than 

 you ever thought there was, when served 

 broiled. Avoid squabs of the common pigeon. 

 Secure good, fat, genuine Plymouth Rock 

 squabs and prepare as above, and you will 

 always want more and consider them cheap 

 at any price. 



I started three years ago with thirty-six Ply- 

 mouth Rock Homers. I have now nineteen 

 units on Mr. Rice's plan, and have between 1200 

 and 1500 birds.— W. C. Hyer, South Carolina. 



