North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1868-12-09
Packing Poultry and Game.

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The following instructions for preparing
poultry and game for market are season.
able and of incalculable benefit to those
engaged in the business, as we'll as to
families:
zone of the meanest of all mean tricks
of trade is the common habit Of bringing
to market poultry which is not properly
dressed, especially in the matter of remov-
ing the entrails. Food in the crop iniures
the appearance, is liable to sour, and pur-
chasers object to paying for this worse
than useless weight; therefore, keep from
food twenty-tour hours before killing the
fowls. Opening the veins Of the neck, or
bleeding in the mouth, is the best mode of
killing. If the head be taken off first,
the skin will recede from the neck bone,
presenting repulsive feature. Most of
The poultry sold here has the head on, and
this is best when the process of the killing
has not injured the arrearance of the head.
When it is preferred to remove the head !,
it should be taken off at the throat, the
skin pealed back a little, and portion of
the neck bone removed, the skin drawn
over the end and tied and trimed neatly.
The intestines of the crop should not be
drawn For scalding poultry the water
should be as near boiling as possible,
without actually boiling; the bird, being
held by the legs, should be immersed, and
lifted up and down in the water three
times-this makes picking easy. The
feathers should be at once removed, pin
feathers and all very cleanly, and without
breaking the skin. 1t should next be
'plumped,' by being dipped about two
seconds into water nearly or quite boiling
hot, and then at once into cold water.
about the same length of time. Most of
the dressed poultry sold here is wet picked,
and such is generally preferred. But very
fat, handsome turkeys, dry-p;cked, sell
well at Thanksgiving and Christmas.
Great care should be taken to avoid cut,
ting or bruising the flesh or breaking the
bones. 1t should be entirely cold, but not
frozen, before being packed. This is
matter of importance; for, if packed with
the animal heat in it, it will lie most sure
to spoil. If it reaches the market sound
without freezing, it will sell all the better.
In packing, when practicable, use hand
threshed dry straw; be sure that it is
clean, tree from dust of any kind and
entirely dry. Place a layer of straw at
the bottom, then alternate layers of poul-
try and straw, taking care to stow snugly,
backs upward, legs under the body, filing
vacancies with straw, and filling the pack
ages SO that the cover will draw down
very snugly upon the contents, to prevent
shifting or shucking on the way. The OBJ
lection to barrels is that the fowls are apt
to be much bent and twisted out Of shape
they answer better for chickens and ducks
than for turkeys and geese. Straw should
be between the poultry and the sides of
the packages to keep them from freezing,
though in very cold weather this cannot
always be avoided. In packing large lots,
it is best to put the different kinds in
separate packages, and nark the Kind on
the cover.
Wild turkeys, wild ducks, and the small
Ter birds should be packed in the natural
state. Grouse or prairie chickens, wood
cock and quail, when the weather is cool,
reach us in better order and sell more
rapidly when wrapped in paper, their
feathers first being laid smoothly in their
places. Grouse, when shot, should be
hung up by their feet, so that the blood
may run cut at their mouth. If the
weather is very cold, so as to freeze at
once, it is better to stroke the feathers
down smoothly and hang the birds up by
the neck. All animal heat should be out
Of them before packing; press tiem firm.
ly into the package; two hundred pounds
may thus be packed into common flour
barrel. The freight on trapped birds is
no more than others, and those shot or
otherwise mutlated, not only bring low
price, but arc apt to spoil, and by their
more rapid decomposition cause the others
to smell badly, thus injuring those they
are packed with more than the value of
the mutilated birds. If they are sent they
should be put in separate packages. In
warm weather ice must be used in the
package to insure the contents arriving
sound"