The Washington times., 1895-04-07
BIRDS AND EGGS.
How TO Fatten and Prepare Spring Fowls
for the Table


How TO Fatten and Prepare Spring Fowls
for the Table
The vast extent OF the trade in poultry
products evidences at oree the popularity
and Importance Of birds and eggs as food
The demands OF the cities for early
chickens have done great deal 10 5:recs
attention to poultry farming as an IN
dustry, a fact which explains the pre-
eminence OF New Jersey as a poultry State.
The sandy soil and the early spring season
have favored the State, and the proximity
OF two eenters OF wealth and population
like New York ana Philadelphia offer ths
nearest and most lucrative market To the
grower.
Modern agriculture has taught the poultry
man how 10 feed most economically, and
to produce eggs and chickens without
reference 10 large aered farms and unlimited
range.
Limited range gives the Eastern farmer a
great advantage over his Western cOEnprti-
tor in economy OF the food Consumed. The
Western mans fowl must range to find
food, and the hunt for food makes -nCm
muscular and tough. The poultry Leeper
avoids exercise to economic food, and 10
tions enable producers TO provide for our
tables birds and eggs OF varying nav0Ts-
The product Of clover, oats, and corn yield
deliciously Favored food.
Having provided our birds we NAV next
proceed to cook them, or rather TO season
them before cooking. by holding hem a
few days after slaughter. Everyone ap-
preciates the advantage in the quality OF
Western beef from fourteen to thirty dJ Us
old. as compared with the flesh 0f the chi
mai killed the day before il IS cooked
The difference is entirely due TO a process
of seasoning by age, and if we wOuIi nave
tender birds they must be kept at ttasE
a fortnight at a temperature not below
forty-fiye degrees to mellow the tissues
In our Iush and hustle of life this is not
always possible with early birds, since in
the early part OF the season the Ienand
is always larger than the supply
For game the roast by well Kept fire is
beyond all doubt the best, but in these Gays
OF cheap gas and good stoves TO burn
it in, gas stove Is certainly An excellent
way to roast birds. Game and poultry can
never be roasted OF grilIed satisfactorily
unless the fire be under perfect copuol,
and the temperature be uniform. With
these conditions in mind our cooking " Ill
be more satisfactory in every way tnAn IL
the fire he taken haphazard and the result
be left to luck.
For seasoning, the variety OF the kitchen
garden may be drawn upon for sav0ryness
and for body, the broken, rebaKsd water
cracker, or bread crumbs, with abundant
crust in it. The indigestibiIity of the sea-
soning, often charged to the savory in
gradients, is really due to the grarchy
bread bound together with egg rs cement.
In the preparation of food, and especially
in summer time, the digestibili>y EELst
always be borne in mind.
The preparation OF eggs affords the cook
the most latitude for the exercise of skIl.
Few cooks ever consider eggs from the stand
point of the weak stomach Eggs ,OOkei
tenderiy and just long enough to cosgulats
their albumeR without toughening it, are
the most digestible food in the list Of animal
| products. In the private family where
enough time ought to be available 70 roll
an egg properly, the cook may very Well
cook at the low tempeTa ture OF so degrees
for eighteen or twenty minutes N place
or boiling. This temperature gives the
white OF the egg the condition If fine
tender jelly which is most grateful To the
feeble stomach, no less than to the robust
feeder.
OmeIets are always improved Oy The ed
ditiOn OF milk equal to one-tenth the hulk
OF the egg, while beating IL available
the gas stove had better be used for the
omelet or the water bath, or hainmaire,
unless it is desired to color them a slight
brown. Poaching, or dropped egg, can
only be well done in the hottest OF water.
Another appetizing preparation for warm
weather, is a mixture OF one rgg well
beaten in a tumbler OF milk softenei with
pinch OF bicaTbOnate OF soda aud a des-
sert spoonful OF good rum or any ether
liquor which may be preferred.
JAMES CHEESNLAN.