Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-24
Table and Kitchen.
The American Turkey.

Thanksgiving Is comm an We hAoS
as well prepare. And the first thought
will be given to the Hamlet Of the feast,
for without turkey Thanksgiving seemeth
a hollow mockery. Unless, indeed. you have
been foolish and shortsightede enough to have
destroyed the keen edge of your appetite
for a delicate thin slice of tender white
meat, juicy and sweet as nut; or goodly
portion of the richer meat from the second
joint. by INDUCING too frequently in turkey
and fixin's before the great day Of annual
feasting and some thanks arrives: Wise
and willy is the housewife who reserves her
first fall turkey for Thanksgiving day, for
then she does not have to put her wits to
work to find an acceptable meat to substi-
tute for the orthodox bird or else see her
family partake of him In a half-hearted.
matter of-course way that Is depressing
and not likely to excite her own appetite to
a full enjoyment of the best bird that ever
was dressed.
Some consider the turkey unique because
strictly an American bird. Our wild turkey
certainly is singular in kind and excellence:
without equal though not utterly unlike
those bred in France and known in the
Technology of the French kitchen as
dinde, including both hen and male. This
term is a transformation of poule d'Inde-
these birds having been imported, 1t is al
legged, by a French merchant and trader,
one Jaques Occur, in the year 1882.
Still further back we have it related, the
turkey was introduced into Europe by King
of Macedonia Meleager, and called by the
Greek, for this reason. meleagrides.
But can any one convince an American
that the dindon of France, or the Walscher-
Han of Germany, or whatever name it may
be known by abroad, can equal or approach
the superior flavor of our own national bird,
so long dedicated to the celebration of our
great national holiday?
The SpanfardS, seeking gold eternal youth
and lappineSS in this land
tainly had greater increase of desire for
prolonged youth and life when they found
this marvel of the feathered tribe-melea-
greS gallopavo. The domeSticated bird wears
only reflected glory of his progenitor,
who, far in the deep fastness and seclusion
of the forests primeval, swelled and strut
ted before his meek and admiring hens, the
sun making still more respondent his shiny
pack plumage. variegated with bronze and
glossy green, and tipped with fecks of
white on wings and tail. Arrogant old
monarch AS if he knew the important part
he was destined to play in the lives and
homes in the market, and divers high places
and projects of the new nation
How he must have seemed veritable
bird of paradise to the almost hopeless and
hungry pilgrims, old and young when the
hunters returned heavily laden with his
kindred and kind A goodly meat to give
thanks for, truly, and one not to be used as
a medium for French or other extrava-
ganceS for proving the flavor
The meat of the domesticated bird may
be greatly improved by special feeding and
care.
The turkey is by nature clean feeder and
more particular in regard to his surround
ings than other poultry.
Except for the finer flavor, larger guam
tity of white meat and in most cases. more
fat In the turkey than chicken, there is lit
tie dlHerence in the food value of the meat
OF these fowl, the conditions in regard to
care and feed being the same. But no
amount of care in feeding will give to the
6nr,,nc to- tod %,,rlr
of the wild turkey, which roams unmolested
in the freedom of the woods where nature
spreads before him such choice daily fare
as wild berries, seeds, nuts, spicy, pungent
buds and fragrant grasses. No wonder
when the great day comes, that the spring.
Matched bird near maturity, plump and with
its tender juicy flesh favored to a nicely by
the subtle forces that nature employs and
which no mortal may hope to counterfeit
No wonder, we repeat, that the epicure is
willing to pay twice as much for the wild
bird. so reared, than for the finest farm or
yard-ralsed turkey in the market.
Selecting the Turkey
- A late spring or summer "pult" is to be
preferred to the older and larger birds but
they must be well fieshed and with plump
breast. Old gobbers are never good and.
as rule. young hen turkeys are preferred
See that the eyes are bright and fulI-the
legs black and smooth and supple The
young gobbler has short soft spurs; the old
birds are bony and hard If the legs are
rough and reddish the bird is not young
For dressing and cooking turkeys apply
the same general rules as for chicken II
n city dweller, the housewife NAV be
saved much labor If she buys her turkey
of a first-class dealer, who will SINCE and
draw and also remove the leg tendons. a
difficult process for the average COOK. and
yet one that greatly improves the drum
Sticks" You may also have your bird sent
home boned and trusSed for the stuffng
but it is best to attend to the latter and
other minor details yourself, as few of the
poultry dealers remove the lungs or the
kidneys found imbedded in the hollows of
the bones In the back. See, too, that the
windpipe is removed, and craw cavity care
fully cleaned.
The outside of the bird must be carefully
washed or scrubbed with soft brush after
singeing The inside. If the bird is fresh
and carefully drawn does not need more
than wiping out with a damp cloth But
IL necessary to rinse do 1t quickly and i'm
medately wipe dry. The neck of the bird
should be cut off at the top of the breast
without cutting off the skin. which should
be drawn down, after stuffing, and fasten-
ed under the tips of the wings when truss
ing; fastening either with skewer of cord
and trusting needle The liver, heart, neck
and giZZard are used in the stuffing or for a
soup or gravy, or may go into a mixture Of
forcemeat for balls to decorate the turkey
when dished to serve. When the entire
preparation except the killing depends on
you dry pick the bird, remove all pinfeath-
ers and broken quilts in the skin and
singe-using few teaspoonfuls of alcohol
poured into a fireproof dish. or the flame
Lighted paper is another expedient but one