Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1917-01-10

which ffozen birds ar thawed makes
q great difference In the length OF time
they keep in condition. It used to be
customary to thaw them by soaking In
cold water, but this has been proved
undesirable not only because the water
10 very likely not to b clean. but also
because soaked birds go or In quail.
ity very rapidly. Soaking In hot water,
as Is sometimes done IN market for q
rush order II even worse. A much
better way Is to keep the birds for "a
hours at ordinary ice-box temperature
as to so degrees F.) As has been al
ready stated. the sooner the birds are
used after thawing, the better, and
whenever possible should be bought
stiff and thawed at home. This means
buying poultry day before it is need
ed. but 1t Is the surest way OF having
1t 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. II 1t Is i'm
possible to do the thawing at home,
the marketman should not be allowed
to do It until short time before de-
livery. l
Although frozen poultry Is hardly to
be chosen when fresh birds are in the
market. 1t undoubtedly has the adva1s-
tage of furnishing chickens, turkeys,
and other birds when the natural supp
ply is lacking and thus increasing the
variety Of the meat list"
How to Recognize Good Table Poultry.
The following statement Of the meth
DDS by Which good table poultry can
be recognized by the purchaser is made
in the bulletin:
Freshness.
I'm a freshly killed bird the feet feel
moist. soft, and timber, and II 1t was
dressed with the head on, the eyes look
bright and full. AS 1t becomes stale
the eyes shrink and the feet dry and
harden; when too stale, l. e., when de-
composition is we'll under way, the
body turns dark and greenish or be-
comes Shiny. The flesh should be
neither fiabby nor stiff, but should
give evenly and gently when pressed
by the finger. 1t is very difficult to
distinguish between good cold-storage
and freshly killed poultry.
Age.
zone of the commonest ways of test
ing the age Of dressed poultry Is to
take the end Of the breastbone farthest
from the head between thumb and fin
ger and attempt to bend 1t to one
side. In a very young bird, say a
'broiler' chicken or a green goose, 1t
will be easily bent. like the cartilage
in the human ear; in bird a year or
so old 1t will be brittle, and in an old
t~1 nd boz IN lY
Unfortunately there are sometimes
tricky dealers who break the end Of the
breastbone before showing the bird,
and thus render the test worthless. If
the feet are left on the carcass, they
furnish a mark of age. In a young
bird they are soft and smooth. becom-
ing hard and rough as the bird grows
older. The claws are short and sharp
in young bird. growing longer and
blunter with age and use. Spurs gen
orally occur on male chickens. On male
broilers and tender roasting chickens
they are SMALL on older, higher flaw
ored ones they are prominent but flex-
ihle: on cocks they are long and at
tached to the bones Of the legs; on
capons they seldom develop until the
second year OF age.
Turkeys up to a year old are said
to have black feet, which grow pink
up to three years old and then gradu-
ally turn gray and dull.
1.-THE age of pigeons can sometimes
be told by the color af the breast,
which becomes more and more purplish
as tho bird grows older. Red feet are
also said to be sign Of age in a pig
con.
I'm ducks and geese the fiexibility of
the windpipe is mark of youth. 1t