Specialty
Meats... from countries around the
world.
Poultry
includes all domestic birds suitable for
food except pigeon and squab. Examples:
chicken, fowl, turkey, duck, goose, etc.
Game includes such birds and animals
suitable for food as are pursued and
taken in field and forest. Examples:
quail, partridge, wild duck, plover,
deer, etc.
The flesh
of chicken, fowl, and turkey has much
shorter fiber than that of ruminating
animals, and is not intermingled with
fat,—the fat always being found in
layers directly under the skin, and
surrounding the intestines. Chicken,
fowl, and turkey are nutritious, and
chicken is specially easy of digestion.
The white meat found on breast and wing
is more readily digested than the dark
meat. The legs, on account of constant
motion, are of a coarser fiber and
darker color.
Since
incubators have been so much used for
hatching chickens, small birds suitable
for broiling may be always found in
market. Chickens which appear in market
during January weighing about one and
one-half pounds are called spring
chickens.
Turkeys
are found in market throughout the year,
but are best during the winter months.
Tame ducks and geese are very
indigestible
on account of the large
quantity of fat they contain. Goose meat
is thoroughly infiltrated with fat,
containing sometimes forty to forty-five
per cent. Pigeons, being old birds, need
long, slow cooking to make them tender.
Squabs (young pigeons) make a delicious
tidbit for the convalescent, and are
often the first meat allowed a patient
by the physician.
The
flesh of game, with the exception of
wild duck and wild geese, is tender,
contains less fat than poultry, is of
fine though strong flavor, and easy of
digestion. Game meat is usually of dark
color, partridge and quail being
exceptions, and is usually cooked rare.
Venison, the flesh of deer, is
short-fibred, dark-colored, highly
savored, tender, and easy of digestion;
being highly savored, it often disagrees
with those of weak digestion.
Geese
are in market throughout the year.
A goose twelve weeks old is known as a
green goose. They may be found in market
from May to September. Young geese which
appear in market September first and
continue through December are called
goslings. They have been hatched during
May and June, and then fatted for
market.
Young
ducks, found in market about March
first, are called ducklings. Canvasback
Ducks have gained a fine reputation
throughout the country, and are found in
market from the last of November until
March. Redhead Ducks are in season two
weeks earlier, and are about as good
eating as Canvasback Ducks, and much
less in price. The distinctive flavor of
both is due to the wild celery on which
they feed. Many other kinds of ducks are
found in market during the fall and
winter. Examples: Widgeon, Mallard, Lake
Erie Teal, Black Ducks, and Butterballs.
