Jewish Cook Book - Poultry

This is the Poultry section of this book

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To dress and clean poultry
Singe by holding the fowl over a flame from gas, alcohol or burning paper. Pick off pin feathers. Cut off the nails, then cut off the head, turn back the skin and cut the neck off quite close; take out windpipe and crop, cutting off close to the body. Cut through the skin around the leg one inch below the leg joint; take out the tendons and break the leg at the joint; in old birds each tendon must be removed separately by using a skewer.

Make an incision just below the breast bone large enough to insert your hand, take out the fat and loosen the entrails with your forefinger. When everything is removed, cut off the wings close to the body, also the neck, feet and head. Separate the gall from the liver. In doing this be very careful not to break the gall, which has a very thin skin. Scrape all the fat off carefully that adheres to the entrails and lay it in a separate dish of water overnight. Cut open the gizzard, clean and pull off the skin, or inner lining.

Make Kosher as directed in "Rules for Kashering".

If you make use of the head, which you may in soup, cut off the top of the bill, split open the head, lengthwise, take out the brains, eyes and tongue.

Clean the gizzard and feet by laying them in scalding water for a few moments, this will loosen the skin, which can then be easily removed.

Remove the oil bag from the upper side of tail.

After making Kosher and cleaning poultry, season all fowls for several hours before cooking. Salt, pepper, and ginger are the proper seasoning. Some like a tiny bit of garlic rubbed inside and outside, especially for goose or duck.

Dress and clean goose, duck, squab, and turkey as directed for chicken.

To truss a chicken
Press the thighs and wings close against the body; fasten securely with skewers and tie with string. Draw the skin of the neck to the back and fasten it.

Roast chicken
Stuff and truss a chicken, season with pepper and salt and dredge with flour. Put in a roasting-pan with two or three tablespoons of chicken-fat if the chicken is not especially fat. When heated add hot water and baste frequently. The oven should be hot and the time necessary for a large chicken will be about an hour and a half. When done, remove the chicken, pour off the grease and make a brown sauce in the pan.

Chicken casserole
Bake chicken in covered casserole until nearly tender, then add three potatoes cut in dice; boil small pieces of carrots, green peas, and small white onions—each to be boiled separately. Just before serving, thicken gravy with a teaspoon of flour mixed with a half cup of soup stock or water. Season to taste and place vegetables around the dish.

Boiled chicken, baked
Make chicken soup with an old hen. Remove chicken from soup just as soon as tender. Place in roasting-pan with three tablespoons of chicken-fat, one onion sliced, one clove of garlic, one-half teaspoon each of salt and paprika. Sprinkle with soft bread crumbs. Baste frequently and when sufficiently browned, cut in pieces for serving. Place on platter with the strained gravy pour over the chicken and serve.

Broiled spring chicken
Take young spring chickens of one to one and one-half pounds in weight, and split down the back, break the joints and remove the breast bone. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and rub well with chicken-fat. Place in broiler and broil twenty minutes over a clear fire, or under the flame in broiling oven of gas stove, being careful to turn broiler that all parts may be equally browned. The flesh side must be exposed to the fire the greater part of the time as the skin side will brown quickly. Remove to hot platter.

Or chicken may be placed in dripping pan, skin side down, seasoned with salt and pepper and spread with chicken-fat, and bake fifteen minutes in a hot oven and then broiled to finish.

Serve with giblet sauce.

Fried spring chicken
Cut it up as for fricassee and see that every piece is wiped dry. Have ready heated in a spider some goose-fat or other poultry drippings. Season each piece of chicken with salt and ground ginger, or pepper. Roll each piece of chicken in sifted cracker or bread crumbs (which you have previously seasoned with salt). Fry in the spider, turning often, and browning evenly. You may cut up some parsley and add while frying. If the chicken is quite large, it is better to steam it before frying.

Giblets
Heart, liver and gizzard constitute the giblets, and to these the neck is usually added. Wash them; put them in cold water and cook until tender. This will take several hours. Serve with the chicken; or mash the liver, mince the heart and gizzard and add them to the brown sauce. Save the stock in which they are cooked for making the sauce.

Chicken fricassee
Take a chicken, cut off the wings, legs and neck. Separate the breast from the chicken, leaving it whole. Cut the back into two pieces. Prepare a mixture of salt, ginger and a little pepper in a saucer and dust each piece of chicken with this mixture. When you are ready to cook the chicken, take all the particles of fat you have removed from it and lay in the bottom of the kettle, also a small onion, cut up, some parsley root and celery. Lay the chicken upon this, breast first, then the leg and so on. Cover up tight and let it stew slowly on the back of the stove (or over a low gas flame), adding hot water when necessary. Just before serving chop up some parsley, fine, and rub a teaspoon of flour in a little cold water, and add. Let it boil up once. Shake the kettle back and forth to prevent becoming lumpy. The parsley root and celery may be omitted if so desired.

Duck can be prepared in this manner.

Chicken with rice
Joint a chicken; season with salt and ground ginger and boil with water enough to cover. Allow one-half pound of rice to one chicken. Boil this after chicken is tender. Serve together on a large platter.

Chicken (Turkish style)
Brown a chicken, cover with water and season, cook until tender. When chicken is tender; slash the skin of chestnuts, put them in oven and roast, then skin them, put in chicken and let come to a boil and serve with the chicken.

Amastich
Cook one pound of rice in a quart of stock for half an hour, stirring frequently. Then add a chicken stuffed and trussed as for roasting; cover closely and cook thoroughly. After removing the chicken, pass the liquor through a strainer, add the juice of a lemon and the beaten yolk of an egg, and pour over the bird.

Chicken with spaghetti en casserole
Prepare and truss a young chicken, as if for roasting. Put it in a casserole; and pour over it two tablespoons of olive oil, a cup of white wine, a cup of bouillon, salt and cayenne to taste, one spoon of dried mushrooms soaked in one cup of water and chopped fine, and one-half can of mushrooms. Cover tightly and simmer in the oven for about an hour, turning the chicken occasionally; add a dozen olives and a tablespoon of chicken-fat, smoothed with one tablespoon of flour, and bring to a boil. Remove the chicken and add about a pint of boiled spaghetti to the sauce. Place the chicken on a platter, surround with the spaghetti, and serve.

Stuffed chicken (Turkish style)
Steam chicken and when it is almost tender stuff it with the following: Take one-fourth pound of almonds, chopped; season with parsley, pepper and salt to taste, add one tablespoon of bread crumbs and bind this with one well-beaten egg. Put chicken in roasting-pan and roast until done.

Smothered chicken
Two tender chickens cut in half, split down the back; place the pieces in a colander to drain well, after having been well salted; season with pepper; grease well the bottom of a baking-pan; add one stalk finely chopped celery, onion; lay the chicken on breast, side up; sprinkle lightly with flour, fat; two cups of hot water. Have the oven very hot when putting chickens in. As soon as browned evenly, cover with a pan, fitting closely. Reduce the heat of the oven; allow to cook slowly an hour or so longer, until tender. Place on a hot platter; set in oven until sauce is made, as follows: put the pan on top of stove in which chickens were smothered; add level tablespoon of flour, thinned in cold water; add minced parsley; let this all cook two or three minutes, then add large cup of strong stock, to the chickens. Broil one can mushrooms, and pour these over chicken when ready to serve.

Chicken curry
Cut chickens in pieces for serving; dredge in flour and sauté in hot fat. Cut one onion in thin pieces, add one tablespoon of curry powder, three-fourths of a tablespoon of salt and one tablespoon of wine vinegar. Add to chicken, cover with boiling water; simmer until chicken is tender. Thicken sauce and serve with steamed rice.

Chicken paprika with rice
Cut a three and one-half pound fat chicken in pieces to serve, salt it and let stand several hours. Heat one-fourth cup of fat in an iron kettle, add one medium-sized onion, minced; fry golden brown and set aside. Fry the chicken in the fat and when nicely browned, add paprika to taste and boiling water to cover, and let simmer one hour.

Soak one cup of rice in cold water, drain, add the fried onion and one teaspoon of salt and gradually three cups of chicken broth, more if necessary. When nearly done add the chicken and finish cooking in a slow oven, one-half hour.

Chili con carne
Cut two broilers in pieces for serving. Season with salt, pepper, and dredge in flour; brown in hot fat. Parboil six large red peppers until soft, rub through a wire sieve. Chop two small onions fine, three cloves of garlic and one-fourth cup of capers. Combine, add to chicken, cover with water and cook until chicken is tender. Thicken the sauce with fat and flour melted together.

Pilaf (Russian style)
Follow recipe below but substitute cooked lamb for the chicken, and add chicken livers fried and cut in small pieces.

Pilaf (Turkish style)
Soak one cup of rice in cold water for one hour. Pour off the water, and put the rice with two cups of soup stock and one-quarter of a white onion on to boil. Stew until the rice absorbs all the stock. Stew one-half can of tomatoes thoroughly and season with olive oil or chicken-fat, salt and pepper. Mix it with the rice.

Sauté in chicken-fat to a light color, a jointed chicken slightly parboiled, or slices of cold cooked chicken or turkey. Make a depression in the rice and tomato, put in the chicken and two tablespoons of olive oil or chicken-fat, and stew all together for twenty minutes. Serve on a platter in a smooth mound, the red rice surrounding the fowl.

Spanish pie
Take one pint of cold chicken, duck or any poultry. Cut it into flakes and place it in a pudding dish which has been lined with a thin crust. On the layer of meat place a layer of sweet red peppers (seeds removed), cut in slices; next, a layer of thinly sliced sausage, and so on until the dish is full. Over this pour a glass of claret into which have been rubbed two tablespoons of flour. Cover with a thin crust of pastry, and bake.

Chicken à la Italienne
Cut the remains of cold chicken (or turkey) into pieces about an inch long and marinate them in a bowl containing one tablespoon of olive oil; one teaspoon of tarragon vinegar or lemon juice, a few drops of onion juice, salt and pepper. At the end of half an hour sprinkle with finely chopped parsley, dip them in fritter batter, and fry in boiling fat. Drain on a brown paper, and serve with or without tomato or brown sauce.

In some parts of Italy this dish is made of several kinds of cold meats, poultry, brains, etc. (the greater the variety the better), served on the same platter, and in Spain all kinds of cold vegetables are fried in batter and served together.

Roast goose
All goose meat tastes better if it is well rubbed with salt, ginger and a little garlic a day previous to using.

Stuff goose with bread dressing, or chestnut dressing, a dressing of apples is also very good. (See "Stuffings for Meat and Poultry".) Sew up the goose, then line a sheet-iron roasting-pan with a few slices of onion and celery and place the goose upon these, cover closely, roast three hours or more, according to weight. If the goose browns too quickly, cover with greased paper or lower the heat of the oven. Baste every fifteen minutes.

Geschundene gans
Take a very fat goose for this purpose. After cleaning and singeing, cut off neck, wings and feet. Lay the goose on a table, back up, take a sharp knife, make a cut from the neck down to the tai. Begin again at the top near the neck, take off the skin, holding it in your left hand, your knife in your right hand, after all the skin is removed, place it in cold water; separate the breast from back and cut off joints. Have ready in a plate a mixture of salt, ginger and a little garlic or onion, cut up fine. Rub the joints and small pieces with this, and make a small incision in each leg and four in the breast. Put in each incision a small piece of garlic or onion, and rub also with a prepared mixture of salt and ginger. Put away in stone jar overnight or until you wish to use.

Gaenseklein
Rub wings, neck, gizzard, heart and back of goose with salt, ginger, pepper and garlic and set on the fire in a stew-pan with cold water. Cover tightly and stew slowly but steadily for four hours. When done skim off all the fat. Now put a spider over the fire, put into it about two or three tablespoons of the fat that you have just skimmed off and then add the fat to the meat again. Cut up fine a very small piece of garlic and add a heaping teaspoon of flour (brown). Add the hot gravy and pour all over the goose. Cover up tightly and set on back of stove till you wish to serve. You may cook the whole goose in this way after it is cut up.

Stuffed goose neck (Russian style)
Remove skin from neck of goose, duck or chicken in one piece. Wash and clean well and stuff with same mixture as for Kischtke. Sew at both ends and roast in hot oven until well browned.

Stuffed goose neck
Remove the fat skin from the neck of a fat goose, being careful not to put any holes in it. Clean carefully and sew up the smaller end and stuff through larger end with the following:

Grind fine some pieces of raw goose meat (taken from the breast or legs), grind also some soft or "linda fat" a thin piece of garlic, a small piece of onion, when fine add one egg and a little soaked bread, season with salt, pepper, and ginger. When neck is stuffed, sew up larger end, lay it in a pudding-pan, pour a little cold water over it, set in stove and baste from time to time. Let brown until crisp. Eat hot.

Goose cracklings (grieben)
Cut the thick fat of a fat goose in pieces as big as the palm of your hand, roll together and run a toothpick through each one to fasten. Put a large preserve kettle on top of hot stove, lay in the cracklings, sprinkle a tiny bit of salt over them and pour in a cup or two of cold water; cover closely and let cook not too fast, until water is cooked out. Then add the soft or "linda" fat, keep top off and let all brown nicely. About one to two hours is required to cook them. If you do not wish the scraps of "Greben" brittle, take them out of the fat before they are browned. Place strainer over your fat crock, to catch the clear fat and let greben drain. If greben are too greasy place in baking-pan in oven a few minutes to try out a little more. Serve at lunch with rye bread.

Roast goose breasts
The best way to roast a goose breast is to remove the skin from the neck and sew it over the breast and fasten it with a few stitches under the breast, making an incision with a pointed knife in the breast and joints of the goose, so as to be able to insert a little garlic (or onion) in each incision, also a little salt and ginger. Keep closely covered all the time, so as not to get too brown. They cut up nicely cold for sandwiches.

Goose meat, preserved in fat
If too fat to roast, render the fat of goose, remove and cut the skin into small pieces. The scraps, when brown, shriveled and crisp, are then "Greben," and are served hot or cold. When fat is nearly done or clear, add the breast and legs of goose, previously salted, and boil in the fat until tender and browned. Place meat in crock and pour the clear, hot fat over it to cover. Cool. Cover crock with plate and stone and keep in a cool, dry place. Will keep for months. When ready to serve, take out meat, heat, and drain off fat.

Smoked goose breast
Dried or smoked goose breast must be prepared in the following manner: Take the breast of a fat goose; leave the skin on; rub well with salt, pepper and saltpetre; pack in a stone jar and let it remain pickled thus four or five days. Dry well, cover with gauze and send away to be smoked.

Smoked goose
Remove skin. Place legs, neck and skin of neck of geschundene goose (fat goose) to one side. Scrape the meat carefully from the bones, neck, back, etc., of the goose, remove all tendons and tissues and chop very fine. Fill this in the skin of the neck and sew up with coarse thread on both ends. Rub the filled neck, the legs and the breast with plenty of garlic (sprinkle with three-eighths pound of salt and one tablespoon of sugar and one teaspoon of saltpetre), and enough water to form a brine. Place the neck, legs and breast in a stone jar, cover with a cloth and put weights on top. Put aside for seven days, turn once in a while. Take out of the brine, cover with gauze and send to the butcher to smoke. When done, serve cold, sliced thin.

Stewed goose, piquante
Cut up, after being skinned, and stew, seasoning with salt, pepper, a few cloves and a very little lemon peel. When done heat a little goose fat in a frying-pan, brown half a tablespoon of flour, add a little vinegar and the juice of half a lemon.

Minced goose (Hungarian style)
Take the entire breast of a goose, chop up fine in a chopping bowl; grate in part of an onion, and season with salt, pepper and a tiny piece of garlic. Add some grated stale bread and work in a few eggs. Press this chopped meat back on to the breast bone and roast, basting very often with goose fat.

Duck
Singe off all the small feathers; cut off neck and wings, which may be used for soup; wash thoroughly and rub well with salt, ginger and a little pepper, inside and out. Now prepare this dressing: Take the liver, gizzard and heart and chop to a powder in chopping bowl. Grate in a little nutmeg, add a piece of celery root and half an onion. Put all this into your chopping bowl. Soak some stale bread, squeeze out all the water and fry in a spider of hot fat. Toss this soaked bread into the bowl; add one egg, salt, pepper and a speck of ginger and mix all thoroughly. Fill the duck with this and sew it up. Lay in the roasting-pan with slices of onions, celery and specks of fat. Put some on top of fowl; roast two hours, covered up tight and baste often. Stick a fork into the skin from time to time so that the fat will try out.

Roast duck
Draw the duck; stuff, truss and roast the same as chicken. Serve with giblet sauce and currant jelly. If small, the duck should be cooked in an hour.

Duck à la mode in jelly
One duckling of about five pounds, one calf's foot, eight to ten small onions, as many young carrots, one bunch of parsley. Cook the foot slowly in one quart of water, one teaspoon of salt and a small bay leaf. Put aside when the liquor has been reduced to one-half. In the meanwhile fry the duck and when well browned wipe off the grease, put in another pan, add the calf's foot with its broth, one glass of dry white wine, a tablespoon of brandy, the carrots, parsley and the onions—the latter slightly browned in drippings—pepper and salt to taste and cook slowly under a covered lid for one hour. Cool off for about an hour, take off the grease, bone and skin the duckling and cut the meat into small pieces; arrange nicely with the vegetables in individual earthenware dishes, cover with the stock and put on the ice to harden.

Squabs, or nest pigeons
Pick, singe, draw, clean and season them well inside and out, with salt mixed with a little ginger and pepper, and then stuff them with well-seasoned bread dressing. Pack them closely in a deep stew-pan and cover with flakes of goose fat, minced parsley and a little chopped onion. Cover with a lid that fits close and stew gently, adding water when necessary. Do not let them get too brown. They should be a light yellow.

Broiled squabs
Squabs are a great delicacy, especially in the convalescent's menu, being peculiarly savory and nourishing. Clean the squabs; lay them in salt water for about ten minutes and then rub dry with a clean towel. Split them down the back and broil over a clear coal fire. Season with salt and pepper; lay them on a heated platter, grease them liberally with goose fat and cover with a deep platter. Toast a piece of bread for each pigeon, removing the crust. Dip the toast in boiling water for an instant. In serving lay a squab upon a piece of toasted bread.

Pigeon pie
Prepare as many pigeons as you wish to bake in your pie. Salt and pepper, then melt some fat in a stew-pan, and cut up an onion in it. When hot, place in the pigeons and stew until tender. In the meantime line a deep pie plate with a rich paste. Cut up the pigeons, lay them in, with hard-boiled eggs chopped up and minced parsley. Season with salt and pepper. Put flakes of chicken fat rolled in flour here and there, pour over the gravy the pigeons were stewed in, cover with a crust. Bake slowly until done.

Squab en casserole
Take fowl and brown in a skillet the desired color, then add to this enough water (or soup stock preferred), put it in casserole and add vegetables; add first those that require longest cooking. Use mushrooms, carrots, small potatoes and peas. If you like flavor of sherry wine, add small wine glass; if not, it is just as good. Season well and cook in hot oven not too long, as you want fowl and vegetables to be whole. You may add soup stock if it is too dry after being in oven.

Roast turkey
Singe and clean the turkey the same as chicken. Fill with plain bread stuffing or chestnut stuffing. Tie down the legs and rub entire surface with salt and let stand overnight. Next morning place in large drippings or roasting-pan on rack and spread breast, legs and wings with one-third cup of fat creamed and mixed with one-fourth cup of flour. Dredge bottom of pan with flour. Place in a hot oven and when the flour on the turkey begins to brown, reduce the heat and add two cups of boiling water or the stock in which the giblets are cooking, and baste with one-fourth cup of fat and three-fourths cup of boiling water. When this is all used, baste with the fat in the pan. Baste every fifteen minutes until tender; do not prick with a fork, press with the fingers; if the breast meat and leg are soft to the touch the turkey is done. If the oven is too hot, cover the pan; turn the turkey often, that it may brown nicely. Remove strings and skewers and serve on hot platter. Serve with giblet sauce and cranberry sauce. If the turkey is very large it will require three hours or more, a small one will require only an hour and a half.

Stuffed turkey neck (Turkish style)
Take neck of turkey, stuff with following: One-quarter pound of almonds or walnuts chopped fine and seasoned with chopped parsley, pepper and salt, put two hard-boiled eggs in the centre of this dressing; stuff neck, sew up the ends and when roasted slice across so as to have a portion of the hard-boiled egg on each slice; place on platter and surround with sprigs of parsley.