The best chickens have soft yellow feet, short thick legs, smooth, moist skin and plump breast; the cartilage on the end of the breast bone is soft and pliable. Pin feathers always indicate a young bird and long hairs an older one. All poultry should be dressed as soon as killed. Cut off the head, and if the fowl is to be roasted, slip the skin back from the neck and cut the neck off close to the body, leaving skin enough to fold over on the back. Remove the windpipe, pull the crop away from the skin on the neck and breast, and cut off close to the opening in the body. Cut through the skin about 2 inches below the leg joint, bend the leg at the cut by pressing it on the edge of the table and break off the bone. Then pull out the tendon. If care be taken to cut only through the skin, these cords may be pulled out easily, one at a time, with the fingers; or by putting the foot of the fowl against the casing of a door, then shut the door tightly and pull on the leg. The drum stick of a roast chicken or turkey is greatly improved by removing the tendons. Cut out the oil bag in the tail, make an incision near the vent, insert two fingers, keeping the fingers up close to the breast bone until you can reach in beyond the liver and heart, and loosen on either side down toward the back. Draw everything out carefully. See that the kidneys and lungs are not left in, and be very careful not to break any of the intestines. When the fowl has been cleaned carefully it will not require much washing. Rinse out the inside quickly and wipe dry. In stuffing and trussing a fowl, place the fowl in a bowl and put the stuffing in at the neck, fill out the breast until plump. Then draw the neck skin together at the ends and sew it over on the back. Put the remainder of the stuffing into the body at the other opening and sew with coarse thread or fine twine. Draw the thighs up close to the body and tie the legs over the tail firmly with twine. Put a long skewer through the thigh into the body and out through the opposite thigh, turn the tips of the wings under the back of the fowl, put a long skewer through from one wing to the other. Wind a string from the tail to the skewer in the thigh, then up to the one in the wing across the back to the other wing, then down to the opposite side and tie firmly round the tail. If you have no skewers, the fowl may be kept in shape by tying carefully with twine. Clean all the giblets, cut away all that looks green near the gall bladder, open the gizzard and remove the inner lining without breaking. Put the gizzard, heart, liver, and the piece of neck which has been cut off, into cold water, wash carefully, put in a saucepan, cover with cold water, place on the back of the stove and simmer till tender. Use the liquid for making the gravy; the meat may be chopped and used for giblet soup.

Singe carefully, remove the pin feathers, draw as directed above. Wipe, stuff, sew and tie or skewer into shape, dredge with flour, cover with plenty of dripping; roast in a hot oven. When the flour is brown check the heat, baste frequently with the fat, and when nearly cooked dredge with pepper and salt and again with flour. Bake a 4 lb. chicken 1-1/2 hour, or until the joints separate easily. If browning too fast, cover with paper. (Roast chicken is considered to be more wholesome and to have a better flavor when cooked without stuffing.)

The first attempt of an inexperienced cook in the preparation of a chicken should be a fricassee, as it will provide an opportunity for her to study the anatomy of a chicken while cutting it in pieces, and also show her the position of the intestines, so that when she attempts to draw a fowl she will know just where to place her hand so as to remove them without breaking.

To prepare a chicken for a fricassee, clean and singe. Cut the chicken at the joints in pieces for serving. Place in a kettle, cover with boiling water, add 2 level tsps. of salt, a ssp. of pepper (some like a small piece of salt pork). Simmer until tender, reducing the water to a pint or less, lift the chicken, melt 1 tbsp. of butter in a saucepan, add 2 tbsps. of flour, and when well mixed pour on slowly the chicken liquor. Add more salt if needed, pepper, 1/2 tsp. of celery salt, 1 tsp. of lemon juice (an egg may be used by beating and pouring the sauce slowly on the egg, stirring well before adding it to the chicken). Pour this gravy over the chicken and serve; dumplings may be added if desired, or it may be placed in a deep dish, covered with pastry and baked for chicken pie.

(The chicken may be browned in a little hot fat as in braising meat, and cooked in the same way.)

Singe and split a young chicken down the back. Break the joints, clean and wipe with a wet cloth, sprinkle with pepper and salt, rub well with butter or dripping, place in a double grid-iron and broil 20 minutes over a clear fire. The chicken may be covered with fine bread crumbs or dredged with flour, allowing a plentiful supply of butter or dripping, and baked in a hot oven 1/2 hour.

Make 1 cup of white sauce and season with chopped parsley and onion juice. Stir 1 cup of chopped meat (chicken, tongue, veal or lamb) into the sauce. When hot, add the beaten yolks of two eggs; cook 1 minute and set away to cool. When cool, stir in the whites, beat very stiff. Bake in a buttered dish about twenty minutes and serve immediately.

These may be made with any kind of cooked meat, fish, rice, potatoes, etc., or from a mixture of several ingredients, when mixed with a thick white sauce, as follows: 1 pint hot milk, 2 tbsps. butter or beef dripping, 6 (l.) tbsps. flour, or 4 (l.) tbsps. cornstarch, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/2 ssp. white pepper, 1/2 tsp. celery salt, a speck of cayenne. Melt the butter or dripping in a saucepan, when hot add the dry cornstarch or flour. Stir till well mixed. Add 1/3 of the hot milk and stir as it boils and thickens, add the remainder of the hot milk gradually. The sauce should be very thick. Add the seasoning, and mix it while hot with the meat or fish. It is improved by adding a beaten egg just before the sauce is taken from the fire. When cold, shape into rolls or like a pear, roll lightly in beaten egg, then in bread crumbs, and fry in deep hot fat. Drain on coarse brown paper. If the mixture be too soft to handle easily stir in enough fine cracker or soft bread crumbs to stiffen it, but never flour.