In summer, kill and dress the poultry the day beforehand, except chicken for frying, which is not good unless killed the same day it is eaten.

The best way to kill a fowl is to tie it by its legs, hang it up, and then cut off its neck. In this way, it dies more quickly, suffers less, and bleeds more freely.

It is best to pick fowls dry; though, if you are pressed for time, you may facilitate the picking of chickens, as well as of partridges and other small birds, by putting them first into water, hot, but not boiling. Then take off the feathers carefully, so as not to break the skin. Never scald a turkey, duck or goose, however, before picking.

To draw the crop, split the skin of all poultry on the back of the neck. Pull the neck upward and the skin downward, and the crop can be easily pulled out. Then cut off the neck close to the body, leaving the skin to skewer at the back of the neck after the dressing has been put in. Make an incision under the rump lengthwise, sufficient to allow the entrails to be easily removed. Be careful not to break the gall, and to preserve the liver whole. Cut open the gizzard, take out the inner skin, and wash both carefully. Wash the bird inside several times, the last time with salt and water. Some persons object to using water inside or outside, but I consider it more cleanly to wash the bird first and then wipe it dry with a clean towel. It should then be hung with the neck downwards till ready to cook.

The head, neck, and feet, after being nicely washed and the bones in them broken, should be stewed in the gravy, as they make it much richer.

It is said that throwing chickens into cold water immediately after they have finished bleeding, and allowing them to remain there ten or fifteen minutes, will make them deliciously tender, which can be accounted for scientifically. Frozen fowls or game should be thawed gradually, by being laid in cold water. If cooked without being thawed, it will require double time, and they will not be tender nor high-flavored.

The tests by which you may tell the age of a turkey are these. An old turkey has rough and red legs, and if a gobbler, long spurs, while young turkeys have black legs, and if gobblers, small spurs. The fatter they are and the broader their breasts, the better. When dressed, the skin should be a yellowish white, and, if tender, you may easily rip it with a pin. If, when you bend back the wings, the sinews give and crack, this is another test of the turkey being young, and the same test will apply to other fowls. The bill and feet of an old goose are red and hairy. A young goose has pen feathers and its flesh is whiter than that of an old one.

If young, the lower part of a hen's legs and feet are soft and smooth, while a young cock has small spurs. When dressed, the flesh should be white and the fat a pale yellow. Turn the wing back, and if the sinews snap it is a sign the chicken is young.

A few words on the subject of carving may not be out of place here. A sharp knife, with a thin and well tempered blade is essential to good carving. In carving a turkey, cut off first the wing nearest to you, then the leg and second joint, then slice the breast till a rounded, ivory-shaped piece appears. Insert the knife between that and the bone, and separate them. This part is the nicest bit of the breast. Next comes the merry-thought. After this, turn over the bird a little, and just below the breast you will find the oyster, which you will separate as you did the inner breast. The side bone lies beside the rump, and the desired morsel can be taken out without separating the whole bone. Proceed with the other side in the same way. The fork need not be removed during the whole process.

Chicken and partridges are carved in the same way.

Roast Turkey.

Wash nicely in and out. Plunge into boiling water ten minutes. Have ready a dressing of

After rubbing the cavity well with salt and pepper and putting in a slice of pork or bacon, fill with the above dressing. Do the same also to the crop, so as to make the turkey look plump. Rub the turkey well with butter and sprinkle salt and pepper over it. Dredge with flour. Lay in the pan with a slice of pork or bacon and a pint of boiling water. Lay the liver and gizzard in the pan with it. Put in a hot oven, basting and turning frequently till every part is a beautiful brown. When the meat is amber color, pin a buttered sheet of writing paper over it to keep it from becoming hard and dry. Cook three or four hours. Season the gravy with minced parsley and celery and serve with cranberry sauce.—Mrs.S.T.

Roast Turkey.

Wash the turkey thoroughly inside and out, having removed the insides. Make a dressing of bread soaked in cold water, drained and mashed fine, a small piece of melted butter or salt pork chopped, pepper and salt, sweet herbs, a hard boiled egg, chopped fine.

Any kind of cooked meat is good, minced fine and added to the dressing. The body and crop must be filled with the dressing and sewed up. The giblets ought to be boiled tender, if they are to be used. Use the water in which they are boiled, for gravy, adding a little of the turkey drippings, seasoning with pepper, salt, and sweet herbs, and thickening with a little flour and water, mixed smoothly. Place where it will boil.

When the fowl is put on to roast, put a little water into the dripping-pan. At first it should be roasted slowly and basted frequently. Tie up the wings and legs before roasting, and rub on a little butter and salt. Serve with drawn butter.—Mrs.W.

Roast Turkey.

Put the gizzard, heart and liver in cold water and boil till tender. When done, chop fine and add stale bread, grated, salt and pepper, sweet herbs, if liked, two eggs well beaten.

Fill the turkey with this dressing, sew the openings, drawing the skin tightly together. Put a little butter over the turkey and lay it upon the grate of your meat-pan. Cover the bottom of the pan well with boiling water. In half an hour, baste the turkey by pouring over it the gravy that has begun to form in the pan. Repeat this basting every fifteen minutes. In an oven of average temperature, a twelve-pound turkey will require at least three hours' cooking.—Mrs.A.D.

Roast Turkey, with Truffles.

Truffles must be peeled, chopped and pounded in a mortar; one and a half pound will do for one turkey. Rasp the same amount of fat bacon and mix with the truffles and stuff the turkey with it. This dressing is usually placed in the turkey two days beforehand, to impart its flavor to the fowl. Lay thin slices of fat bacon over the breast of the turkey, cover it with half a sheet of white paper, and roast two hours. Chestnuts dressed in the same way as truffles are found an excellent substitute.—Mrs.S.G.

Boiled Turkey.

Wash well with cold water, then put on in milk-warm water, either tied in a coarse cloth dredged with flour or with a half-pound of rice in the water. Keep well under water, and boil slowly three hours, adding salt just before it is done. When perfectly done and tender, take out of the pot, sprinkle in the cavity a little pepper and salt, and fill with oysters stewed just enough to plump them, and season, with butter, pepper, salt and vinegar. Place in a dish and set in a steamer to keep hot. Strain the liquor in which the oysters were scalded, add drawn butter, chopped celery, parsley and thyme; pour over the turkey, and serve. If not convenient to use oysters, use egg and butter sauce. Garnish with sliced lemons.—Mrs.S.T.

Boiled Turkey.

Prepare the turkey as for roasting. Tie it in a cloth or boil rice in the pot with it, if you wish it to look white. It is improved by boiling a pound or two of salt pork with it. If soup is made of the liquor, let it stand till next day and skim the fat. Season after heating.—Mrs.W.

To Steam a Turkey.

Rub butter, pepper and salt inside the turkey after it has been well washed, fill with oysters, sew up, lay in a dish and set in a steamer placed over boiling water. Cover closely and steam from two hours to two and a half. Take up, strain the gravy which will be found in the dish. Have an oyster sauce ready, prepared like stewed oysters, and pour into it this gravy thickened with a little butter and flour. Let it come to a boil and whiten with a little boiled cream. Pour this over the steamed turkey and send to the table hot. Garnish with sliced lemons.—Mrs.S.T.

Turkey Hash.

Cut up the meat very fine. Stew the bones in a little water, then stir into this water the meat, adding a large tablespoonful butter, a cup of cream, salt and pepper, a little chopped parsley, thyme or celery (or else a very few celery-seeds). Stew all together.—Mrs.R.

Devilled Turkey.

Place the legs and wings (jointed) on a gridiron. Broil slowly. Have ready a sauce made of—

Lay the broiled turkey on a hot dish. Pour the dressing and sift pounded cracker over it.—Mrs.S.T.

Potato Stuffing for Turkeys and other Fowls.

Mash smoothly six good-sized boiled Irish potatoes. Chop a small onion very fine and fry a light brown, in a frying-pan, with a dessertspoonful lard. Then add the potatoes with salt and pepper, and a lump of butter as large as a walnut. To this add one well beaten egg, stirring till perfectly dry. If for geese or ducks, add a little sifted sage and a small quantity of red pepper.—Mrs. McG.

Boned Turkey.

The turkey must be full grown, moderately fat, and picked dry. Do not remove the entrails. Cut off the neck about one inch from the body. Take off the wings above the second joint and cut off the legs as usual. With a sharp pointed knife, split the skin from the end of the neck to the rump. Run the knife between the bones and flesh on one side, till you come to where the wing and leg join the body. Twist the wing and raise it, cracking the joint. Separate it from the body. Then proceed with the leg in the same way, on the same side. Run the knife between the bones and flesh till you reach the breast bone. Repeat this on the other side. Take out the craw. Carefully run a sharp knife under the rump, detaching it from the bone without cutting the skin, as it must come off with the flesh. Hold the turkey by the neck and pull the skin carefully down, until the upper part of the breast bone is uncovered. Cut the flesh from the bone on both sides, till the end of the bone is nearly reached. The turkey must now be laid on the back and held by the neck, the front of the turkey being toward you. Take hold of the skin of the neck with the left hand, pulling downwards with a knife in the right hand, separate the skin from the end of the bone. The whole of the turkey is now detached from the carcass. Lay it on a table with the skin down. Pull the bones from the wings and legs, first running the knife around so as to leave the flesh. Pull out all the tendons of the legs. Push them and the wings inside. Cut off the ring under the rump. All this must be done slowly and carefully. Have ready a half-dozen slices of salt pork, and a salad made of shoat, veal or lamb, chopped and seasoned, as turkey salad, with celery, etc. Mix with this salad three or four large Irish potatoes, boiled and mashed, with a spoonful of butter. Now lay the turkey on the table, inside up and the neck from you; pepper and salt it; lay three or four slices of pork on it, then a layer of the salad; pork again and salad alternately until filled; draw the two sides together and sew it up, giving it as near as possible its proper shape. Sew it up carefully in a cloth, place in a kettle of the proper shape, cover with boiling water, adding the broken bones, three pounds fresh lean beef, parsley, thyme, onions and two dozen whole black peppercorns, with salt to the taste. Simmer three hours, then take it from the water and remove the towel. Carefully remove all discolorations and settlings of the water from the turkey. Scald a clean cloth, wrap it up again; place it on its back, put a dish over it with a weight on it and set it in a cool place till next day. Unwrap and remove the twine with which it was sewed. Glaze it with a little meat jelly; just before the jelly congeals sift over a little cracker browned and pounded; decorate with meat jelly and serve. Directions for preparing meat jelly follow.—Mrs.S.T.

Meat Jelly for Boned Turkey.

As soon as the water in which the turkey was boiled is cold, take off all the fat and strain it, put it in a porcelain-lined kettle; two ounces gelatine, three eggs, with shells, a wine-glass of sherry, port or madeira wine; stir well. Add one quart of the strained liquor; beat rapidly with an egg-beater, put it on the fire and stir until it boils. Simmer ten or fifteen minutes. Sprinkle in a pinch of turmeric and strain just as any other jelly. When congealed break it up and place around the turkey. Cut some in thick slices and in fanciful shapes with paste cutters. Place some of these lozenges over the turkey and border the edges of the dish with them.—Mrs.S.T.

Chickens.

These, whether for boiling or roasting, should have a dressing prepared as for turkeys. Six spoonfuls of rice boiled with the chickens will cause them to look white. If the water is cold when they are put in, they will be less liable to break. They are improved by boiling a little salt pork with them. If not thus boiled, they will need salt.

For broiling, chickens should be split, the innards taken out, and the chickens then washed. Broil very slowly till done, placing the bony side down; then turn it and brown the other side. Forty minutes is the medium time for broiling a chicken.

For roast chicken, boil the gizzard and liver by themselves, and use the water for gravy.—Mrs. Col.W.

Roast Chicken.

Chicken should never be cooked the same day it is killed. Wash well with cold water, then pour boiling water over it and into the cavity. Rub the latter with salt and pepper, and fill with a dressing made of bread soaked in water and squeezed out, a tablespoonful butter, a little salt, pepper and parsley.

Rub the chicken well with butter. Sprinkle pepper and salt over it and dredge with flour. Lay it into a pan with a slice of pork or bacon and a pint of water. Let it simmer slowly two hours, basting and dredging frequently. Turn the chicken so each part may be equally browned. Add chopped thyme and parsley to the gravy.

Some persons think ground ginger a more delicate flavoring for the dressing than pepper.—Mrs.S.T.

To Boil Chicken.

Never boil the same day the chicken is killed. Soak them overnight in weak salt and water. Place in a kettle of water, with a handful of rice and a little milk to make the chicken white. Simmer slowly two or three hours, removing the scum that rises when the chicken first begins to boil. Keep under the water, with an inverted deep plate. Just before taking off the fire, add salt to the taste. Lay on a hot dish near the fire. Skim off the fat from the top of the liquor, strain it and add chopped celery, parsley and thyme, drawn butter, a little pepper and salt, or, if preferred, six hard-boiled eggs chopped fine.—Mrs.S.T.

To Steam Chicken.

Soak two hours, in salt and water, a fat young pullet. Drain and dry. Rub in the cavity a little salt and pepper and a large lump of butter. Fill with large, plump oysters, seasoned with pepper and salt, and sew up. Lay the chicken on a dish or pan, and set it inside a steamer, which close and keep over boiling water four hours. When thoroughly done, lay on a dish and pour over it drawn butter or celery sauce. Garnish with curled parsley, and serve.—Mrs.S.T.

Smothered Chicken.

Kill the day before it is smothered. Split open the back, as if to broil. When ready to cook, wipe dry with a clean towel, rub well with butter and sprinkle with pepper and salt. Put in a pan with a slice of bacon or pork and a pint of water. Simmer an hour or more, basting frequently. When thoroughly done, place on a hot dish.

Stir into the gravy remaining on the fire a beaten egg, mixing it carefully. Pour this into the dish, but not on the chicken. Sift over it cracker, first browned and then pounded. Garnish with parsley, and serve.—Mrs.S.T.

Stewed Chicken.

Cut up the chicken as if to fry, adding the prepared head and feet. Soak in weak salt and water. If for dinner, do this immediately after breakfast.

An hour and a half before dinner, put in a saucepan, covering well with water. Let it simmer slowly for one hour. Take it out with a fork and lay in a bowl. Add a teacup milk and half a teaspoonful black pepper to the liquor. Let it boil up and strain on the chicken. Rinse the saucepan and return all to the fire. Beat one egg with a tablespoonful of flour and one of milk until quite smooth. Mince some parsley, thyme, and a very little onion, and stir all into the saucepan. Then put in a tablespoonful of butter. Stir around and pour into a dish in which small pieces of toast have been neatly arranged. Garnish with curled parsley.—Mrs.S.T.

Stewed Chicken.

Cut up and lay in salt and water. Put them in water enough to cover them, with some slices of middling. Let them boil till nearly done. Then put in the dumplings, made like biscuit but rolled thin, and let them boil till done. Roll a piece of butter in flour, with pepper, salt, chopped parsley and celery, or a little celery-seed. When the gravy is thick enough, pour in a teacup of cream or milk, and let it boil up once. Take off the fire and serve hot.—Mrs. Col.W.

Fried Chicken.

This dish is best when the chicken is killed the same day it is fried. Cut off the wings and legs, cut the breast in two, and also the back. Wash well and throw in weak salt and water, to extract the blood. Let it remain for half an hour or more. Take from the water, drain and dry with a clean towel, half an hour before dinner. Lay on a dish, sprinkle a little salt over it, and sift flour thickly first on one side and then on the other, letting it remain long enough for the flour to stick well. Have ready on the frying-pan some hot lard, in which lay each piece carefully, not forgetting the liver and gizzard. Cover closely and fry till a fine amber color. Then turn over each piece and cover well again, taking care to have the chicken well done, yet not scorched. Take the chicken up and lay in a hot dish near the fire. Pour into the gravy a teacup of milk, a teaspoonful of butter, a saltspoon of salt, and one of pepper. Let it boil up and pour into the dish, but not over the chicken. Put curled parsley round the edge of the dish and serve.—Mrs.S.T.

Fried Chicken.

Kill the chicken the night before, if you can, and lay on ice, or else kill early in the morning. When ready, wipe dry, flour it, add pepper and salt, and fry in a little lard. When nearly done, pour off the lard, add one-half teacup water, large spoonful butter, and some chopped parsley. Brown nicely and serve. Meal mush fried is nice with the chicken.—Mrs. Col.W.

To Dress Chickens With Tomatoes.

Fry till a light brown. Then add some tomatoes, cut in small pieces, with the juice. Strain the tomatoes from the seed, season them with salt, pepper, a little sugar, and let them stew.—Mrs.J.B.D.

To Fricassee Chicken.

Wash and joint the chicken; place the pieces in a stew-pan with the skin side down. Sprinkle salt and pepper on each piece. Add three or four slices of pork, stew till tender, take them out and thicken the liquor with flour, and add a piece of butter the size of a hen's egg. Replace the chicken in the pan and let it stew five minutes longer. When it is taken up, soak in the gravy some pieces of toast, put them on plates and lay the chicken on the toast, pouring the gravy over it. To brown the chicken, stew till tender, without the pork; brown the pork, take that up, then put in the chicken and fry a light brown.—Mrs. Col.W.

To Broil Chicken.

Kill the chicken the day before using, split open in the back, nicely clean, and, if the weather is warm, slightly sprinkle with salt. If for breakfast, half an hour before press between the folds of a clean towel till dry, grease well with fresh butter, sprinkle with pepper and salt and lay on a gridiron, over hot coals, with the inside of the chicken down. Let it cook principally from this side, but turn often till the outside of the chicken is of a bright, yellow brown. When thoroughly done, pour over it melted butter, sprinkle pepper, and sift pounded or grated cracker.—Mrs.S.T.

Chicken Pie.

Cut up the chicken and place in a deep oven with one large spoonful of lard. Let it brown a little and add one onion, parsley, thyme, sage and black pepper, to suit the taste. Pour on it a cupful boiling water, stir well and let it simmer till well cooked. Just before taking from the fire, rub together:

Stir well and pour in a pan lined with a paste.—Mrs.A.C.

Chicken Pie.

Make into a paste one quart of flour with the weight of four eggs in butter and a large spoonful of lard. Put the paste in a deep dish, lining the bottom and side with chicken interspersed with layers of very thin bacon. Add some large crumbs, some pepper, and a quarter-pound butter. Fill the dish with cold water, and yolks of four or six hard-boiled eggs, then dredge with flour and put on the top crust. Let it bake gradually. It will take two hours to bake.—Mrs. Col.W.

Chicken Pudding.

Cut up the chicken and stew it a little, after which lay the pieces in a buttered dish with a few bits of butter, a little pepper and salt, and a little of the water in which the chicken was stewed.

Make a batter of one quart milk, five eggs, a little salt. Pour this batter over the chicken, and bake half an hour.—Mrs.A.B.

Chicken Pudding.

Stir in enough flour to make a thin, good batter. Put four young chickens, nicely prepared and jointed, in a saucepan, with some salt and water and a bundle of thyme or parsley. Boil till nicely done, then take up the chickens and put in the batter. Put all in a deep dish and bake. Serve with gravy in a boat.—Mrs. Dr.C.

Chicken Pudding With Potatoes.

Cut up a young chicken as if to fry, and parboil it. Boil and mash Irish potatoes. Beat up three or four eggs, add to the potatoes, and thin with milk. Season with butter, pepper and salt, stir in the chicken, and bake it.

Boiled rice is a good substitute for potatoes.—Mrs.E.W.

N.B.—Most of the recipes given for turkey apply to pea-fowl, and most of those given for chicken may be used for guinea fowl.—Mrs.S.T.

To Roast Goose.

A goose must never be eaten the same day it is killed. If the weather is cold, it should be kept a week before using. Before cooking let it lie several hours in weak salt and water, to remove the strong taste. Then plunge it in boiling water, for five minutes, if old. Fill the goose with a dressing made of:

Grease with sweet lard or butter. Lay in a pan with the giblets, neck, etc. Pour in two teacups of boiling water, set in a hot oven, and baste frequently. Turn so that every part may be equally browned. Serve with gravy or onion sauce.

The above recipe will answer equally as well for duck.—Mrs.S.T.

Devilled Goose.

Plunge the goose into a pot of boiling water and let it remain half an hour. Fill with a stuffing made of:

Mashed Irish potatoes, a heaping tablespoonful butter, minced onions, sage, parsley and thyme, half a teaspoonful black pepper.

Place it in a pan with a slice of fat pork and a pint of broth or liquor in which any kind of meat has been boiled.

Mix two tablespoonfuls pepper vinegar, celery vinegar, made mustard, and one of acid fruit jelly. Butter the breast of the goose and pour this mixture over it, adding salt and pepper to the taste.

Place in a hot oven, dredge with flour and baste frequently till done; when serve with its own gravy. This receipt will answer equally as well for wild goose.—Mrs.S.T.

To Prepare Young Ducks.

Kill and hang to drain. Plunge, one at a time, in boiling water, then immediately in cold water, which makes them easier to pick. Kill some days before using, or if obliged to use them the same day as killed, they are better roasted.—Mrs.R.

To Stew Ducks.

Truss the ducks and stuff them with bread, butter, and onion. Flour them and brown them in lard. Have prepared slips of bacon, giblets, onion, water, pepper, salt, and a little clove or mace, if you like. Put in the ducks and let them stew gently but constantly for two hours. Then add the juice of green grapes or of a lemon, or else a little lemon pickle. Flour the ducks each time you turn them, and thicken with butter rolled in flour.—Mrs. Col.W.