Woman's Institute Library of Cookery Volume III Part 23

POULTRY AND GAME

EXAMINATION QUESTIONS

(1) Of what value is poultry in the diet?

(2) What effect do the feeding and care of poultry have upon it as food?

(3) Mention briefly the proper preparation of poultry killed for market.

(4) (_a_) What are the most important things to consider when poultry is to be selected? (_b_) Give the points that indicate good quality of poultry.

(5) How would you determine the age of a chicken?

(6) How would you determine the freshness of a chicken?

(7) (_a_) What are the marks of cold-storage poultry? (_b_) Should cold-storage poultry be drawn or undrawn? Tell why.

(8) How should frozen poultry be thawed?

(9) Tell briefly how turkey should be selected.

(10) At what age and season is turkey best?

(11) Discuss the selection of: (_a_) ducks; (_b_) geese.

(12) (_a_) How does the composition of poultry compare with that of meat? (_b_) What kind of chicken has a high food value?

(13) (_a_) How should a chicken be dressed? (_b_) What care should be given to the skin in plucking?

(14) Give briefly the steps in drawing a chicken.

(15) Give briefly the steps in cutting up a chicken.

(16) How is poultry prepared for: (_a_) roasting? (_b_) frying? (_c_) broiling? (_d_) stewing?

(17) (_a_) Describe trussing, (_b_) Why is trussing done?

(18) Give briefly the steps in boning a chicken.

(19) Tell briefly how to serve and carve a roasted bird.

(20) Discuss game in a general way.

ADDITIONAL WORK

Select a fowl by applying the tests given for selection in the lesson.

Prepare it by what seems to you to be the most economical method. Tell how many persons are served and the use made of the left-overs. Compute the cost per serving by dividing the cost of the fowl by the number of servings it made.

At another time, select a chicken for frying by applying the tests given in the lesson. Compute the cost per serving by dividing the cost of the chicken by the number of servings it made.

Compare the cost per serving of the fried chicken with that of the fowl, to find which is the more economical. In each case, collect the bones after the chicken is eaten and weigh them to determine which has the greater proportion of bone to meat, the fowl or the frying chicken.

Whether you have raised the poultry yourself or have purchased it in the market, use the market price in computing your costs. Weigh the birds carefully before drawing them.

FISH AND Sh.e.l.l FISH

FISH

FISH IN THE DIET

1. FISH provides another cla.s.s of high-protein or tissue-building food.

As this term is generally understood, it includes both vertebrate fish--that is, fish having a backbone, such as salmon, cod, shad, etc.--and many other water animals, such as lobsters, crabs, shrimp, oysters, and clams. A distinction, however, is generally made between these two groups, those having bones being regarded properly as _fish_ and those partly or entirely encased in sh.e.l.ls, as _sh.e.l.l fish_. It is according to this distinction that this cla.s.s of foods is considered in this Section. Because all the varieties of both fish and sh.e.l.l fish are in many respects similar, the term _sea food_ is often applied to them, but, as a rule, this term is restricted to designate salt-water products as distinguished from fresh-water fish.

2. Fish can usually be purchased at a lower price than meat, and for this reason possesses an economic advantage over it. Besides the price, the subst.i.tution of fish for meat makes for economy in a number of ways to which consideration is not usually given. These will become clearly evident when it is remembered that nearly all land animals that furnish meat live on many agricultural products that might be used for human food. Then, too, other foods fed to animals, although not actually human foods, require in their raising the use of soil that might otherwise be utilized for the raising of food for human beings. This is not true in the case of fish. They consume the vegetation that grows in lakes, streams, and the ocean, as well as various kinds of insects, small fish, etc., which cannot be used as human food and which do not require the use of the soil. In addition, much of the food that animals, which are warm-blooded, take into their bodies is required to maintain a constant temperature above that of their surroundings, so that not all of what they eat is used in building up the tissues of their bodies. With fish, however, it is different. As they are cold-blooded and actually receive heat from their surroundings, they do not require food for bodily warmth. Practically all that they take into the body is built up into a supply of flesh that may be used as food for human beings.

3. With fish, as with other foods, some varieties are sought more than others, the popularity of certain kinds depending on the individual taste or the preference of the people in a particular locality. Such popularity, however, is often a disadvantage to the purchaser, because a large demand for certain varieties has a tendency to cause a rise in price. The increased price does not indicate that the fish is of more value to the consumer than some other fish that may be cheaper because it is less popular, although quite as valuable from a food standpoint.

The preference for particular kinds of fish and the persistent disregard of others that are edible is for the most part due to prejudice. In certain localities, one kind of fish may be extremely popular while in others the same fish may not be used for food at all. Such prejudice should be overcome, for, as a matter of fact, practically every fish taken from pure water is fit to eat, in the sense that it furnishes food and is not injurious to health.

In addition, any edible fish should be eaten in the locality where it is caught. The transportation of this food is a rather difficult matter, and, besides, it adds to the cost. It is therefore an excellent plan to make use of the kind of fish that is most plentiful, as such practice will insure both better quality and a lower market price.

4. As is well known, fish is an extremely perishable food. Therefore, when it is caught in quant.i.ties too great to be used at one time, it is preserved in various ways. The preservation methods that have proved to be the most satisfactory are canning, salting and drying, smoking, and preserving in various kinds of brine and pickle. As such methods are usually carried out in the locality where the fish is caught, many varieties of fish can be conveniently stored for long periods of time and so distributed as to meet the requirements of the consumer. This plan enables persons far removed from the Source of supply to procure fish frequently.

COMPOSITION AND FOOD VALUE OF FISH

COMPOSITION OF FISH

5. COMPARISON OF FISH WITH MEAT.--In general, the composition of fish is similar to that of meat, for both of them are high-protein foods.

However, some varieties of fish contain large quant.i.ties of fat and others contain very little of this substance, so the food value of the different kinds varies greatly. As in the case of meat, fish is lacking in carbohydrate. Because of the close similarity between these two foods, fish is a very desirable subst.i.tute for meat. In fact, fish is in some respects a better food than meat, but it cannot be used so continuously as meat without becoming monotonous; that is to say, a person will grow tired of fish much more quickly than of most meats. The similarity between the composition of fish and that of meat has much to do with regulating the price of these protein foods, which, as has already been learned, are the highest priced foods on the market.

6. PROTEIN IN FISH.--In fish, as well as in sh.e.l.l fish, a very large proportion of the food substances present is protein. This proportion varies with the quant.i.ty of water, bone, and refuse that the particular food contains, and with the physical structure of the food. In fresh fish, the percentage of this material varies from 6 to 17 per cent. The structure of fish is very similar to that of meat, as the flesh is composed of tiny hollow fibers containing extractives, in which are dissolved mineral salts and various other materials. The quant.i.ty of extractives found in these foods, however, is less than that found in meat. Fish extracts of any kind, such as clam juice, oyster juice, etc., are similar in their composition to any of the extractives of meat, differing only in the kind and proportions. In addition to the muscle fibers of fish, which are, of course, composed of protein, fish contains a small quant.i.ty of alb.u.min, just as meat does. It is the protein material in fish, as well as in sh.e.l.l fish, that is responsible for its very rapid decomposition.

The application of heat has the same effect on the protein of fish as it has on that of meat, fowl, and other animal tissues. Consequently, the same principles of cookery apply to both the retention and the extraction of flavor.

7. FAT IN FISH.--The percentage of fat in fish varies from less than 1 per cent. in some cases to a trifle more than 14 per cent. in others, but this high percentage is rare, as the average fish probably does not exceed from 3 to 6 or 7 per cent. of fat. This variation affects the total food value proportionately. The varieties of fish that contain the most fat deteriorate most rapidly and withstand transportation the least well, so that when these are secured in large quant.i.ties they are usually canned or preserved in some manner. Fish containing a large amount of fat, such as salmon, turbot, eel, herring, halibut, mackerel, mullet, b.u.t.terfish, and lake trout, have a more moist quality than those which are without fat, such as cod. Therefore, as it is difficult to cook fish that is lacking in fat and keep it from becoming dry, a fat fish makes a more palatable food than a lean fish. The fat of fish is very strongly flavored; consequently, any that cooks out of fish in its preparation is not suitable for use in the cooking of other foods.

8. CARBOHYDRATE IN FISH.--Like meat, fish does not contain carbohydrate in any appreciable quant.i.ty. In fact, the small amount that is found in the tissue, and that compares to the glycogen found in animal tissues, is not present in sufficient quant.i.ties to merit consideration.

9. MINERAL MATTER IN FISH.--In fish, mineral matter is quite as prevalent as in meat. Through a notion that fish contains large proportions of phosphorus, and because this mineral is also present in the brain, the idea that fish is a brain food has become widespread. It has been determined, however, that this belief has no foundation.