INTRODUCTION

"Man's most important food, fat."

"Those who say—'The old fashioned things are good enough for us.'"

"The difference between substitute and primary."

"That 'Lardy' taste."

"Fry fish, then onions, then potatoes in the same Crisco."

"We all eat raw fats."

"A woman can throw out more with a teaspoon than a man can bring home in a wagon."

"Hidden flavors."

"Keeping parlor and kitchen strangers."

"Kosher."

"Recipes tested by Domestic Scientists."

The word "fat" is one of the most interesting in food chemistry. It is the great energy producer. John C. Olsen, A.M., Ph.D., in his book, "Pure Food," states that fats furnish half the total energy obtained by human beings from their food. The threeprimary, solid cooking fats today are:

Butter Lard Crisco

There are numbers of substitutes for these, such as butterine, oleomargarine and "lard compounds."

The following pages contain a story of unusual interest toyou. For youeat.

See Page233

The culinary world is revising its entire cook book on account of the advent of Crisco, a new and altogether different cooking fat.

Many wonder that any product could gain the favor of cooking experts so quickly. A few months after the first package was marketed, practically every grocer of the better class in the United States was supplying women with the new product.

This was largely because four classes of people—housewives—chefs—doctors—dietitians—were glad to be shown a product which at once would make for moredigestiblefoods, moreeconomicalfoods, and bettertastingfoods.

Cooking and History

Cooking methods have undergone a marked change during the past few years. The nation's food is becoming more and more wholesome as a result of different discoveries, new sources of supply, and the intelligent weighing of values. Domestic Science is better understood and more appreciated.

Cooking and History

People of the present century are fairer to their stomachs, realizing that their health largely depends upon this faithful and long-suffering servant. Digestion and disposition sound much the same, but a good disposition often is wrecked by a poor digestion.

America has been termed a country of dyspeptics. It is being changed to a land of healthy eaters, consequently happier individuals. Every agent responsible for this national digestive improvement must be gratefully recognized.

Cooking and History

It seems strange to many that there can be anythingbetterthan butter for cooking, or of greater utility than lard, and the advent of Crisco has been a shock to the older generation, born in an age less progressive than our own, and prone to contend that the old fashioned things are good enough.

But these good folk, when convinced, are the greatest enthusiasts. Grandmother was glad to give up the fatiguing spinning wheel. So the modern woman is glad to stop cooking with expensive butter, animal lard and their inadequate substitutes.

Cooking and History

And so, the nation's cook book has been hauled out and is being revised. Upon thousands of pages, the words "lard" and "butter" have been crossed out and the word "Crisco" written in their place.

Great foresight was shown in the making of Crisco.

The quality, as well as the quantity, of lard was diminishing steadily in the face of a growing population. Prices were rising. "The high-cost-of-living" was an oft-repeated phrase. Also, our country was outgrowing its supply of butter. What was needed, therefore, was not asubstitute, but somethingbetterthan these fats, some product which not only would accomplish as much in cookery, buta great deal more.

When, therefore, Crisco was perfected, and it was shown that here finally was an altogethernewandbetterfat, cookery experts were quick to show their appreciation.

In reading the following pages, think of Crisco as aprimarycooking fat or shortening with even more individuality (because it does greater things), than all others.

No other food supplies our bodies with thedrive, the vigor, which fat gives. No other food has been given so little study in proportion to its importance.

Here are interesting facts, yet few housewives are acquainted with them:

Fat contains more than twice the amount of energy-yielding power or calorific value of proteids or carbohydrates. One half our physical energy is from the fat we eat in different forms. The excellent book, "Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent," by Fannie Merritt Farmer, states, "In the diet of children at least, a deficiency of fat cannot be replaced by an excess of carbohydrates; and that fat seems to play some part in the formation of young tissues which cannot be undertaken byany other constituent of food...."

The book entitled "The Chemistry of Cooking and Cleaning," by the two authorities, Ellen H. Richards and S. Maria Elliott, states that the diet of school children should be regulated carefully with the fat supply in view. Girls, especially, show at times a dislike for fat. It therefore is necessary that the fat which supplies their growing bodies with energy should be in the purest and most inviting form and should be one that their digestionswelcome, rather than repel.

Crisco

The first step in the digestion of fat is its melting. Crisco melts at a lower degree of heat than body temperature. Because of its low melting point, thus allowing the digestive juices to mix with it, and because of its vegetable origin and its purity, Crisco is the easiest of all cooking fats to digest.

When a fat smokes in frying, it "breaks down," that is, its chemical composition is changed; part of its altered composition becomes a non-digestible and irritating substance. The best fat for digestion is one which doesnotdecompose or break down at frying temperature. Crisco does not break down until a degree of heat is reachedabovethe frying point. In other words, Crisco does not break down at all in normal frying, because it is not necessary to have it "smoking hot" for frying. No part of it, therefore, has been transformed in cooking into an irritant. That is one reason why the stomach welcomes Crisco and carries forward its digestion with ease.

Years of Study

A part of the preliminary work done in connection with the development of Crisco, described in these pages, consisted of the study of the older cooking fats. The objectionablefeatures of each were considered. The good was weighed against the bad. The strength and weakness of each was determined. Thus was found what the ideal fat should possess, and what it shouldnotpossess. It must have every good quality and no bad one.

After years of study, a process was discovered which made possible the ideal fat.

The process involved the changing of the composition of vegetable food oils and the making of the richest fat or solidcream.

The Crisco Process at the first stage of its development gave, at least, the basis of the ideal fat; namely, a purelyvegetableproduct, differing from all others in that absolutely no animal fat had to be added to the vegetable oil to produce the proper stiffness. This was but one of the many distinctive advantages sought and found.

It also solved the problem of eliminating certain objectionable features of fats in general, such as rancidity, color, odor, smoking properties when heated. These weaknesses, therefore, were not a part of this new fat, which it would seem was the parent of the Ideal.

Then after four years of severe tests, after each weakness was replaced with strength the Government was given this fat to analyze and classify. The report was that it answered to none of the tests for fats already existing.

It was neither a butter, a "compound" nor a "substitute," butan entirely new product. Aprimaryfat.

In 1911 it was named Crisco and placed upon the market.

Today you buy this rich, wholesome cream of nutritious food oils in sanitary tins. The "Crisco Process" alone can produce this creamy white fat. No one else can manufacture Crisco, because no one else holds the secret of Criscoand because they would have no legal right to make it. Crisco is Crisco, and nothing else.

Finally Economical

At first, it looked very much as if Crisco must be a high-priced product. It cost its discoverers many thousands of dollars before ever a package reached the consumer's kitchen.

Crisco was not offered for sale as asubstitute, or for housewives to buy only to save money. The chief point emphasized was, that Crisco was a richer, more wholesome food fat for cooking. Naturally, therefore, it was good news to all when Crisco was found also to be more economical.

Crisco is more economical than lard in another way. It makes richer pastry than lard, and one-fifth less can be used. Furthermore it can be used over and over again in frying all manner of foods, and because foods absorb so little, Crisco is in reality more economical even than lard ofmediocrequality. Thepriceof Crisco is lower than the average price of the best pail lard throughout the year.

Crisco

Cooling, Filling, Labeling

It would be difficult to imagine surroundings more appetizing than those in which Crisco is manufactured. It is made in a building devoted exclusively to the manufacture of this one product. In sparkling bright rooms, cleanly uniformed employees make and pack Crisco.

The air for this building is drawn in through an apparatus which washes and purifies it, removing the possibility of any dust entering.

The floors are of a special tile composition; the walls are of white glazed tile, which are washed regularly. White enamel covers metal surfaces where nickel plating cannot be used. Sterilized machines handle the oil and the finished product. No hand touches Crisco until in your own kitchen the sanitary can is opened, disclosing the smooth richness, the creamlike, appetizing consistency of the product.

It was the earnest aim of the makers of Crisco to produce a strictlyvegetableproduct without adding a hard, and consequently indigestible animal fat. There is today a pronounced partiality from a health standpoint to a vegetable fat, andthe lardy, greasy taste of food resulting from the use of animal fat never has been in such disfavor as during the past few years.

So Crisco is absolutelyallvegetable. No stearine, animal or vegetable, is added. It possesses no taste nor odor save the delightful and characteristic aroma which identifies Crisco, and is suggestive of its purity.

True Taste of Food

When the dainty shadings of taste are over-shadowed by a "lardy" flavor, thetruetaste of the food itself is lost. We miss the "hidden" ornaturaltaste of the food. Crisco has a peculiar power of bringing out the very best in food flavors. Even the simplest foods are allowed a delicacy of flavor.

Ginger bread

Take ginger bread for example: The realgingertaste is there. Themolassesand spice flavors are brought out.

Or just plain, every-day fried potatoes; many never knew what the realpotatotaste was before eating potatoes fried in Crisco.

Fried chicken has a newness of taste not known before.

New users of Crisco should try these simple foods first and later take up the preparation of more elaborate dishes.

It is hard to imagine anything taking the place of butter upon the dining table. For seasoning in cooking, the use of butter ever will be largely a matter of taste. Some people have a partiality for the "butter flavor," which after all is largely the salt mixed with the fat. Close your eyes and eat some fresh unsalted butter; note that it is practically tasteless.

Butter, Ever Popular

Crisco contains richer food elements than butter. As Crisco is richer, containing no moisture, one-fifth or one-fourth less can be used in each recipe.

Crisco always is uniform because it is a manufactured fat where quality and purity can be controlled. It works perfectly into any dough, making the crust or loaf even textured. It keeps sweet and pure indefinitely in the ordinary room temperature.

Kitchen odors are out of place in the parlor. When frying with Crisco, as before explained, it is not necessary to heat the fat tosmokingtemperature, ideal frying is accomplished without bringing Crisco to its smoking point. On the other hand, it is necessary to heat lard "smokingThe Lard Kitchen and The Crisco Kitchenhot" before it is of the proper frying temperature. Remember also that, when lard smokes and fills the house with its strong odor, certain constituents have been changed chemically to those which irritate the sensitive membranes of the alimentary canal.

Crisco does not smoke until it reaches 455 degrees, a heat higher than is necessary for frying. You need not wait for Crisco to smoke. Consequently the house will not fill with smoke, nor will there be black, burnt specks in fried foods, as often there are when you use lard for frying.

Crisco gives up its heat very quickly to the food submerged in it and a tender, brown crust almostinstantlyforms, allowing the inside of the potatoes, croquettes, doughnuts, etc., to becomebaked, rather than soaked.

Fry this, Then this, Then this—in the same Crisco.

The same Crisco can be used for frying fish, onions, potatoes, or any other food. Crisco does not take up food flavors or odors. After frying each food, merely strain out the food particles.

The shortening fat in pastry or baked foods, is merely distributed throughout the dough. No chemical change occurs during the baking process. So when you eat pie or hot biscuit, in which animal lard isWe All Eat Raw Fatsused,you eat raw animal lard. The shortening used in all baked foods therefore, should be just as pure and wholesome as if you were eating it like butter upon bread. Because Crisco digests with such ease, and because it is a pure vegetable fat, all those who realize the above fact regarding pastry making are now won over to Crisco.

A hint as to Crisco's purity is shown by this simple test: Break open a hot biscuit in which Crisco has been used. You will note a sweet fragrance, which is most inviting.

No Distress

A few months ago if you had told dyspeptic men and women that they could eat pie at the evening meal and that distress would not follow, probably they would have doubted you. Hundreds of instances of Crisco's healthfulness have been given by people, who, at one time have been denied such foods as pastry, cake and fried foods, but whonoweat these rich, yet digestible Crisco dishes.

You, or any other normally healthy individual, whose digestion does not relish greasy foods, can eat rich pie crust. The richness is there, but not the unpleasant after effects. Crisco digestsreadily.

The Importance of Giving Children Crisco Foods

A good digestion will mean much to the youngster's health and character. A man seldom seems to be stronger than his stomach, for indigestion handicaps him in his accomplishment of big things.

Sweet Dreams Follow the Crisco Supper

As more attention is given topresentfeeding, less attention need be given tofuturedoctoring.Equip your children with good stomachs by giving them wholesome Crisco foods—foods which digest with ease.

They may eat the rich things they enjoy and find them just as digestible as many apparently simple foods, if Crisco be used properly.

They may eat Crisco doughnuts or pie without being chased by nightmares. Sweet dreams follow the Crisco supper.

There are thousands of Crisco dishes. It is impossible to know the exact number, because Crisco is used for practically every cooking purpose. Women daily tell us of new uses they have found for Crisco.

Many womenbeginby using Crisco in simple ways, for frying, for baking, in place of lard. Soon, however, they learn that Criscoalsotakes the place of butter. "Butter richness without butter expense," say the thousands of Crisco users.

Tasty scalloped dishes, salad dressing, rich pastry, fine grained cake, sauces and hundreds of other dishes, where butter formerly was used, now are prepared with Crisco.

A Woman can Throw out More with a Teaspoon

Kitchen expense comes by thespoonful. Think of the countless spoonfuls of expensive butter used daily, where economical Crisco would accomplish the same results at one-third the cost.

It should be remembered that one-fifth less Crisco than butter may be used, because Crisco isricherthan butter. The moisture, salt and curd which butter contains to the extent of about 20 per cent are not found in Crisco, which isall, (100 per cent) shortening.

Remember also that Crisco will averagea lower price per pound throughout the year than the best pail lard. And you can use less Crisco than lard, which is a further saving.

Hotel kitchens and domestic scientists use Crisco

Crisco is being used in an increasing number of the better class hotels, clubs, restaurants, dining cars, ocean liners.

Crisco has been demonstrated and explained upon the Chautauqua platform by Domestic Science experts, these lectures being a part of the regular course.

Hospital Dietetic Class

Domestic Science teachers recommend Crisco to their pupils and use it in their classes and lecture demonstrations. Many High Schools having Domestic Science departments use Crisco.

Crisco has taken the place of butter and lard in a number of hospitals, where purity and digestibility are ofvitalimportance.

Crisco is Kosher. Rabbi Margolies of New York, said that the Hebrew Race had been waiting 4,000 years for Crisco. It conforms to the strict Dietary Laws of the Jews. It is what is known in the Hebrew language as a "parava," or neutral fat. Crisco can be used with both "milchig" and "fleichig" (milk and flesh) foods. Special Kosher packages, bearing the seals of Rabbi Margolies of New York, and Rabbi Lifsitz of Cincinnati, are sold the Jewish trade. But all Crisco is Kosher and all of the same purity.

The Kosher Seal

Campers find Crisco helpful

Campers find Crisco helpful in many ways. Hot climates have little effect upon its wholesomeness.

It is convenient; a handy package to pack and does not melt so quickly in transit. One can of Crisco can be used to fry fish, eggs, potatoes and to make hot biscuit, merely by straining out the food particles after each frying and pouring the Crisco back into the can to harden to proper consistency before the biscuit making.

Practically every grocer who has a good trade in Crisco, uses it in his own home.

Empty Tins for Canning

Crisco is sold by net weight. You payonlyfor the Crisco—not the can. Find the net weight of what you have been using.

Bread and cake keep fresh and moist much longer when Crisco is used.

Women have written that they use empty Crisco tins for canning vegetables and fruits, and as receptacles for kitchen and pantry use.

To understand something of the Crisco Process, it is necessary first to know that there are three main constituents in all the best edible oils.

Linoline, Oleine, Stearine.

The chemical difference between these three components is solely in the percentage of hydrogen contained, and it is possible by the addition of hydrogen, to transform one component into another.

Though seemingly so much alike, there is a marked difference in the physical properties of these components.

Linoline which has the lowest percentage of hydrogen, is unstable and tends to turn rancid.

Oleine is stable, has no tendency to turn rancid and is easily digested.

Stearine is both hard and indigestible.

The Crisco process adds enough hydrogen to change almost all the linoline into nourishing digestible oleine.

Mark well the difference in manufacture between Crisco and lard compounds. In producing a lard compound, to the linoline, oleine and stearine of the original oil is added more stearine (usually animal), the hard indigestible fat, in order to bring up the hardness of the oil. The resultant compound is indigestible and very liable to become rancid.

The following pages contain 615 recipes which have been tested by Domestic Science Authorities in the Cooking Departments of different colleges and other educational institutions, and by housewives in their own kitchens. Many have been originated by Marion Harris Neil andallhave been tested by her.

We have undertaken to submit a comprehensive list of recipes for your use, which will enable you to serve menus of wide variety.

We hope that you have enjoyed reading this little volume and that you will derive both help and satisfaction from the recipes.

We will go to any length to help you in the cause of Better Food. We realize that women must study this product as they would any other altogether new article of cookery, and that the study and care used will be amply repaid by the palatability and healthfulness of all foods. A can of Crisco is no Aladdin's Lamp, which merely need be touched by a kitchen spoon to produce magical dishes. Butanywoman is able to achieve excellent results by mixing thought with Crisco.

Let us know how you progress.

Yours respectfully,

The Procter & Gamble Co.

Use level measurements

No need for Crisco to occupy valuable space in the refrigerator. In fact, except in most unusual summer heat, it will be of a better consistency outside the refrigerator. Crisco keeps sweet indefinitely, summer and winter, at ordinary room temperature.

In making sauces, thoroughly blend the flour and Crisco before adding the milk.

Crisco's Purity not affected by Weather

In using melted Crisco in boiled dressing, croquettes, rolls, fritters, etc., be sure that the melted Crisco is cooled sufficiently so that the hot fat will not injure the texture of the foods.

When using in place of butter, add salt in the proportion of one level teaspoonful to one cup of Crisco.

Remember that Crisco, like butter, is susceptible to cold. It readily becomes hard. In creaming Crisco in winter use the same care as when creaming butter. Rinse pan in boiling water and have the Crisco of the proper creaming stiffness before using. Unlike butter, however, Crisco's purity is not affected by weather. It remains sweet and pure indefinitely without refrigeration.

In deep frying, do not wait for Crisco to smoke. (See page35.)

When pie crust is tough:It is possible you have not used Crisco properly. Perhaps the measurements were not correct. Perhaps the water was too warm, or the dough was handled too much. Shortening cannot make pastry tough.

When fried foods absorb:It is because Crisco is not hot enough, or because you have not used enough Crisco. Use plenty and the raw foods, if added in small quantities, will not reduce the heat of the fat. The absorption in deep Crisco frying should be less than that of another fat.

When cake is not a success:It is not the fault of the Crisco. Either too much was used, the oven heat not perfectly controlled or some important ingredient was used in the wrong proportion. Crisco should be creamed with the sugar more thoroughly than butter, as Crisco contains no moisture to dissolve the sugar.

When cake or other food is not flavory:Salt should have been added to the Crisco, for Crisco contains no salt.

When there is smoke in the kitchen:Crisco has been burned or heated too high for frying. Or some may have been on theoutsideof the pan or kettle.

When Crisco is too hard:Like butter, it is susceptible to heat and cold. Simply put in a warmer place.

Also, How to Choose Foods, Methods of Cooking, Cooking Time Table, The Art of Carving, by MARION HARRIS NEIL.

Before commencing to cook, look up the required recipe, read and think it out. Note down on a slip of paper the materials and quantities required. Collect all utensils and materials required before commencing. Success in cookery depends on careful attention to every detail from start to finish. Quantities, both liquid and dry, should be exact. Small scales and weights should form part of the kitchen equipment where possible, and the measuring cups cost so little that no one need be without them.

Throughout this book the measurements are level

Througout this book the measurements are level

Money can be spent to infinitely better advantage in the store, than by giving orders at the door, by phone or mail. Every housekeeper knows how large a proportion of the housekeeping money is swallowed up by the butcher's bill, so that with the meat item careful selection is most necessary in order to keep the bills within bounds.

In choosing meat of any kind the eye, the nose and the touch really are required, although it is not appetizing to see the purchaser use more than the eye.

In choosing meat it should be remembered that without being actually unwholesome, it varies greatly in quality, and often an inferior joint is to be preferred from a first class beast to a more popular cut from a second class animal. To be perfect the animal should be five or six years old, the flesh of a close even grain, bright red in color and well mixed with creamy white fat, the suet being firm and a clear white. Heifer meat is smaller in the bone and lighter in color than ox beef. Cow beef is much the same to look at as ox beef, though being older it is both coarser in the grain and tougher; bull beef, which is never seen however, in a first class butcher's may be recognized by the coarseness and dark color of the flesh, and also by a strong and almost rank smell.

To be in perfection, mutton should be at least four, or better five or six years old, but sheep of this age are rarely if ever, met with now-a-days, when they are constantly killed under two years. To know the age of mutton, examine the breast bones; if these are all of a white gristly color the animal was four years old or over, while the younger it is the pinkier are the bones, which, in a sheep of under a year, are entirely red.

Good mutton should be of a clear dark red, the fat firm and white, and not too much of it; when touched the meat should feel crisp yet tender. If the fat is yellow and the lean flabby and damp, it is bad. A freshly scraped wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone will speedily enable anyone to detect staleness. For roasting mutton scarcely can be hung too long,as long as it is not tainted; but for boiling it must not be kept nearly so long or the meat will be of a bad color when cooked.

The freshness of lamb is comparatively easy to distinguish, as if fresh the neck vein will be a bright blue, the knuckles stiff, and the eyes bright and full.

Veal is at its best when the calf is from three to four months old. The meat should be of a close firm grain, white in color and the fat inclining to a pinkish tinge. Veal is sometimes coarser in the grain, and redder in the flesh, not necessarily a mark of inferiority, but denoting the fact that calf has been brought up in the open. Like all young meat, veal turns very quickly, therefore it never should hang more than two or three days. In choosing veal always examine the suet under the kidney; if this be clammy and soft, with a faint odor, the meat is not good, and always reject any that has greenish or yellowish spots about it. The head should be clean skinned and firm, the eyes full and clear, the kidneys large and well covered with fat, the liver a rich dark clear color, free from any spots or gristle, while the sweetbreads should be firm, plump, of a delicate color, and free from strings.

The flesh of pork, when in good condition, is a delicate pinky white, with a close fine grain; the fat, which should not be too abundant, of a white color, very faintly tinged with pink; the skin should be thin and elastic to the touch, and the flesh generally cool, clean, and smooth looking; if, on the contrary, the flesh is flabby and clammy when touched, it is not fresh.

Pork, like all white meat, is quick to taint, and never should be kept long before cooking. If you have the slightest doubt about pork, it is best to reject it, for unlike other meat which may be quite wholesome and usable, though not of precisely prime quality, porkmustbe in really first class condition to be wholesome, and therefore it is impossible to be too particular in the choice of it. Always if possible look at the tongue, for, as in beef, this is a very fair criterion of the condition of the animal; a freshly scraped new wooden skewer run into the meat along the bone is a good test of the freshness of the pork, and be careful especially to examine the fat, for if there be little kernels in it the pork is "measly,"a very common disease among pigs, and one particularly unwholesome to the consumer.

Pigs for fresh pork should be of medium size, not over fat, and under a year old. Pigs destined to become bacon are usually older and larger. Sucking pigs should be small, and are best when about three weeks old. A sucking pig should be cooked as soon as possible after it is killed, as it taints very quickly; unless fresh, no care in the cooking will make the crackling crisp, as it should be.

Good bacon has the lean of a bright pink and fine in the grain, while the fat is white and firm. If the lean is high colored, it probably has been over salted and is old besides, and in consequence will be hard and salty; while if there be yellow marks in the fat, and a curious, rather musty smell, it will have an unpleasant taste. In choosing a ham always run a clean knife or skewer in at the knuckle, and also at the center; if it comes out clean and smelling sweet, the ham is good; but if out of order the blade of the knife will be smeared and greasy looking, and have a disagreeable, strong odor.

The condition of venison is judged chiefly by the fat, which should be a clear creamy white color, and close in texture. Always try venison by running a sharp knife along the haunch bone, which is usually the first to turn; if, in taking it out, the knife has a blackish-green look and an unpleasant odor, the meat is tainted, and unfit for use. Venison requires to be kept a considerable time before it is in proper condition, and needs great care in its management. It must be examined carefully every day, and if there is the slightest doubt, it should be washed in lukewarm milk and water, then dried in clean cloths, and when perfectly dry, should be covered thickly all over with ground ginger and pepper; when required for use, dust off the pepper and ginger, and wash the meat in a little lukewarm water, and dry it thoroughly. Venison, like mutton, improves with age, and this can be judged by the condition of the hoof, which in a young animal has a small, smooth cleft, while in an old one it is deeply cut and rugged. The haunch is the prime joint, its perfection depending on the greater or less depth of the fat on it. The neck and shoulder also are very good. They are used chiefly for stews or pies.

A hare when fresh killed is stiff and red; when stale, the body is supple and the flesh in many parts black. If the hare be old the ears will be tough and dry, and will not tear readily. Rabbits may be judged in the same manner. In both, the claws should be smooth and sharp. In a young hare the cleft in the lip is narrow, and the claws are cracked readily if turned sideways.

Poultry to be perfect, should have just reached their full growth (the only exceptions to this are "spring chickens," ducklings, goslings, etc., which are considered delicacies at certain seasons); they should be plump, firm fleshed, and not over fatted. Over-fed fowls are often a mass of greasy fat, which melts in the cooking and spoils the flavor of the bird. A hen is at her best just before she begins to lay; her legs should be smooth, her comb small, bright, and soft. A young cock has the comb full, bright colored, and smooth, the legs smooth, the spurs short, and in both the toes should break easily when turned back, and the weight of the birds should be great in proportion to their size. Contrary to the practice with game, poultry never should be kept long, as they turn easily, and are spoilt if the least high. They also require longer cooking, in proportion to their size, than game, and never should be underdone. Dark-legged fowls are best for roasting, as their flesh is moister and better flavored cooked in this way than the white-legged ones, which from their greater daintiness of appearance are to be preferred for boiling.

Turkeysshould be plump, white-fleshed, young, the legs plump and firm, black and smooth, with (in the cock) short spurs, the feet soft and supple; the eyes should be full and clear, the neck long, and the wattles of a bright color. A hen turkey is best for boiling. Like fowls, an old turkey is fit for nothing but the stewpan or the stockpot. Turkeys require hanging for at least a week, though they must never be "high" or "gamey."

Geesealways should be chosen young, plump, and full breasted, a white skin, a yellow smooth bill, the feet yellow and pliable. If the feet and bill are red and hard, and the skin hairy and coarse, the bird is old. Geese should be hung for a few days. Ducks, like geese, should have yellow, supple feet; the breasts full and hard, and the skin clear. Wild ducks should be fat, the feet small, reddish, and pliable, the breast firm and heavy. If not fresh, there will be a disagreeable smellwhen the bill is open. The male is generally the more expensive, though the female is usually more delicate in flavor.

Pigeonsalways should be young and extremely fresh, and when so, they are plump and fat, with pliable smooth feet.

NOTE—In selecting game pluck a few feathers from the under part of the leg; if the skin is not discolored the bird is fresh. The age may be known by placing the thumb into the beak, and holding the bird up with the jaw apart; if it breaks it is young; if not, it is old, and requires longer keeping before cooking to be eatable.

Guinea-fowlare judged like poultry, but require hanging for some time.

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