To Bone a Bird, Fowl or Turkey
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the bird
The skin should be firm and unbroken, and the bird should not be drawn.
Remove the head, wash and singe.
Remove the tendons from the legs as directed.
Loosen the skin around the end of the drumsticks.
Use a small pointed knife; a regular boning knife is the best.
Cut the skin down the full length of the back.
Scrape the meat away from the bone, beginning at the neck, until you feel the shoulder blade.
Loosen the flesh from the shoulder blade.
Follow the bone to the wing joint and to the middle joint in the wing.
Take care to avoid cutting through the skin at these places, as the skin is very near the bone.
Leave the first bone in the wing.
Remove the flesh from the breast.
Do not cut through the skin at the ridge or through the membrane into the inside.
Remove the flesh around the second joint, then the drumstick, turning the flesh wrong side out.
Turn the bird and do the same on the other side.
When the meat is free from the carcass, lay the bird on a board, skin side down.
Stuff and truss
Place the flesh in place and sprinkle it with salt and pepper.
Stuff out the legs and wings with the forcemeat and fill the bird with it.
Draw the skin up and sew it together.
Turn it over and skewer and tie the legs and wings in position of a trussed fowl.
Press and tie the body into natural shape, dredge with flour, salt and pepper.
Cover with several slices of salt pork.
Roast and make gravy
Roast, allowing twenty-five minutes to a pound.
Baste frequently.
Make a gravy using six tablespoonfuls of the drippings in the pan, one of flour and a cup of cream or white stock.
Season.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures. See the original page.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Turkey (in the method)
- Forms the main body of the dish; the boned meat is rolled around the stuffing.
- Cream
- Adds richness and body to the gravy, softening its texture.
- Flour (in the method)
- Thickens the drippings into a smooth gravy and helps the dredged skin brown.
- Salt pork (in the method)
- Lays over the bird to add fat and savoury flavour as it roasts.
The step that matters
Avoid cutting through the skin while boning. The skin lies very close to the bone and is the outer wrapper that holds the stuffed bird together. A torn skin lets the stuffing and juices escape during roasting, so cut with a small pointed knife and work slowly near the joints.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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