FRIED SPRING CHICKEN

After cleaning and preparing the chickens, season and fry as though for serving directly on the table.  Cook until the meat is about three-fourths done.  If a whole spring chicken, break the neck and both legs and fold around body of chicken.  Roll up tight, tie a string around the chicken and drop this hot, partially fried product into sanitary tin cans or glass jars.  A quart tin can (No. 3) will hold two to four small chickens.  Pour liquid from the griddle or frying pan into the can over the chicken.  Proceed, as in any other canning, with the sealing, sterilizing and removing of the jars.  Chicken fries canned in the late fall preserve the meat at the most delicious stage and furthermore we avoid the expense of feeding the chickens throughout the winter.

HOW TO CAN COCKERELS

When cockerels reach the point in their growth where it is no longer profitable to feed them, and when they are wanted for home use during the winter months they should be canned.  This method of handling the cockerel not only saves money by cutting down the feed bill, but it places in the pantry or cellar the means of a delicious chicken dinner at a time of the year when the price of poultry is high.

The bird should not be fed for at least twenty-four hours before killing.  It should be killed by the approved method and picked dry.  When the feathers have been removed and the pin feathers drawn the bird should be cooled rapidly.  This rapid cooling after killing is essential to a good flavor in canned meat.  As soon as the bird has been properly cooled it should be singed and washed carefully with a brush.

CUTTING UP AND DRAWING CHICKENS

Mr. George Farrell, a most expert canner, tells us how to go about this job of canning chicken.

In preparing the bird for canning, care should be taken in drawing it so that the contents of the digestive tract do not come in contact with the meat.

1.  Remove the tops of the wings, cutting at the first joint.

2.  Remove the wings.

3.  Remove the foot, cutting at the knee joint.

4.  Remove the leg, cutting at the hip or saddle joint.

5.  Cut the removed portion of the leg into two parts at the joint.

6.  Place the bird so the back of the head is toward the operator, cut through the neck bone with a sharp knife but do not cut the windpipe or gullet.

7.  With the index finger separate the gullet and windpipe from the skin of the neck.

8.  Cut through the skin of the neck.

9.  With a pointed knife cut through the skin from the upper part of the neck, thus separated, to the wing.

10.  Leave the head attached to the gullet and windpipe and loosen these from the neck down as far as the crop.