Page:The Boston cooking-school cook book (1910).djvu/293

 They are recognized by the presence of head, tail, and wing feathers.

Turkeys are found in market throughout the year, but are best during the winter months. Tame ducks and geese are very indigestible on account of the large quantity of fat they contain. Goose meat is thoroughly infiltrated with fat, containing sometimes forty to forty-five per cent. Pigeons, being old birds, need long, slow cooking to make them tender. Squabs (young pigeons) make a delicious tidbit for the convalescent, and are often the first meat allowed a patient by the physician.

The flesh of game, with the exception of wild duck and wild geese, is tender, contains less fat than poultry, is of fine though strong flavor, and easy of digestion. Game meat is usually of dark color, partridge and quail being exceptions, and is usually cooked rare. Venison, the flesh of deer, is short-fibred, dark-colored, highly savored, tender, and easy of digestion; being highly savored, it often disagrees with those of weak digestion.

Geese are in market throughout the year; Massachusetts and Rhode Island furnishing specially good ones. A goose twelve weeks old is known as a green goose. They may be found in market from May to September. Young geese which appear in market September first and continue through December are called goslings. They have been hatched during May and June, and then fatted for market.

Young ducks, found in market about March first, are called ducklings. Canvasback Ducks have gained a fine reputation throughout the country, and are found in market from the last of November until March. Redhead Ducks are in season two weeks earlier, and are about as good eating as Canvasback Ducks, and much less in price. The distinctive flavor of both is due to the wild celery on which they feed. Many other kinds of ducks are found in market during the fall and winter. Examples: Widgeon, Mallard, Lake Erie Teal, Black Ducks, and Butterballs.

Fresh quail are in market from October fifteenth to January first, the law forbidding their being killed at any other time in the year. The same is true of partridge, but both