breastbone with cleaver. Wipe pieces, excepting back, with cheese-cloth wrung out of cold water. Back piece needs thorough washing.
To Clean Giblets. Remove thin membrane, arteries, veins, and clotted blood around heart. Separate gall bladder from liver, cutting off any of liver that may have a greenish tinge. Cut fat and membranes from gizzard. Make a gash through thickest part of gizzard, and cut as far as inner lining, being careful not to pierce it. Remove the inner sack and discard. Wash giblets and cook until tender, with neck and tips of wings, putting them in cold water and heating water quickly that some of the flavor may be drawn out into stock, which is to be used for making gravy.
To Stuff Poultry. Put stuffing by spoonfuls in neck end, using enough to sufficiently fill the skin, that bird may look plump when served. Where cracker stuffing is used, allowance must be made for the swelling of crackers, otherwise skin may burst during cooking. Put remaining stuffing in body; if the body is full, sew skin; if not full, bring skin together with a skewer.
To Truss Fowl. Draw thighs close to body and hold by inserting a steel skewer under middle joint running it through body, coming out under middle joint on other side. Cut piece three-fourths inch wide from neck skin, and with it fasten legs together at ends; or cross drumsticks, tie securely with a long string, and fasten to tail. Place wings close to body and hold them by inserting a second skewer through wing, body, and wing on opposite side. Draw neck skin under back and fasten with a small wooden skewer. Turn bird on its breast. Cross string attached to tail piece and draw it around each end of lower skewer; again cross string and draw around each end of upper skewer; fasten string in a knot and cut off ends. In birds that are not stuffed legs are often passed through incisions cut in body under bones near tail.
To Dress Birds for Broiling. Singe, wipe, and with a sharp-pointed knife, beginning at back of neck, make a cut through backbone the entire length of bird. Lay open the bird and remove contents from inside. Cut out rib bones
