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Poultry |
Gioacchino Rossini confessed he had cried
three times in his life:
"From the first moment this breed can be believed a
variety of the Leghorn breed. In fact the Ancona breed is
a Mediterranean hen too and it is believed
from the province
of Ancona
Head of moderated, nearly round length. Spout not too
much long and a little curved, round and not too large eyes; straight simple crest with five very
detached tips, wide
at the base. Long, round and smooth wattles;
large white and not too large and
smooth ears; large wings, wide tail with the main plumage at 45 degrees, large long and
curved falcette, the small rettrici
very abundant. Yellow feet, legs and long tarsi.
The time of baking of the chicken depends
either from the age or the breeding method, however it is white meat therefore
demanding a complete baking. In a generalized manner for a1.2 Kg. of gross weight
chicken (for 3-4 persons) of good breeding, the medium time of baking is of approximately 1 hour
if roasted, a little less if bubbled. 
For a true courtyard chiken calculate an advanced time of 30%.
For a
2 Kg chicken it is demanded 1 hour and 3/4 for the roast, a little less if
bubbled. In
general the baking point can be judged tilting the chicken and from
the opening an uncolored liquid without rose trace must exit.
Either for the entire
chicken or for that one into pieces the baking degree is controlable with a needle that must penetrate without
meeting any resistance and from the hole some drop of uncolored liquid must exit.
The term chicken is the generic name given
either to the male or to the female of the species " Gallus gallus ".
The reproducing male is more properly called Rooster, the female hen . For the
courtyard chicken, raised therefore in freedom according to the traditional
method, one refers
to a terminology still used in the traditional recipe books that previews the term
cockerel, until 3-4 months and a weight of 600 g., grain chicken, until 1 year and 1 Kg. of
weight,
chicken
or spring-chicken, until maturity and a weight of
about 1.5 Kg.. The young male of approximately
6 months is called young cock, "ruspante" rooster
the one to the maximum of 10 months otherwise it turns out very hard
to eat. The hen is the specimen for eggs, pulled down too at the end its
activity,
very hard but excellent meat, for its fat meat, in order to make an optimal
broth.
There is then the pullet that is a young female fattened until 1.8 Kg. in relative constriction with
a particular feeding from which some delicate meats are obtained, the capon (typical in
Christmas period) is a castrated male reaching 2.5 Kg. and more with fat meats of
a particular fineness. By piece they are all chickens except the young cocks,
that are killed
as soon as their meat is formed at a weight of approximately 350-400 g.
Historically the name chicken derives from the Latin "pullus " that is young
animal, its history
begins
from 4000 a.C. in the flat land of the Hindu and reaches Greece through the Persia. The animal
seemed to be appreciated and diffused for its egg production more than of its
gastronomic qualities. Another theory said it is arrived in the West as fighting animal
(just from the V century a.C. has been documented in such sense in
India). It is
sure that if the Latins used chicken for alimentary aim and young roosters for their
sacrifices, the summits
of Roman gastronomy were reserved to more exotic and spectacular animals such as the peacocks and the
guinea-hen. In the Middle Ages
it was resumed the taste for the magnificent birds, whose plumage, after baking,
were put on the animal again so that it seemed alive. The capon and the pullet were preferred
to the chicken. Only in the XVII century the fortune of chiken as food begins, becoming a
symbol of bourgeois comfort conquering therefore the summits of gastronomy.
In Italy today it does not exist the division in categories and marks of qualities that instead are legally recognized in France.The hanging of a chicken as soon as killed, soon emptied, must last from 2 to 4 days according to the weight. A good quality chicken, of breeding too, must have: firm and elastic meat, not flabby to the touch; the chest bones flexible only in the inferior part, the other ones rigid; the skin not humid or sticky; the joints not red. Moreover it is necessary to pay attention to the elasticity of the chest bones that must be nearly null, to the spurs, that must be lightly pointed out (but however existing), to the inferior part of the legs that must be moderately rough and with a little spoilt nails. The courtyard plucked chicken has then a good quantity of fat distributed very uniformily, not into specks, until on legs; the support of the tail must be white or just rose, with a fat vein that must be found on the great part of the back, otherwise they are not well raised or old animals. An aged rooster is practically uneatable (the recipes in which the rooster figures, refer to the young animal).
