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MAIN CUTS OF POULTRY


HOW TO IDENTIFY POULTRY

gallonero anconetano.jpg (57905 byte)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.

Machinery built by Latini Jesi at the beginning of 1900
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Battery stockbreeder  Coal "invincible"stockbreeder   White flame "invincible" stockbreeder   Turkey(hen)cage stockbreeder

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"Invincible" Incubator  Mincing machine "Invincible" Incubator  Fodder-cutter

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. venditricegalli.jpg (76013 byte)
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
gallina anconetana.jpg (79558 byte) 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 instampagallo2.jpg (611551 byte) 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).

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