occupant,
useless for egg-laying purposes, has, by some unlucky mischance, been
introduced info the kitchen as a "fine young chicken." Skill, however,
and the application of a small amount of strength, combined with a fine
keeping of the temper, will even get over that difficulty. Fixing the
fork firmly in the breast, let the knife be sharply passed along the
line shown from 1 to 2; then cut downwards from that line to fig. 3; and
the wing, it will be found, can be easily withdrawn. The shape of the
wing should be like the accompanying engraving. Let the fork be placed
inside the leg, which should be gently forced away from the body of the
fowl; and the joint, being thus discovered, the carver can readily cut
through it, and the leg can be served. When the leg is displaced, it
should be of the same shape as that shown in the annexed woodcut. The
legs and wings on either side having been taken off, the carver should
draw his knife through the flesh in the direction of the line 4 to 5: by
this means the knife can be slipped underneath the merrythought, which,
being lifted up and pressed backward, will immediately come off. The
collar--or neck-bones are the next to consider: these lie on each side
of the merrythought, close under the upper part of the wings; and, in
order to free these from the fowl, they must also be raised by the knife
at their broad end, and turned from the body towards the breastbone,
until the shorter piece of the bone, as shown in the cut, breaks off.
There will now be left only the breast, with the ribs. The breast can
be, without difficulty, disengaged from the ribs by cutting through the
latter, which will offer little impediment. The side-bones are now to be
taken off; and to do this, the lower end of the back should be turned
from the carver, who should press the point of the knife through the top
of the backbone, near the centre, bringing it down towards the end of
the back completely through the bone. If the knife is now turned in the
opposite direction, the joint will be easily separated from the
vertebra. The backbone being now uppermost, the fork should be pressed
firmly down on it, whilst at the same time the knife should be employed
in raising up the lower small end of the fowl towards the fork, and thus
the back will be dislocated about its middle. The wings, breast, and
merrythought are esteemed the prime parts of a fowl, and are usually
served to the ladies of the company, to whom legs,