PREPARE

POULTRY AND
GAME DISHES
Learning
Outcome 1
Perform Mise’en
Place
Selecting and Purchasing
Poultry and Game
Poultry refers to several kinds of
fowl that are used as food and the
term includes chicken, turkey, duck,
pigeon, and quail. These are usually
domesticated raised mainly for
meat and/or eggs.
Classification
of Poultry
and Games
Chickens and other
poultry may be divided
into classes which are
essentially of the same
physical characteristics
associated with age, sex,
live weight and/or breed.
1. Broiler or Fryer. A broiler or
fryer is young chicken, usually 9
to 12 weeks of age, of either sex,
is tender-meat with soft, pliable,
smooth-textured skin.
2. Roaster. A roaster is usually 5
to 6 months of age.
3. Capon. A capon is a surgically
desexed male chicken usually
under 8 months of age.
4. Stag. A stag is a male chicken,
usually under 10 months of age,
with coarse skin, with somewhat
toughened and darkened flesh.
5. Hen or Stewing Chicken. It is a
mature female chicken which is
usually more than 10 months of
age. It can also be a culled layer.
6. Cock or Rooster. It is a mature
male chicken with coarse skin,
toughened and darkened meat
and hardened breastbone tip.
7. Jumbo Broiler. This is
a large chicken about 4
kg. dressed weight
which are on sale
especially during the
Christmas holiday.
Other Poultry
1. Peking duck. This is a breed of duck
that originated from China and is noted
for its tender and flavorful meat.
2. Duck or Itik is available and popular in
many towns of Rizal as fried itik.
3. Squab. This is a young immature
pigeon of either sex and has extra tender
meat.
Selecting Good
Quality Poultry
and Game
1. Live Poultry
a. It has clear eyes.
b. A young chicken has fine and soft
feet. If it is old, the feet are thick and
scaly.
c. The bone at the tip of the breast is
soft in younger chicken and thick in
older one.
d. Small feathers indicate that the
chicken is young.
2. Whole Poultry. These are slaughtered
birds that have been bled and de-
feathered.
a. Their head, feet and viscera are still
intact.
b. They are clean, well fleshed.
c. They have moderate fat coverings.
d. They are free from pin feathers and
show no cuts, scars or missing skin.
3. Dressed Poultry. These are
slaughtered birds that have been bled,
de-feathered, and the visceral organs
are removed.
a. The skin is smooth and yellow in color
b. The breast is plump
c. The thighs are well-developed
d. It has no objectionable odor
e. It is heavy and the skin is not watery
4. Ready-to-Cook. The dressed birds may be
cut up and marinated or seasoned.
5. Poultry Parts. Several pieces of a single
poultry part are usually packed in one carton,
wrapped and chilled or frozen. The various
poultry parts are divided into any of the
following:
a. dark meat – drumsticks, thighs, wings,
neck, backs, and rib cage
b. white meat – breasts
c. giblets – gizzard and heart
Nutritional
Value/Components
of Poultry and
Game
Like meat, poultry contains
high quality proteins.
Chicken, the most consumed
among the fowls, has 22.6%
protein, 76.3% water and
traces of fat, vitamins and
minerals.
Poultry meat consists of dark
and white muscles. Dark
muscles are those found in
parts of fowl‘s body which are
always used. These are the
legs, thigh, wings, neck and
rib cage.
Variety meats refer to
the meat of such organs
as the gizzard, heart,
kidneys and liver.
Preparation of poultry for
cooking
 Slaughter and bleeding
Scaldding
Defeathering
Evisceration
Deboning
Market forms
of poultry
Live poultry
Live poultry should be healthy,
alert, and well-feathered. Avoid
poultry which have bruises, blisters
and broken bones.
Whole poultry
Though not alive, the criteria for
selecting live poultry also apply to
whole poultry.
Dressed poultry
This is the most available poultry
form in the market. Dressed poultry
are actually slaughtered poultry
with the head, feet, blood, feathers
and internal organs removed. Good
quality dressed poultry should be
free from slime, off-odors and
discoloration.
Drawn poultry
These are dressed poultry that have been
chilled or frozen. They are usually
available in groceries.
Ready-to cook
These are poultry parts such as wings,
breast, thighs, or drumsticks which have
been separately packed in a single
container and frozen or chilled.
Different Cuts of Poultry
Cook Poultry and
Game Dishes
Principles of Poultry Cookery
1. The fat distribution and maturity of the
fowl affect the quality of the product. Mature
birds are best cooked using moist heat. Dry
heat is suitable for young birds.
2. The best cooking temperature for poultry is
at low to moderate heat. This temperature
range produces a more flavorful and tender
product. This also minimizes nutrient loss and
shrinkage of meat.
3. To prevent the risk of microbial
contamination, stuffing of turkey and
chickens should be done immediately before
roasting. It is best not to fill the cavity
completely as this will prevent the poultry
from being thoroughly cooked.
4. Because of its susceptibility to microbial
growth, cooked poultry should be eaten
immediately or refrigerated if not consumed.
Leftover stuffing should be stored separately
to prevent contamination.
5. Because poultry meat is pale-colored,
it is best to employ dry heat cooking
with fat for a brown color.
6. When roasting chicken, cuts should
be placed with the breast-side down to
produce a juicier and tenderer product.
7. To improve the palatability of lean
poultry meat, basting can be done.
Plate/Present
Poultry and
Game Dishes
Portion Control for Cooked Poultry
and Game
Chicken
Meat shrinks about 25% when
cooked. A quarter-pound hamburger
(4 oz.) will actually yield a 3 ounce
portion after cooking. An 8 ounce
steak will yield about 6 ounces of
cooked meat.
 A chicken breast is generally 3 - 4
ounces.
 A chicken thigh is usually 2
ounces, while a leg is 1 - 2 ounces.
Chicken wings are high in fat. It
takes 2 wings to equal a 1 ounce
choice (or exchange) with that.
How to Do Control Portion Sizes –
Portion Control Secrets
It‘s not always what you
eat, but how much you
eat - It‘s the size of your
servings that really
counts!
Most of us tend to underestimate
the amount of food we eat and
tend to overestimate the
recommended portion sizes for
many foods. Almost everyone
underestimates the amount of
calories they consume, and people
who weigh more do so, to a
greater degree.
Portion: A ―portion‖ is how much food
you choose to eat at one time
(breakfast, lunch, dinner, or snack),
whether in a restaurant, from a package,
or in your own kitchen. Portions can be
bigger or smaller than the
recommended food servings. There is
no standard portion size and no single
right or wrong portion size.
Serving: A ―serving‖ size is the amount of
food listed (and recommended) on a
product‘s Nutrition Facts (panel of packaged
food) or the amount of food recommended
in the Food Guide Pyramid and the Dietary
Guidelines* for Americans. Sometimes, the
portion size and serving size match;
sometimes they do not. A serving is a
standard amount used to help give advice
about how much to eat, or to identify how
many calories and nutrients are in a food.
How to Control Portion Sizes:

Eating smaller portions of food is

one of the easiest ways to cut
back on calories—but it can also
be one of the most challenging,
with the current trend of super-
sizing.
Factors to consider in
presenting/plating poultry
dishes
Types of service wares
 Plating
Garnishing
Sauces
Accompaniments
Plating/
Presenting
Poultry Dishes
The way food is presented affects a person‘s
perception of how it will taste.

The perfect dish includes food that

tastes as good as it looks.

Much of the artistry of cooking comes after

the food has been cooked and it is time to
transfer it from pot to plate.
Plating the
Food
Plating is the act of arranging the
meal on the individual plate
immediately before it‘s served.
Presentation should look
natural
It should feel as though everything
that is on the plate is meant to be
exactly where it is.
After you have put the food
on the plate, check to see that
the plate is clean. Plate edges
should be especially
immaculate. Clean spills or
sauces away with a moistened
clean sponge or paper towel.
Decorate the Frame
If the food is the masterpiece, then
the plate is its frame

Adapt artistic framing strategies

to your cooking for a quick way to
improve your food‘s
presentation. Buy beautiful bowls
and plates in a variety of shapes
and colors.
You can also decorate the rim of a
plate, just as you‘d decorate a frame.
Use culinary elements like colorful
spices or confectioner‘s sugar
For small appetizers, part of the presentation
is making the display platter look beautiful.
Make a bed of uncooked soba noodles or flat
rice sticks, shafts of wheat, or large sprigs of
fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme. This is
also a good trick to use if you are preparing a
hors d‘oeuvre platter
If you‘re decorating a plate that
will hold hot food, be aware that
by the time you‘re finished
garnishing the plate, the food may
not be hot. In some cases, you can
garnish the plate before you plate
the food. If this is impossible, work
quickly and have all of your
garnishes close by
Mix Shapes, Colors and Textures
Food is naturally beautiful.
Combine foods with different
shapes, colors and textures on the
same plate.

Try to integrate a variety of

shapes in each dish
Garnishes
Garnishes can be as simple or intricate
as you like. For a twist on the
traditional parsley sprig, use a sprig or
two of an herb or spice that was used
in the dish. A ham flavored with
rosemary might feature a sprig of
rosemary on each plate. Spicy pad
Thai can include a wedge of lemon or
lime and a dash of paprika sprinkled
around the plate.
You can also garnish with small fans of fruits
and vegetables like cucumber, pineapple,
avocado, citrus, kiwi or apple. Slice the fruit
or vegetable into thin rounds, leaving ¼‖ of
flesh connected on one side to hold the
rounds together. Gently spread out the slices
and arrange them neatly in an arc. Several
kitchen tools are available that will help you
transform nearly any fruit into an attractive
garnish for a plate
Store Poultry and Game Bird
Techniques in Storing Poultry
Poultry may be frozen whole, in
halves, cut into pieces, or parts
after they are dressed. Parts can be
packed separately, ready to cook, or
for easy meal preparation and
thawing.
Handling and Storage of Poultry
Poultry spoils very quickly unless it is properly
handled and stored. After being brought home
from the market, it should be unwrapped as quickly
as possible and wiped off with a damp cloth. Then
it should be lightly covered with waxed paper,
placed in shallow utensils and stored in a cold part
of the refrigerator near the freezing unit or ice.
Cooked poultry should be cooled as quickly as
possible, covered to prevent drying and
refrigerated. Removing the bones saves space.
Frozen poultry must be kept in the freezing unit
until it is thawed for cooking.
Freezing and Thawing Poultry
To prepare poultry properly for freezing, it
should be wrapped tightly in a moisture-
vapor proof film, foil or paper and then
frozen at -170oC (0oF) or lower. Although
there are no abrupt changes in quality
during the first few months of poultry
storage, it has always been a good practice
to use these chickens first which have been
in storage longest and those with torn
wrapper.
It is not recommended to refreeze
poultry after it has been thawed.
Freezing and thawing release fluids
called drip and the chances of
bacterial spoilage are increased.
Water holding capacity of meat is
also affected by subsequent
thawing
When thawing, it is advisable to thaw slowly
inside the refrigerator to give tissues a better
chance to rehydrate. Immediately cook the
thawed meat since bacterial growth is rapid upon
thawing. Slow thawing may be effected by placing
the 1 to 2 kg. chicken in the refrigerator for 12 to
24 hours or to place it under running tap water
for ½ to 1 hour, in their original wrap In both
cases. However, frozen poultry or any other
market forms of poultry should not be allowed to
thaw or soak in a bowl of water because of
possible bacterial build.
Safety Practices in Handling and
Storing Poultry and Game Products
How to Handle Chicken Safely
Raw chicken and poultry can carry the
salmonella bacteria, which is responsible
for more cases of food poisoning than any
other pathogen. Fortunately, it's easy to
avoid getting sick from chicken and poultry,
as long as you follow safe food handling
practices.
Safe Shopping for Chicken and Poultry
During distribution to retail stores,
fresh chicken is kept cold in order to
extend its shelf life as well as to prevent
bacteria growth. Packages of chicken
should feel cold to the touch, and
should be among the last items you
select before checking out. Packages of
chicken should be wrapped in plastic
bags to prevent leakage onto other
items in your grocery cart.
Once you're home, you should
immediately place your chicken in
a refrigerator that maintains a
temperature of 40°F or colder, and
use it within 2 days. Otherwise, it
should be frozen at 0°F.
Safe Handling of Chicken and Poultry
And remember, freezing doesn't
kill bacteria, either — it just
makes them cold. The only way
to kill food-borne pathogens is by
thoroughly cooking the food
Fresh vs. Frozen Chicken and Poultry
If the label on a raw poultry product bears the
term "fresh," that indicates that it has never
been colder than 26°F. Poultry that has at any
time been kept at 0°F or colder must have a
label indicating that it is "frozen" or "previously
frozen," whatever the case may be.
Interestingly, poultry that has been kept at
temperatures colder than 26°F but warmer
than 0°F can be labeled neither fresh nor
frozen.
Basics for Handling Food Safely
1. Shopping
2. Storage
3. Preparation
4. Thawing
5. Cooking
6. Serving
7. Leftovers
8. Refreezing