Farming for Self-Sufficiency

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Singe the bird and hang it up by its legs in the meat safe (away from the flies).

Next day take the plucked bird, cut round its knees and haul its legs off, lay it on its tummy on the bench, stick a knife right through the flesh on the back of its neck above the spine and move the knife towards the head, taking it right out before getting to the head. This leaves a flap of skin and flesh with which to cover the neck-hole when you stuff the bird.

Take a pair of secateurs and snip the spine as near to the body as you can get. As you have already broken the spine near the head the neck will now come out. Put it in the giblet bowl.

Cut off the head and put it in the pig bucket.

Insert your finger in the neck-hole and describe a circle with your finger breaking away all the ligaments or whatever they are by which the innards of the bird are anchored to the neck flesh. In other words insert your finger, bend it, and revolve the bird through 360 degrees. You will feel the ligaments breaking.

Carefully cut right round the arse-hole so as not to pierce the rectum, and start extracting the guts. Remove the soft fat that clings to the intestines and drop the latter in the pig bucket. I always make a cut each side of the hole I have got after this to enlarge it so that I can get my whole hand in. Put your hand in, keeping the back of it hard up against the inside of the back of the bird, and haul out all the machinery. Cut off the gall bladder and keep the liver in the giblets. Take the gizzard and cut half round it with a knife-but only severing the first layer. Pull that layer off—leaving a yellow bag full of grit. Throw the grit bag away and keep the outside as a giblet. Giblet soup. Legs too.

Make sure you get the lungs out (they are tiny) and the crop. The latter is right up in the neck end. These go in the pig bucket.

Wipe, the inside with a clean, warm, moist cloth. Truss your bird in any fancy way you have. If it is young, stuff it and roast it. If it is old, boil it

Ducks serve the same. Ducks are prime to eat at exactly 10 weeks, no more, no less.

Geese and turkeys are too large and tough to break their necks as I have described for chickens. Hold your bird by its legs also holding its wing-tips in your hands so it can't flap. Lower its head towards the ground. It will automatically lift its head, making an angle of its neck. Get your wife to lay a broom-stick over its neck. Stand on the broom-stick with one foot each side of the bird's neck and pull the legs upwards. Suddenly you will feel the spine in the neck snap. Don't pull the head off.

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