Poultry

• Poultry refers to a group of domesticated fowls used as food.
• Poultry includes chicken, turkey, ducks, pigeon, and quails.
• Game - birds that are hunted and used as food
• Chicken - most consumed of all poultry.
• Chicken - is the most domesticated and easiest to raise.
• Chicken - an excellent source of protein just like meat
• Chicken has 22.6% protein, 76.3% water, and traces of fats, vitamins, and minerals.
• Dark MUscles - found in the parts which are always used
• Dark Muscles - include legs, thighs, wings, neck, and rib cage
• Dark Muscles - richer in fat, have more connective tissues, and have higher riboflavin and myoglobin content
• White Muscles - found mainly in the breast
• Most people prefer dark meat to white meat because it is tastier and juicer.
• Variety Meats - include the internal organs such as gizzard, liver, kidney, and heart.
• Parts of the Chicken

  • Heart
  • Brisket
  • Wing
  • Liver
  • Gizzard
  • Leg/Whole Leg
  • Back
  • Feet
• Steps in Slaughtering a Chicken

  1. Slaughtering and Bleeding
  2. Scalding
  3. Defeathering
  4. Evisceration
• Slaughtering - performed by slitting the jugular vein in the chicken's throat with a sharp knife; done at home and in the community
• The blood that flows from the vein after slaughtering is caught in bowl for about 2 to 3 minutes.
• A monorail moves the chicken as workers remove the feathers on the part of the neck where the slit on the jugular vein is made. The blood is caught in a large stainless receptacle immediately below the hanging chicken.
• Scalding - when bled chicken is dropped in hot water (60 C) for 30 to 60 seconds, depending on the size. The temperatue should remain constant.
• Defeathering - the removal of feathers from the body of a bird
• Defeathering - the process that includes plucking the big feathers and rubbing the body to remove tiny feathers
• Evisceration - when entrails are removed after slitting the abdominal cavity. When they are completely cleaned, they are then placed on slotted plastic boxes and transported to walk-in freezers for quick freezing.
• Market Forms of Poultry

  1. Live Poultry
  2. Whole Poultry
  3. Dressed Poultry
  4. Drawn Poultry
  5. Poultry Cuts
  6. Frozen
  7. Ready to Cook
  8. Precooked
• Live Poultry - alive, alert, healthy, well-feathered, and well-formed poultry
• Whole Poultry - poultry with all its parts intact but not alive
• Dressed Poultry - slaughtered bird that has been bled and defeathered
• Drawn Poultry - dressed poultry in which the internal organs have been removed and cleaned
• Poultry Cuts - parts of the chicken that are cut and packed then sold frozen or fresh
• Frozen - whole chicken or parts of a chicken that are packed frozen, usually found in the frozen section of the supermarket
• Ready-to-cook - chicken can be sold whole, split in halves, quartered without backbone, boned, cut to breast, etc.
• Precooked - include breaded chicken nuggets, breaded chicken fillet, chicken roll, chicken kiev and relleno
• Classes of Poultry

  1. Broiler
  2. Roaster
  3. Capon
  4. Stewing Chicken
  5. Stag
  6. Rooster
  7. Jumbo Broiler
• Broiler - called fryer; 9 to 12 weeks of age, usually has tender meat, flexible bone cartilage, and soft, smooth, pliable skin
• Roaster - chicken 3 to 5 months of age, has tender meat, soft, smooth, pliable skin, and flexible bone cartilage
• Capon - a male chicken that has been surgical desexed under eight months old
• Desexed - cutting of chicken's reproductive organ
• Stewing Chicken - a mature female chicken more than 10 months old, less tender, and has hard breastbone tip
• Stag - male chicken under 10 months old, has tough, dark flesh, a hard breastbone and cartilage, and coarse skin
• Rooster - known as cock
• Rooster - mature male chicken that has tough and dark meat, a hard breastbone tip, and coarse skin