On Thu, 9 Mar 2000 13:52:44 +1000 Barbara Sheppard <[log in to unmask]>
writes:

> One thing that tends to happen is that the legs end up sticking out
> - not nicely tucked in to the body like the ones on bought chickens. Is

> there a way of dealing with this? I assume it's a matter of putting
them in
> place before rigor mortis sets in, but this would require very fast
work,
> wouldn't it?

Ardeith writes:
A dead think will experience rigor mortis then enter
a relaxed condition......then you can neatly fold the
legs where you want them.....or you could just cut
the chicken into legs, thighs, wings, and breasts
as the final step of preparing it......I remember Mama
tying the feet together and laying the chicken's head
between two big nails she had driven into a stump....
the nails held the head, she stretched out the neck
and chopped it with her hatchet.....then she hung
the chicken by the tied feet to bleed out .....she
would do half a dozen chickens at a time.....and
when she went to dunk them in the steaming water
they would sometimes be stiffened.......When I
raised chickens and ducks, I did it the same way....
usually by the time I had the bird plucked and
cleaned it had relaxed again......rigor doesn't
last all that long...........

Barbara wrote:
 Are you implying that this is an edible part? I thought that the
gizzards(I assume this means the intestines and associated bits, but not
organs like heart and liver) would just be thrown away.

Ardeith writes:
Chicken insides....or innerds......include the intestines,
heart, liver, gizzard, lungs, kidneys....and probably
some I've missed..........the heart, liver, and gizzard
are what's included when you buy chicken from a
store......and you will find the kidneys tucked into
the hollows of the backbone piece.    The gizzard
is a tough hunk of muscle that contains grit to
grind the chicken's food......I think the food then
passes into the intestinal tract for digestion, but
I'm not sure about this part........the gizzard is
split, emptied, the lining pulled out.....and it is
ready to cook......the lungs are pink spongy
bits that my cats loved...........btw, mullet....
a sort of fish we have in Florida, eats plants
in the sea and has a gizzard to grind them
..........some mullet fishermen clean the gizzards
and cook them..........................

Good luck.....
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