COOKING POULTRY

AND GAME BIRDS

Prepared by:
maria magdaline a. bolaÑos

Before eating any poultry and game birds dishes, it should be well cooked first because if not, it
might contain some, or if possible, many microorganisms that could harm our health and lead us
into sickness or various food-borne illness. Moreover, if these foods are well cooked, we can
enjoy eating it without any second thought like if it is good or bad for our health and we can
surely get the nutrients that these foods contains.

COOKING METHODS
Cooking always requires the transfer of heat from a heat source to the food being cooked. It also
applies on cooking poultry and game birds. All cooking methods can be divided into one of two
categories: moist-heat or dry-heat methods. Understanding how each process works will help
you determine which cooking method is most appropriate for the results you are trying to
achieve.

MOIST-HEAT METHOD

In this kind of cooking technique, liquid or steam is used to cook the food. Flavored liquids, such
as broth or wine, can be used as the heat transfer medium and will also add flavor during the
cooking process. Leftover liquids from the cooking process can also be used to make sauce
or stock.

POACHING

It is a gentler and shorter cooking for meats and even for poultry and game birds that are already
tender. Poaching is partially or fully submerging food into water or another liquid that has reached
60 and 82 degrees Celsius or 140 and 180 in degrees Fahrenheit. Water at this temperature is
hotter than scalding but is not vigorously bubbling like boiling water. This allows for delicate
foods to be cooked without being disrupted or damaged. Poaching is often used with eggs and
fish, both of which would break apart if exposed to rapidly boiling water. This kind of method can
also be used in preparing poultry and game bird dishes with different cuts. To poach every part of
it, we should follow the basic steps so that we will achieve the presentation and taste that we
want.

Basic steps:

 Place the meat in one layer at the bottom of a pot or pan

 Pour the poaching liquid over the meat, covering it by at least an inch
 Bring a liquid to a boil, and then reduce the heat to low so that the liquid is barely
simmering
 Cover the pot or pan and cook for about 10 minutes
 Turn off the heat and leave the meat to finish cooking for 10 to 15 more minutes.

SIMMERING

Simmering liquids are about 180 and 205 degrees Fahrenheit, and not vigorously bubbling
like boiling water. It is like poaching that involves slowly and gently cooking food in a liquid
though at a slightly higher temperature. Simmering liquid has gentle bubbles that rise swiftly from
the bottom of the pot. Simmering is a more gentle cooking method than boiling and is often used
for long and slow cooking processes because there is less evaporation than with boiling. The only
disadvantage of it is, it is like boiling which can lead to loss of some nutrients that might go into
water when you simmer the food or specifically, the poultry and game birds dishes.
BOILING

At sea level, water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit. Boiling water has large, vigorous bubbles,
which can disrupt or damage delicate foods. Because of the high heat involved, boiling is usually
a relatively quick cooking method but it causes also the poultry and game birds to lost most of the
nutrients they contain. This kind of technique is usually use when you want to make the meat at
its most tender state and in a fastest way. There’s a big difference between poaching and boiling.
In poaching, it involves gently and slowly cooking, while in boiling, the liquid must be in its
highest possible temperature and the bubbles break through.

STEAMING

Steaming involves the transfer of heat through vaporized water or other liquids. This is by far the
most gentle moist-heat cooking method. Because food is not allowed to steep in the hot water,
steamed food retains more nutrients than food that is boiled or simmered. Pressure cookers utilize
steam and pressure to increase the cooking temperature above the boiling point of water.
Steaming involves cooking food over a liquid that is heated to a temperature high enough to
generate steam. Specially made steamers have holes in the bottom and sides that enable the cook
to lift the food out of the water in the bottom of the pan just like what we have studied in the past
lesson. The lid of the pan traps the steam, creating a hot, moist environment, which cooks the
food. Steaming is ideal not only for delicate foods like steamed breads, it also maintains the
nutrition of meats, which can lose vitamins to the water in which they are cooked.

DRY-HEAT METHOD

Involve the circulation of hot air or direct contact to fat to transfer heat. Most often, this
promotes the caramelization of surface sugars in foods. Common dry-heat cooking methods
include: pan frying, searing, roasting, sauteing, sweating, stir-frying, shallow- and deep-frying,
grilling, broiling, baking and rotisserie cooking. It is very unlike the moist-heat method that uses
liquid, dry-heat method don’t use any of that, instead it is uses the techniques that usually
involves cooking food at temperature of 150 degree Celsius or hotter than that.

ROASTING AND BAKING

These two are just the same, but most chefs preferred to use the term roasting especially when
cooking a whole bird, while use the term baking when they were cooking cuts or part of a birds.
Roasting and baking uses the air, or convection, to transfer heat to an ingredient. Your oven
provides this cooking method, and is used because of its highly-accurate temperatures and ability
to cook evenly for longer controlled periods. Large items are usually cooked, or items requiring
even cooking. The browning it provides is a desired effect of roasting, and enhances the flavors
of most foods. NOTE: base on my research, using a convection oven is a bit different than a
conventional oven. A convection oven uses a fan to move the hot air around, promoting more
even cooking and causing the product to be cooked faster.

BROILING

The difference between roasting-baking and broiling is that, in broiling the temperature used was
higher than roasting-baking. It is about 288 degrees Celsius or 550 degrees Fahrenheit. Broiling
is similar and almost reverse to Grilling in that is uses radiant heat from an overheat source.
Broiled foods are placed on a preheated metal grate and the heat above cooks the meat while the
grill below marks it.

GRILLING

Grilling is the favorite past-time of many men around the world and they all love to cook a nice
ribeye or t-bone. During Christmas or any special occasions, I think that most of us always
grilled some fishes, meats and etc. this dry-heat method is desired for the flavor that is imparted
from the rapid convection cooking. It is ideal for smaller cuts of meats and grilling requires an
advanced and experienced cook to ensure proper cooking and the ability to not burn the product
while producing perfect rarity on a consistent basis. Professional cooks and chefs use a cast iron
grilling surface to do their grilling which provides that deep, noticeable grill-marking. It is much
harder to do this with the coated stainless steel grill surface that comes with most barbeques
today. If you are in the market for a good grill, look for one with a quality cast-iron grilling
surface as that will indicate whether or not you’re buying quality or if you’re just buying brand
and gimmicks.

PAN-FRYING

Base on my research, pan-frying involves cooking an ingredient in a frying pan at a medium-

high heat. Think the “6-7” indicator on your stove. Pan-frying involves much more oil than usual
as it helps prevent moisture releasing from the ingredient. Pan-frying closely resembles sautéing,
with the main difference being that pan-frying uses slightly more fat and slightly lower
temperatures than sautéing. This makes it a good method for cooking larger pieces of meat that
would not have time to cook through because with sautéing, the food isn't in the pan for very long.
For that reason, larger pieces of meat are often finished in the oven after the surface has been
cooked to the desired degree. .this kind of method results in food that has crisp, browned outside
and tender, juicy inside.

PRESENTING POULTRY AND GAME BIRD DISHES

We already studied the plating and presentation of different kinds of dishes such as, egg,
vegetables and seafood. The way it presents gives more good appearance to the eyes of the
customers and it can be attractive enough for them to buy or taste it. We already knew that the
food presentations include the colors, textures, and shapes. Adding garnishes can also enhance
the way it presents. Since it belonged to our past lessons, it’s okay if we don’t discuss it further
because it also applies to the plating of poultry and game bird dishes.

1) In plating poultry and game birds, we should search and use the most appropriate service
ware since there have different types of those. Same as our previous practices, we should use
plain white plate and follow the rule of thumb to make the dish’s color stand out and appear
brighter, because when we use any designed plates, the customer or the one who’s going to eat
the dish may not notice the appearance of the main dish because he or she was being attract to
the plate and not to the plating.

2) When we are serving poultry and game birds dishes, we must make a suitable sauce for it.
Sauces add or enhance the flavour of the main dish so it is necessary to pair it with the main dish.
We can just drizzle the sauce above the dish and we should place some soft food on the side or
the dollop.

3) All the garnishes that we will use on plating should complement with the dish, even if it is
good for our health such as fruits, vegetables, and herbs, it shouldn’t overpower the flavour of
the dish that we’re going to present.

4) We should always have a clean tissue on our side when we are doing the plating. We can use
this to clean some smudges, spills, or any food residue. Since we are using plain white plate, it is
necessary to make it clean always and away from messy appearance, so that the taster will find it
interesting and not awful

5) Appetizer style or the small size serving is the most recommendable in plating, since it doesn’t
overcrowding the plate. All the garnishes and others that you’re using should be balance and not
overpowering the dish.