The one who grumbles at the porridge is not starving.
That many refrain from using chickens, hens, and so on simply because they cannot, or rather will not, dress them, is a sad truth. What is it, then, about this task that seems so off-putting? When a task is carried out in the right way, it is neither insurmountable nor off-putting. We shall here explain a little about the dressing of both chicken and fowl, and then one can soon convince oneself that it is not so terrible after all. The dressing proceeds in exactly the same way for fowl as for chicken. As a rule one gets the birds plucked; if one does not, then one must sit down and pluck them oneself. Wind a paper around the neck and head of the bird in case some blood should drip, and then pluck the breast first after the large feathers in the wings and tail have been pulled out. Do not snatch, but use chiefly the thumb to help, with somewhat long strokes. The bird, whether it is fowl or chicken, is plucked all the way down to the head and to the outermost joint of the wings; do not forget either to pluck well around the joint at the leg, where feathers so easily remain. If it is a larger bird one is plucking, such as duck or goose, it is not so quickly done; they must, namely, be plucked twice — first all the feathers are taken, and then comes the turn of the down.
When the bird is thus plucked, one will as a rule see that some long thin hairs remain; these are singed off. Put a little salt on the dustpan, for example, pour a little denatured spirit over it, set a match to it, then take the bird by the neck and one leg and turn it carefully around in the flame, but not too far down, for then scorch marks could appear on it. When the singeing is finished, one is thus ready for the dressing. Lay a large thick paper over the kitchen counter, so that one avoids getting the slightest mess anywhere other than on the paper. Furthermore one should have a pointed, sharp knife at hand.
First one cuts around the joint in the legs, but do not cut so deep that the tendons are severed, for these are to be pulled out — see picture I.