Poultry are birds raised for their meat or eggs. The species includes chickens, turkeys, ducks, and geese. Poultry is delicate, and the meat is a pleasure to cook and to share. Try our poultry recipes to whet your appetite and delight your guests.

Like all fresh meats, chicken is perishable and should be handled with care. Proper handling and cooking of chicken completely eliminates the risk of bacterial infection.

The meat of a duck varies from one breed to another, and so does the best method of cooking it. Recipes sometimes call for different varieties. Notably, the Peking and the British Aylesbury have rich meat with a good deal of fat secreted under the skin. This fat must be dissolved, so thorough cooking is important.

A turkey's size ranges from seven pounds to 40 pounds, but all are tender enough to roast. Although it is hard to detect their age, most supermarket birds are about nine months old. An older bird will be much too tough to roast and must be simmered instead. In Europe, hen turkeys are appreciated for their plump breast. In the United States the male turkey is king, and the bigger the bird, the more it is admired especially on the Thanksgiving table.

Eggs from a variety of poultry are edible, but nowadays in the kitchen, an egg basically means a hen's egg of reliable quality and graded size. The freshness of eggs, which once caused much concern, has lost importance in light of modern methods of production and distribution. A rotten egg is now a rarity. Regrettably, the rich flavor of a very fresh egg less than 48 hours old is equally rare, hard to find away from farming country.