Poultry Fundamentals

Lesson Goals

Whether you choose to cook turkey, chicken, quail, Cornish hen or duck (or any other type of poultry), it’s important to realize that each bird has relatively the same anatomy.

Once you understand that each part – the legs, the breasts and the wings – is composed of different muscle tissue, you can begin to understand which cooking methods are best suited to each part – no matter which type of bird you choose to cook.

In this lesson, you will learn about the basic anatomy of poultry and the difference between white and dark meat. You will also learn which cooking methods are best suited to each part of poultry. Finally, you will learn how to buy, store and thaw poultry.

At the end of this cooking school lesson, you will be able to:

• explain the difference between white and dark meat
• understand the basic muscle composition of poultry legs and identify which cooking methods are best suited
• understand the basic muscle composition of poultry breasts and identify which cooking methods are best suited
• understand the basic muscle composition of poultry wings and identify which cooking methods are best suited
• identify fresh poultry
• store and thaw poultry safely

Pre-requisites

None