How many ways can you say chicken

[raffaellasworld]

Looking at the Scappi index for fowl it reminded me of some definitions questions I've had about the different terms for various forms of chicken.  Chicken is obviously the general. I'm guessing chick means young like kid or lamb is for mutton, only even younger. Rooster and hen are both also obvious gender definitions, I would think non-modified.

The definition I found for capon is: A rooster that has been castrated just after 6 weeks old and fed a diet rich in grains to prepare it for processing when it is no more than 10 months old.

The definition I found for cockrel is: A male chicken under one year of age, or just young male chicken (does not specify castration).

The definition I found for pullet is: A pullet is a young chicken, more specifically a hen (female) at least 20-weeks-old which has begun to lay eggs but has not yet moulted.

Do these sound correct? I generally just substitute chicken as other more specific forms have proven difficult for me to get at local grocery stores, but I'm guessing like the difference between modern ham and other meats and those they would have used for these it likely has at least some effect on flavor, and texture.

That is just covering poultry, not all forms of fowl. poultry: (capon, chicken, chick, cockerel, pullet, rooster)   
Interestingly, in the Scappi ingredients index the listing for turkey has pretty much the same qualifiers as poultry. There has been some discussion as to how much "new world food" is represented in Scappi, and which ones seem to be integrated into Italian cuisine earliest. 

Comments

[marymont.livejournal.com]

Julia Child's chicken episode had all the different sizes and types lined up and she cheerfully patted, prodded and wiggled each one as she described it. Unfortunately, she did not use the medieval terminology for them.

Sorry I can't be of more help.

[ayeshadream.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I'll have to remember to see if I can look that up on line! That's super helpful, I didn't know she did a chicken episode. :)

[marymont.livejournal.com]

It has been running on our PBS station recently on a pledge drive thing. You might be able to catch it on yours.