Chicken and turkey are both important in the low-cholesterol diabetic diet because they are low in calories, easily available, and comparatively inexpensive. It is also relatively simple to remove the skin and fat from them before they are cooked. Goose is a little too fat and I never use it, but I depend upon chicken and turkey for many of our meals.

Chicken and turkey are interchangeable in many recipes and especially so when you are using cubed or diced, raw or cooked chicken or turkey with the fat and skin removed. When they are used interchangeably in recipes the nutritive values are based upon the first one listed. However, the food exchanges do not vary when one or the other is used.

Giblets should be avoided on a low-cholesterol diet. If you don't have someone in your family who can use them, save them for a friend or neighbor who doesn't have to worry about cholesterol, or give them to your cat or dog—they'll probably love them.

All poultry is perishable and you should be careful when you are buying or storing it. It is a good idea to always observe the following precautions:

1. Buy frozen or chilled poultry only from freezers or refrigerated cases.

2. Inspect the wrappers to be sure they are not torn or damaged.

3. Keep fresh poultry in the coldest part of your refrigerator; use it within two days after it is purchased or freeze it for later use.

Chicken or turkey parts may be purchased and they are often a better buy than the whole chicken or turkey. Turkey breast makes a very good roast and has less waste than the whole turkey. One ounce of the cooked turkey roast, without any skin, is of course one lean meat exchange. You can also buy turkey legs or thighs. Turkey frankfurters are available in most stores, but they still aren't all that good for you because they do have fat in them. Turkey ham is lean and it is generally lower in fat than is regular ham.

You won't find directions for roasting a turkey because most of the turkeys you buy include that information on the wrapper. Do not cook the dressing inside the chicken or turkey for a low-cholesterol diet. It picks up too much fat that way—saturated fat that is not acceptable on a low-cholesterol diet. I know it is good that way, and that is probably how your grandmother did it, but it is better to cook the dressing in a separate pan where you can control the amount and kind of fat in the dressing.

You should remove the skin from a chicken before you roast it, but you don't have to when roasting a turkey. It is simple to serve a slice of the turkey breast with very little of the fat from the skin on it, but it isn't all that easy on the smaller chicken.

The following are sanitary measures that should be taken when preparing poultry:

1. Be careful that everything is scrubbed including table tops, chopping boards, knives, pans, and anything that might touch the poultry—both before and after you work with raw poultry.

2. Do not defrost poultry at room temperature. It should be defrosted in the refrigerator even if it does take several days for a large turkey. If you don't have refrigerator space sufficient to keep a large turkey in the refrigerator for that long, it can be defrosted, still in its plastic bag, in the sink in cold running water. This will take several hours but can be done the day before you want to cook the turkey.

3. Do not stuff chicken or turkey the night before it is to be cooked, or stuff it and cook it partially one day and finish cooking it the next day. Prestuffing gives bacteria a chance to multiply and could cause food poisoning.

4. As soon as possible after dinner, refrigerate leftover chicken or turkey, dressing, and gravy in a shallow pan. Food stored in a deep pan takes too long to cool to the correct temperature and bacteria can develop while it is chilling. Don't let chicken or turkey, dressing, or gravy stay on the table at room temperature for nibbling after dinner. Refrigerate everything as soon as possible and if anyone wants a snack, let him or her go to the refrigerator for it, or set it out for guests to help themselves later.

5. Leftover chicken or turkey should be frozen if it is not to be used within the next couple of days. Divide it into serving-size portions and freeze it for future use. It is a big help when you have unexpected company or want to make yourself a different entrée than you are serving to others in the family. I don't like to carry a chicken or turkey sandwich for lunch because of the danger of bacterial contamination, but if you freeze the sandwich and wrap it in foil it will be cold enough to be safe several hours later when you need it.

I hope you will enjoy the recipes in this chapter. Chicken and turkey are a very special treat in many parts of the world and you can make them a special treat in your home, too. If you have a recipe of your own that you want to use, calculate the nutritive values in the recipe using the information in Chapter 3, and then go on from there. Remember to remove the skin and fat before the chicken is cooked and don't use any butter, cream, eggs, or other no-nos in your recipe.