consultant to the National Funeral Directors Association, the half-couch caskets made in the United States are all manufactured so that “only the left side has an interior and pillow for positioning and viewing the body.” The two sides of the half-couch are also not symmetrical and thus not totally interchangeable. The left side of the half-couch is shorter than the “leg side,” and because it is not normally opened, the bottom of the right side of the casket is usually unfinished. The interiors of full-couch caskets are also designed for the head to be placed on the left side.
Occasionally, however, a funeral director may need to put the head on the right side of the casket, usually when an injury or disease has disfigured the “wrong” side of the deceased’s face. Since American-made caskets are rarely tapered, it is easy to rearrange the pillows inside the casket and put the deceased in the opposite direction.
One of our sources, who has worked in the industry for over fifty years and has sense enough to want to remain anonymous, told Imponderables that more families are asking for full-body viewings these days. He singled out Pennsylvania (along with southern New Jersey and parts of Florida and Ohio) for special mention in their preference for full-couch caskets—everywhere else, half-couches predominate.
What’s with these Pennsylvanians?
Submitted by Barbara Peters of Norwood, Pennsylvania. Thanks also to Bridget Hahn of Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania; Carol Haten of Monroeville, Pennsylvania; Earle Heffley of Springfield, Illinois; Sandy Zak of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Jason Humble of Starks, Louisiana .
Has anyone ever seen a live Cornish game hen?
We’ve seen a few dead Cornish game hens in our time, usually on a plate in front of us—and always when we are ravenously hungry at a formal dinner, surrounded by folks we don’t know. So we feel we have to eat the bird with a knife and fork. Without picking up the dead hen and eating it with our fingers, we are capable of extracting a good two or three mouthfuls’ worth of edible meat before we give up on meeting our protein requirements for the day.
As you can see, we have more than a little hostility toward these little bitty particles of poultry, so we are going to expose a nasty scandal about Cornish game hens (aka Rock Cornish game hens): They are nothing more than chickens—preadolescent chickens, in fact.
That’s right. Cornish game hens, despite their highfalutin moniker, are nothing more than immature versions of the same broilers or fryers you buy in the supermarket. A Rock Cornish game hen could theoretically grow up to be a Chicken McNugget. (At least a Chicken McNugget gets eaten.) We have all seen a live “Cornish game hen.”
Federal regulations define a Rock Cornish game hen or Cornish game hen as
a young immature chicken (usually 5 to 6 weeks of age) weighting not more than 2 pounds ready-to-cook weight, which was prepared from a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken.
In practice, most Cornish fowls are crossbred with Plymouth Rock fowls.
Dr. Roy Brister, director of research and nutrition at Tyson Food, Inc., told Imponderables that all the chicken we eat has the Cornish White Rock as one of its ancestors. Cornish fowl are prized because they are plump, large-breasted, and meaty. Other breeds are too scraggly and are better suited for laying eggs. Most of the Cornish game hens now sold in the United Statesare actually less than thirty days old and weigh less than one pound after they are cooked.
According to the USDA’s Agriculture Handbook , Cornish game hens are raised and produced in the same way as broilers. But because they are sold at a smaller weight, the cost per pound to process is higher for the producer and thus for the consumer.
But let’s face it. It’s a lot easier to get big bucks for a product with a tony name like “Rock
Occasionally, however, a funeral director may need to put the head on the right side of the casket, usually when an injury or disease has disfigured the “wrong” side of the deceased’s face. Since American-made caskets are rarely tapered, it is easy to rearrange the pillows inside the casket and put the deceased in the opposite direction.
One of our sources, who has worked in the industry for over fifty years and has sense enough to want to remain anonymous, told Imponderables that more families are asking for full-body viewings these days. He singled out Pennsylvania (along with southern New Jersey and parts of Florida and Ohio) for special mention in their preference for full-couch caskets—everywhere else, half-couches predominate.
What’s with these Pennsylvanians?
Submitted by Barbara Peters of Norwood, Pennsylvania. Thanks also to Bridget Hahn of Conneaut Lake, Pennsylvania; Carol Haten of Monroeville, Pennsylvania; Earle Heffley of Springfield, Illinois; Sandy Zak of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; and Jason Humble of Starks, Louisiana .
Has anyone ever seen a live Cornish game hen?
We’ve seen a few dead Cornish game hens in our time, usually on a plate in front of us—and always when we are ravenously hungry at a formal dinner, surrounded by folks we don’t know. So we feel we have to eat the bird with a knife and fork. Without picking up the dead hen and eating it with our fingers, we are capable of extracting a good two or three mouthfuls’ worth of edible meat before we give up on meeting our protein requirements for the day.
As you can see, we have more than a little hostility toward these little bitty particles of poultry, so we are going to expose a nasty scandal about Cornish game hens (aka Rock Cornish game hens): They are nothing more than chickens—preadolescent chickens, in fact.
That’s right. Cornish game hens, despite their highfalutin moniker, are nothing more than immature versions of the same broilers or fryers you buy in the supermarket. A Rock Cornish game hen could theoretically grow up to be a Chicken McNugget. (At least a Chicken McNugget gets eaten.) We have all seen a live “Cornish game hen.”
Federal regulations define a Rock Cornish game hen or Cornish game hen as
a young immature chicken (usually 5 to 6 weeks of age) weighting not more than 2 pounds ready-to-cook weight, which was prepared from a Cornish chicken or the progeny of a Cornish chicken crossed with another breed of chicken.
In practice, most Cornish fowls are crossbred with Plymouth Rock fowls.
Dr. Roy Brister, director of research and nutrition at Tyson Food, Inc., told Imponderables that all the chicken we eat has the Cornish White Rock as one of its ancestors. Cornish fowl are prized because they are plump, large-breasted, and meaty. Other breeds are too scraggly and are better suited for laying eggs. Most of the Cornish game hens now sold in the United Statesare actually less than thirty days old and weigh less than one pound after they are cooked.
According to the USDA’s Agriculture Handbook , Cornish game hens are raised and produced in the same way as broilers. But because they are sold at a smaller weight, the cost per pound to process is higher for the producer and thus for the consumer.
But let’s face it. It’s a lot easier to get big bucks for a product with a tony name like “Rock
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