DEAR DAME EVELYN , My wife was watching one of those Saturday-morning cooking shows the other day – the other Saturday, obviously, in the morning – and I was sitting in the living room with her reading the paper. I heard the guy on the TV say something about "dressing the chicken." Did I hear that right? It sounded ridiculous; my first thought was a chicken in a beret or a blazer or something. But maybe it has a hidden meaning, like tossing the salad. I like tossing the salad, and I don't want to miss out on dressing the chicken if dressing the chicken is as much fun as it sounds like it might be. I am hoping that, with your wide expertise in these matters, you will be able to clarify.

Tossing and turning

My dearest T.T., In Dame Evelyn's world, tossing the salad is tossing the salad, despite the rather wild rumors of other meanings that occasionally reach one's ears. It is quite, quite possible that "dressing the chicken" has also come to mean something unimaginable – and unrelated to les arts de la table – but what that might be, Dame Evelyn cannot think. (She heard something long ago about choked chickens but blocked it from consciousness.) She is also inclined to think that if you heard the expression "dressing the chicken" on a Saturday-morning cooking show, the meaning of the phrase would be its common meaning – which (to answer your question at long last) means to remove the neck and giblets from the cavity, cut off the little triangular tab of fatty flesh that was the tail, peel away the folds of fat at the opening of the cavity, and cut off the wing pinions (the pointy, elongated ends of the wings) at the joint. You need a good sharp knife or cleaver for this last operation. Then give the bird a good rinsing, pat it dry, and you are ready to roast, or grill, or what have you. Don't forget to salt beforehand!

Dressily,
E. G.-S.