This should cover most the terms and gives a more colloquial hint o their usage as well:
>Section- Terms for Carving all Sorts of Meat at Table.
The Gentlewoman's Companion: or, A Guide to the Female Sex. Terms for Carving all Sorts of Meat at Table.
Date: 1675
Before we shall treat of the body of Cookery, I think it fit by way of Prologue or Introduction, to acquaint you with those proper terms in Carving, which are used abroad and at home, by the curious students in the art of Carving; take them thus as follows.
In cutting up all manner of small Birds, it is proper to say, Thigh them; as thigh that Woodcock, thigh that Pidgeon; but as to others say, Mince that Plover, Wing that Quail, and Wing that Partridg, Allay that Pheasant, Untach that Curlew, Unjoint that Bittern, Disfigure that Peacock, Display that Crane, Dismember that Hern, Unbrace that Mallard, Frust that Chicken, Spoil that Hen, Saue that Caon, Lift that Swan, Rear that Goose, Tire that Egg. As to the flesh of Beasts, place that Coney, Break that Deer, and Leach that Brawn.
For Fish; Chine that Salmon, String that Lamprey, Splat that Pike, Sauce that Plaice, and Sauce that Tench, Splay that Bream, Side that Haddock, Tusk that Barbel, Culpon that Trout, Transon that Eel, Tranch that Sturgeon, Tame that Crab, Barb that Lobster.<
--from The Chaucer Library, Emory College:
http://makeashorterlink.com/?F26516A34(if anyone can find a link to the text of that original
Terms of Carving [Dr. Bill?], I'd be much obliged)
((now I can sleep in peace...next time I'm in a crab house I'll tell somebody to "tame that crab"...and that'll get me flagged, I'm sure!
) And "mince that plover" will get me arrested down here, guaranteed!
g'night...))
