Butchering - long (was Re: SC - Ostrich, and cruelty to geese)

[Alderton, Philippa]

As a fairly experienced home butcher, there's a lot I've witnessed and
learned over the years, so I thought I'd share my experiences, while we're
on the subject. !st part will be general info, the rest will be specific
manners of dealing with specific challenges.

Start with a very sharp knife or three, and have a sharpener handy.

When killing and butchering, cleanliness is extremely important. Granted
when you're dealing with a hairy, smelly beast, clean butchering seems to
be an oxymoron, but the object is to cause the animal to die as painlessly
and neatly as possible, in a convenient location for processing.

( Until the day I die, I will never forget the afternoon I spent watching
some friends chase a very upset pig all over 126 acres because the killer
had "heard" that a .22 to the brain would kill him quick, if he had his
nose in the feed bucket. It's a good plan, but it helps if you know where
to shoot, and you don't miss your shot. I had sent one of the kids to the
car to get my .357 before the man finally made the killing shot, and was
NOT happy to be asked to help carry all 350 pounds of him from the corner
of the farm where he finally died.)

The object of the excercise is to kill the critter quickly, and make sure
manure and intestinal contents do not wind up on the meat- for this reason
and others, total edibility, I favor either breaking their necks, for small
animals, or cutting their throats for larger ones.

Knowing what you're doing is a big help- if you don't know, ask someone who
does!

Another consideration is the flavor of the meat. Utterly aside from humane
considerations, an animal which has been scared and run all over hell does
NOT have the same flavor as an animal which has been gently handled and
killed properly, regardless of what you've fed him for the last  6 months.
Even if he or she has been neutered, those hormones and body chemicals WILL
kick in,  in a scared animal, and there is a very definite flavor
difference- it's one of the things which contributes to the so-called
gamy-ness of wild meats.

After you have sucessfully killed, hanging by the hocks to drain the blood
out is also another flavor enhancer- coagulated blood is NOT a pleasant
flavor unless properly processed as a blood sausage, or equivalent.

So you've got the animal killed, hung by the hocks, and in your processing
area, what next?

First you have to remove the hide. This is a relatively simple matter,
requiring a cut around "ankles"  and "wrists", and a slit down each limb to
the center "seam". The center seam is a cut you make, starting at the anus
and genitals, having cut around them, which goes down the center of the
belly and chest of the animal, to the throat, meeting a circle cut you've
made just behind the skull. CUT VERY GENTLY DOWN THE BELLY, YOU WANT THE
INTESTINES TO STAY IN, UNPIERCED!!!!!!

Now, if your persona is Polish, at this point you will peel the skin from 
the carcase from the bottom up. Otherwise, start at the top, the "ankles",
and peel down, pulling and severing connective tissue as necessary, DON'T
CUT INTO EITHER THE MEAT OR THE HIDE!!!!!!!! Just sever the membranes
between them.

Having got this far, it is now time to remove the intestines. Cut very
gently down the center seam of the belly,(having replaced the blood bucket
with a clean tarp), top to bottom, and let the innards fall as they will.
Depending on your usages, you can feed them to the animals, or rescue them
all, as period people used almost everything. I would say save the liver,
kidneys, and heart, and save the intestines to be cleaned later for sausage
casings. That's up to you. Do remove the gall bladder from the liver,
unless you wish a real surprise at dinner. Sever the head, and use it as
you would. Tongue, brains, whatever.


Specific animals.

Poultry:

As has been mentioned in this thread, wringing their necks is easiest, but
cuttimg their throats works too. Thrusting their bodies into boiling water
to loosen the feathers is nice and easy, adding parafin to the water and
letting if cool before you rip of the feathers works too. Just don't expect
to use the feathers for anything. Otherwise, skin and clean as described
above.

Small game:

With small game, such as squirrel, rat, muskrat, raccoon, beaver,
groundhog, fox, rabbit and what not, you can follow the above instructions,
but it's usually easier to just roll them out of their hides, like you'd
roll a kid out of his sleeping bag.

Large animals-

Pigs, cattle, horses, etc

The instructions above were intended to cover them.

Special Note!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sheep!!!!!!!!!!!

The same techiques I described above work on sheep and lambs as well,
BUT!!!!!!!!!! they have a great amount of lanolin in their wool, and if you
touch a sheep or lamb with the same hands as touched their wool, you will
get an  _interesting_ flavor. Sheep and lamb are definitely a two person
job, to do it right. 

This, for all it's length, is definitely very short. Any specific
questions, please ask.


phlip at morganco.net

Never a horse that cain't be rode,
And never a rider that cain't be throwed.


: Has anyone else had to kill their meats for a feast?
: 
: We were offered a bunch of rabbits for a pittance - but we would have to
: kill
: them ourselves.. I think the neighbors would get a wee bit upset...
: 
: Morganna
: 
:
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