Considerations for butchering in heat - time between death and processing?

[ladybrasa]

A friend (or 2 or 3, but counting on 1) and myself will be butchering 12-13, 3.5 - 4 month old cockerels of various breeds at the end of the month. Probably gonna be super hot!! I’ve got a cheap tent, and can hook up a box fan or something. I will not be doing the actual deed, as I haven’t brought myself to doing it to my own (but am working on it if I didn’t raise it!), but will be involved in all other aspects. It would be tedious/inefficient to do just one at a time and process all the way through, so was considering killing several, then sitting down to skin and part. Myself and another girl did this last December, but it was refrigerator temp and no bugs! How important is it, and how can we, keep flies and such away from the carcasses before we get to process them? Away from the butchering area at all? How big of a cleanliness concern is this? I’m sure they will be swarming around immediately. We will be cutting the heads off so I assume the flies would concentrate there? The butcher area is near a fire pit - would it be helpful to hang the dead birds next to the fire so the smoke and/or hot air draft can hopefully control flies landing on them? (Was also thinking about heating some water on the fire anyway to help remove feathers from the second wing section, as we have not been very successful skinning wings!)

Are there any other things I need to consider about butchering in the heat I might not think about?

Thanks!

 

[neo71665]

Getcha a cooler. I would process one maybe 2 at a time and put them on ice. Once you get into the swing of things you pick up speed and might try 3 or 4 at a time. I'd put a box fan out there if nothing else but for ya'll.

 

[aart]

I use a big cooler, filled with ice, water and some salt(will prolong the 'cold').
I work alone but go all the way thru from kill, pluck, gut, to chill as fast as possible and get the carcass in the chiller water. I do a final clean and parting out later and put the cleaned carcasses into the fridge to rest before cooking or freezing.
I only do maybe 5 at a time tho.
Oh, and have a box fan set up at end of table to keep bugs away.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I butcher slowly. I guess FL counts as heat. No tent.

I do set my folding plastic table (because I can bleach the $#!+ out of it), cutting boards, knives, everything else up near the firepit. Have a hanging scale and hook over the pit, and a source of cool potable running water, plus lots of unused baggies.

Heads, most of the blood, wing tips (sometimes), feathers, some of the entrails (the parts I don't save for my wife's pate or to feed the chickens) all go in the firepit. If I'm disrobing the birds (as I do for all the old hens I make sausage with), I'll leave it hanging on the scale and strip the whole skin off as it hangs. Cold running water helps cool the birds off as I work, while carrying away and greens from their crop (I don't cut food in advance of cull), extra feathers, clean blood off my hands, etc). Rip the insides out, wash with cool running water. Part out, wash with cool running water. Then bag and straight to the refrigerator to finish cooling.

I'll pull some frozen chemical ice packs out of the freezer to help offset the sudden addition of lots of warm flesh. Not sure it helps? Probably doesn't hurt.

 

[ladybrasa]

Thanks for the replies and comments!

Getcha a cooler. I would process one maybe 2 at a time and put them on ice.

So you recommend laying the unprocessed carcasses in a cooler until ready to process?

Oh, and have a box fan set up at end of table to keep bugs away.

In your experience the draft from the fan is sufficient to ward off flies? Hanging the unprocessed carcasses under the tent might be an option, too.

If I'm disrobing the birds

What a classy way to say skinning! Do you ever have issues with the silver skin (I think it’s called that)? Sometimes it is really tough and seems to impede skinning.


Last year we laid out a plastic shower liner on a picnic table with cutting boards underneath. And mostly parted and spatchcocked. Tossed all the parts in ice water in a cooler. Had a hose with a nozzle to wash off the meat. We definitely have not found a rhythm yet! So I suspect 12 birds are going to tskeStill have to learn things like where exactly that sweet spot is at the leg joint to take off the legs, and skinning was not as easy as it looked in all the videos! I have purchased two havalon knives for this year, so that should be helpful!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Practice. Lots of practice.

On old birds, I sometimes use a knife to cut that thin fiber that hold skin to breast, and the wings remain challenging - but on old birds, since I'm sausaging, and there isn't much meat there, I'll usually cut the feet off (there's a trick to just where to cut - if you fold the leg together, you can see the hinge. Knife goes in the depression between bumps. Quick slice, shallow slice on the folded side, then return the knife to the hinge where you made the first cut. Twist the joint with the other hand and draw back on the knife - it will find its own way. Then I take the wing tips. Similar process. Then I disrobe, working my hands between skin and flesh to free the skin while keeping as much subcutaneous fat as possible.

A good 7" chef's knife is all I need - though a fillet knife with moderate flexibility is a reall blessing for parting out and deboning smaller birds. and plastic handles - better grip, easier to bleach clean when done. Except my chef's knife, which I absolutely love, in spite of the laminated hardwood handle. Butcher block oil periodically to protect it, and very careful, very through cleaning when the blade enters the handle - it traps raw food very easily.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

I think Emeril had a you tube video on parting out a bird which might help. I know Alton Brown does. Possibly the CIA, as well, which is where Alton trained.

 

[3KillerBs]

A good 7" chef's knife is all I need - though a fillet knife with moderate flexibility is a reall blessing for parting out and deboning smaller birds. and plastic handles - better grip, easier to bleach clean when done.

Here's a good source for purchasing restaurant-grade, dishwasher-safe knives of many different types.

https://www.webstaurantstore.com/

The white-handled Dexter knives never slip in your grip no matter how wet (I use them daily at work, which is why I wanted them for my own kitchen).

 

[aart]

In your experience the draft from the fan is sufficient to ward off flies? Hanging the unprocessed carcasses under the tent might be an option, too.

It worked pretty well.

I would not leave unprocessed carcasses out anywhere.
Kill, skin or pluck, gut, then into the ice water cooler.

 

[Ridgerunner]

A friend (or 2 or 3, but counting on 1) and myself will be butchering 12-13, 3.5 - 4 month old cockerels of various breeds at the end of the month.

At that age the cockerels shouldn't be too hard to skin except for the wings. If you wait another month the connective tissue, including the tissue that holds skin to the carcass, become more of a problem. Wings are a pain anyway. I use poultry shears to clip off the wing tip and toss it, I don't consider it worth it. I use a knife to cut off where flight feathers were but it still takes a lot of strength to pull that skin off. I had not thought of scalding and plucking wings after you cut them off. It will be interesting to heart how that worked.

I’ve got a cheap tent, and can hook up a box fan or something.

Good, you need to be in the shade, both for comfort and to avoid sunburn. It's probably going to be in the 90's so a fan isn't a bad idea either.

It would be tedious/inefficient to do just one at a time and process all the way through, so was considering killing several, then sitting down to skin and part.

I do it by myself and just do one at a time all the way through. I also part them which slows it down. I get into a system and rhythm to try to avoid a lot of wasted motion and wait time but it is kind of slow. The only overlap is that I kill one after I've finished parting one and use the time for it to stop moving around to put the meat away and clean up for the next one. With more than one person an assembly line approach could speed you up as you gain expertise with a certain task. You'll have to work that part out depending on who shows up.

How important is it,

From a bacteria standpoint I don't know how long you can wait to clean them and get them cooled off in that kind of weather. Those temperatures are prime conditions for bacteria to multiply. You don't want rigor mortis to start setting up either, that would make it hard to butcher them. I don't have a safe time.

and how can we, keep flies and such away from the carcasses before we get to process them?

Flies haven't been a problem for me. I hardly ever see any. When I do they seem to go to the bucket where I'm putting the offal. I think they are drawn by smell to aging meat and such instead of an extremely fresh kill. Maybe have some mosquito netting or something like a towel handy so you can cover the carcasses until you get to it if it becomes a problem.

Are there any other things I need to consider about butchering in the heat I might not think about?

Do what you can ahead of time. You are going to be tired. If you are going to bury the offal, dig the hole the day before. Do as much set-up as you can the day before. Gather your equipment, sharpen knives, if you need ice get it the day before.

Take care of yourself. Drink plenty of water, take a break if you need to, don't sunburn. You are going to be tired. That can lead to carelessness around sharp implements.

You want to get everything done that you can while your crew is there, I would. But if you get in a bind, you might consider aging the carcass after the bird is skinned and gutted to get past rigor mortis before you finish parting it. You may be able to part it in your air conditioned kitchen but clear things out so it is easy to sanitize the work area afterwards. That would not work very well for me because of the way I clean it and age it, but maybe for you.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.