First Butchering Experience...Have Q's!!

[blue lotus]

Oh, and get or make a killing cone. It makes dispatching the bird MUCH easier, it immobilizes them better, as well as letting it bleed out.

You can make one out of a large plastic juice (or white vinegar) bottle, by cutting the bottom off of it. There are probably some tutorials you can google.

 

[Beekissed]

A good knife for killing chickens are the simple stainless steel RADA knives. They are sharp enough to do the throat slit through the toughest skin and they sharpen right back up with a simple knife sharpener. If I am processing many birds I may have to stop in the middle to run my knife over the sharpener a few times but these knives get a good edge with just a few strokes.

I seriously don't think your bird spoiled in that amount of time but maybe your minds were working overtime for you after seeing the fecal matter spilled into this chicken.

I've ate many a gutshot deer and chickens with fecal matter accidents in the carcass and they never had a smell or tasted different....but my dad claimed he couldn't eat a gutshot deer because the meat smelled and tasted like the guts. The rest of the family, without his sensitive imagination, couldn't taste a bit of difference in the meat~particularly my mother, who is the soul of spotless living/cooking.

Yes, chilling the birds in cold water and/or resting in the fridge will make your dining experience more palatable...that is something you should do next time.

As mentioned, a killing cone made from a bleach jug is like a third set of hands. This allows you to place tension on the neck skin of your bird and allows for ease in slicing, keeps the flapping and mess to a minimum and lets one bird bleed while you are processing another.

Another tip....hold your birds overnight in a quiet place and start your butchering in the early morning when you are rested, the air is cool, the birds haven't just been chased and have adrenalin coursing through their tissues, and they don't have so much stomach/intestinal contents in their bodies. This makes the chore much less hurried and frenetic, you are rested and you can take your time and do it right.

 

[Oregon Blues]

[[[[......It was debotchery! (Or however that is spelled).....]]]

Angie, misspellings don't bother me, so normally I don't say anything.

But please, look up the definition of debauchery before you ever use that work in conjunction with an activity that you are doing with your children. This is serious. You could have your children taken away from you.

 

[Beekissed]

Seriously????

It's quite clear this woman is killing chickens and not seducing her children into ludeness or sexual behaviors. A simple misstatement in a paragraph about processing chickens couldn't get one's children taken away from them!

 

[Erica]

I strongly suspect this was more likely the gall bladder than the ruptured intestines. Bile will taint the meat and the flavour can't be washed out. Even a few drops will do this. My dog will happily eat a liver that's had bile spilt, so I don't think she really tastes it the way we do. However if you rupture intestines and wash it off thoroughly, it doesn't leave any noticeable taint, and I don't think 15 minutes is quite long enough for the meat to truly spoil.

If you rupture a cow or sheep's rumen the meat will definitely be tainted and the taint will be impossible to wash off as well. It's similar with deer (hence the hunter's caution). However if you rupture a chicken's intestines, it's fairly easily washed from the carcass. Quite a high number of supermarket chickens have been exposed to feces (e.g. in the cool bath). It's really not a big deal unless the meat isn't cooked properly or the spoilage goes on for some time (I would say a lot longer than 15 minutes, though obviously leaving it on the counter wasn't ideal).

This is just my view, but I feel the extremely bad taste could really only have come from bile taint, unless of course the feces weren't flushed off...

I hope you have a much better experience with the next one... I'm sure you will!

regards
Erica

 

[angie3881]

Quote:
**SCREAMS!!** [a wild gathering involving excessive drinking and promiscuity] LOL! I think I confused it for Botchery??? Like really botching things up!! My bad. (However, excessive drinking may have helped by butchering technique!)

I promise, I do not do that with my kids! My daily job is to protect children in harmful situations... sorry for the misuse of that word!! And thank you for pointing out my misuse... my God, how many other times have I used that term in public??

I love to laugh at myself!

 

[angie3881]

Quote:
LOL! Thank you. I did use that word in error. They can take my kids away if they want... won't be long before they bring them back!!

 

[mommissan]

Quote:
LOL! Thank you. I did use that word in error. They can take my kids away if they want... won't be long before they bring them back!!

Reminds me of when I was in the community college library looking up a word that I didn't know and saying it out loud over and over while paging through my dictionary, "felatio...felatio.... Felllllaaaaaaa-sheeeeee-oooooooo". No wonder everyone was snorting and giggling around me.!

 

[jtbrown]

angie3881 -- you have are good to laugh at yourself. I do thinks like that occasionally, I actually saw it as debaucle, I knew what you meant.

The mommison -- that is good!

Thanks for making me giggle at my desk, so obvious I was not charting!

 

[angie3881]

Oh, mommison! That was a hoot! Spit a little coffee, there!

Jtbrown- I knew exactly what I meant, too! Glad you recognized I am not a lunatic!

I have a son who is famous for this...

1. Serving cantaloupe for lunch and pass it to him- "No thanks, Mom. I don't care for cannibal. "

2. A pregnant friend is going into the hospital to be induced- "Mom, what time are the seducing Lori?"

I wonder where he got that? Lmao!