Joel Salatin's instruction videos

[dancingbear]

I watched some of these on u-tube after the links were posted by EGGTASKTIC. All I can say is wow. I hadn't thought to look for Joel's videos on u-tube. I watched 2 on evisceration, and one on killing in a cone, (I think that was his son, in that one). I'll be trying out these techniques, and I think this is going to make a huge difference in how long it takes me to process a chicken.

Anybody watch these and then try his methods? How'd it work out for you?

ETA the evisceration links:

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
Actually, that is an apprentice, Grady Phelan, who hales from my neck of the woods.

http://polyfaceapprentice.blogspot.com/2009/07/best-way-to-bleed-chicken.html

He does look a lot like Daniel, though.

 

[Brunty_Farms]

Ya they are good videos. Have you seen Daniel (his son) cutting up a chicken? He does it so fast.

I'm pretty quick at cutting up chickens... and I was completely amazed.... I would love to be able to see first hand up close how he does it.

 

[rainplace]

Thanks for posting those links!

 

[dancingbear]

Jeff, I haven't seen that one, but I'll look it up and watch it later today. I'm on dial-up, so it takes forever to load these things. I'd love to cut a chicken up faster than I do. I'm fairly quick at cutting up a bird, (if uninterrupted!) I can cut up a dressed chicken in about 6 minutes, that's separating wings, legs, thighs, 2 back portion, wishbone, and I cut the breast halves in half, so I have 4 smaller breast portions instead of 2 big ones.but now that I've seen a couple of these guys in action, I bet I have a lot of room for improvement. I bet Danial does it in about 2 minutes or less.

My only question on Joel's evisceration is this, it looks like he throws out the gizzard with the entrails. As thrifty as he is with the rest, that seems odd. Maybe he pulled it off and I missed it.

 

[Buster52]

Quote:
It's on the Polyface apprentice blog post that I linked to.

 

[kees]

When I saw the video, it looked like he cut off a small portion from the back of the tail. Are those the oil glands? I've been cutting off the whole tail all along and am wondering if I've been doing it wrong.

Suzy

 

[EGGTASKTIC]

If you are processing for yourself cutting off the tail is fine. Joel leaves it on as it adds weight to the bird for sale to his buyers. Notice he leaves as much fat as he can, again adding weight to the sale to a consumer. All this help the profit margin.

I an a tail cutter also- just do not like it on there.

Glad too see you are learning as much as I did.

 

[bigredfeather]

Quote:
He only cuts off the gland itself because otherwise he's cutting of weight he could sell. If you notice, he even leaves the fat on for the same reason. He stated when holding the fat, "that's $.17 right there". It's all about making as much money as he can. Every ounce is money in his pocket.

So you haven't been doing it wrong, just your preference.

ETA: Oops. I guess someone else said the same thing. Sorry.

I learned a lot as well!

 

[dancingbear]

I've seen repeatedly that people think the oil glands will "taint the rest of the meat", if left in. I've forgotten to remove them a few times, didn't notice until after the bird was cooked, and it didn't do anything bad to the meat at all. I eat the tails, even if I forgot to cut out the glands, I just peel out the cooked glands, which become 2 firm little pellets. I've bitten into them, too, (before I read about removing them) and other than a slightly unpleasant texture, I don't see what the big deal is. They don't have much taste, one way or the other, just kind of a waxy/grainy/greasiness. They've never made the meat taste bad or "off". So IMO, it's not all that important. I cut them out if I remember, because I don't care for the texture. If I forget, no big deal. The oil glands do not harm or taint the meat in any way.