Processing Day Support Group ~ HELP us through the Emotions PLEASE!

[ronott1]

RIGOR MORTIS.... This I didn't know, or maybe didn't want to know!

"If you cook a bird that's been freshly killed it will very likely be extremely tough, as the muscles have not had time to relax after hardening in rigor mortis. That usually begins about 20 minutes after death, so if you're extremely fast you can cool and freeze a chicken before rigor mortis sets in. However more than likely your bird will have already started to toughen up by the time you get to chill it. ​

Meat needs to be stored for around 48 hours to give time for the muscles to relax again. Naturally in Australia this means refrigeration. You can either put the bird in the freezer right after that time or, having frozen it at once, let it stand in the fridge for one to two days until it's softened. "


Now when I buy chicken its already well beyond this stage and no brining is necessary or have I been making chicken wrong all along?

Most of the chicken and pork you by at the store has been injected with sodium--that is brining LOL

 

[paridisefarm2009]

 

[Sally Sunshine]

LOL now you know I have to go search how they do that commercially!

 

[paridisefarm2009]

 

[chicksooner]

How to Hypnotize a Chicken Source: zyra.tv

THIS is a bit weird but I found it while searching pithing, and if DH walks in on me doing this I will be divorced for sure!

This article was written by someone who used the hypnotized chickens for "parlor tricks". With a few changes, it can be used to butcher the chickens painlessly.

1. First catch your chicken. This should be done neatly without fuss. Avoid unseemly behavior such as chasing wild chickens around. Having a tame chicken is best.

2. Holding the chicken the right side up with the head uppermost, gently but firmly grasp the legs of the chicken underneath. It's important to have a good grip on both of the legs but to avoid squeezing too much. The claws should be arranged to avoid damage to you or to the chicken.

3. With deft sleight-of-hand, the chicken is swung speedily and carefully roll into the upside-down position, leaving you holding the chicken by the legs! This will surprise the chicken, but it will not be upset. Note that although it is no longer regarded as acceptable by magicians to lift a rabbit by the ears, rabbit ears are not designed by nature to hold the weight of the rabbit. In contrast, the legs of a chicken are easily strong enough to hold the weight of a chicken.

4. Hold on to your chicken. If it flaps its wings, the wing tips should not come into contact with anything. You have to be careful, for the safe well-being of the chicken and also to save your eyes from feather-damage.

5. Within a few seconds the chicken calms down and becomes accustomed to being upside-down. This usually happens quite quickly.

6. Being upside-down is interpreted by the brain of the chicken as being a condition in which it is appropriate to go into a state of sleep. Within half a minute or so, you have a sleeping chicken in your hands. Or at least, you have hold of the legs of a chicken which is mysteriously hanging there upside-down, asleep.

7. You can now stroke the chicken on the head, and under the chin, and straighten any feathers which might have been ruffled up.

8. It's now possible to carefully lower the chicken and lay it down on a flat surface. With practice it's possible to skillfully drape a sleeping chicken across the top of a television or a conveniently placed garden object. RT: At this point, tie the birds feet with a single piece of rope. The bird will later hang from this rope for butchering.

9. You can in effect leave the chicken on its back with its feet up in the air. This is an extraordinary sight and it beggars belief that a live chicken will remain in such a condition. However, I recommend you don't just walk away and leave it. Two minutes is plenty, and will adequately prove the point that you can definitely hypnotize a chicken.

RT: It is during this time the chicken is easily butchered...or given a post-hypnotic suggestion that it stop smoking. If you kill the chicken, you succeed in both goals. If you kill the bird, there is no step 10, either.

10. At some point, the chicken is roused and will resume its usual right-way-up state, with the feet on the ground, and will walk around almost as if nothing has happened. If anyone says "it still looks a bit dazed" then you're probably showing off your chicken hypnosis technique too much. Go easy on those chickens!

Your trying this tomorrow aren't you? I am.

I have noticed that after I have had them upside down for a few mins they do just lay there but always pop up pretty quick.

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Meat and Poultry Injected with Salt/Water Solution Needs Labeling, USDA Rules

No wonder I never knew it! Now why wouldn't they HAVE to tell us they added to it!

and it says not in effect until 2014! I honestly had no clue! What about people that cant have too much salt!

"The USDA has finally decided consumers should know when a meat product is composed of 40 percent water-salt solution. Wow, you think? Congratulations, Department of Agriculture, for at last addressing the common industry practice of pumping ingredients into meat and supporting adequate labeling.
According to the agency, 30% of poultry, 15% of beef and 90% of pork contain "added solution." Yet current guidelines don't make it clear to consumers when meat has been treated and may consist of solutions that "can have more than five times as much sodium as occurs naturally in those foods," according to the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI)."http://www.foodwhistleblower.org/blog/22/198

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Quote: I am but not a brahma too heavy and I would sooner torture Harmony's polish that don't like me! he he he

 

[chirpingcricket]

RIGOR MORTIS.... This I didn't know, or maybe didn't want to know!

"If you cook a bird that's been freshly killed it will very likely be extremely tough, as the muscles have not had time to relax after hardening in rigor mortis. That usually begins about 20 minutes after death, so if you're extremely fast you can cool and freeze a chicken before rigor mortis sets in. However more than likely your bird will have already started to toughen up by the time you get to chill it. ​

Meat needs to be stored for around 48 hours to give time for the muscles to relax again. Naturally in Australia this means refrigeration. You can either put the bird in the freezer right after that time or, having frozen it at once, let it stand in the fridge for one to two days until it's softened. "


Now when I buy chicken its already well beyond this stage and no brining is necessary or have I been making chicken wrong all along?

Hey, thanks for doing this thread/topic!

DH purchased the incubator for my B'Day in March. We also are trying to be self efficient/sustaining (gardening etc.) as possible. So, we agreed that we would also start using our own Roos/extra's vs purchasing chickens from the local box stores.
Well, the incubating was a bit stressful and fun, yet, I knew that the other side of the coin would have to be addressed within the next 6 months or so. I've been trying to psych myself up for this, hence why I find being able to read and communicate with others is so helpful.
I don't know where you get your wisdom and insight with folks and their chickens, but you always seem to be "spot on"!

BYC and it's members is probably one of the best things that has ever happened for chickens!

 

[chicksooner]

Awesome video in that it was very helpful to me...but I have questions... So are your birds nice and relaxed in the cones? How long do you think on average it takes in the boiling water? My cooking skills tend to lean toward the well done side and I can see me over cooking it to get feathers out. Also when you cleaned the innards out what specifically did you take out and clean out? If we don't eat the inside stuff I don't need to mess with it right?

 

[Sally Sunshine]

Now I need to watch it a million times! How easy you make it look!

did you make that feather plucker thinger?