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

[BCMaraniac]

Alright, I'll have to try the feet in stock in a few weeks. I haven't been able to do it yet. It is so wasteful to NOT use them.

I kept the feet of the birds I processed this morning......gonna put them in my stock too.

 

[Beekissed]

Alright, I'll have to try the feet in stock in a few weeks. I haven't been able to do it yet. It is so wasteful to NOT use them.

I don't normally use the feet from the DP breeds except maybe my WRs...the others are too scrawny to waste any time on. The WRs have huge legs and feet and make it more worthwhile and the CX have even more massive legs and feet, making it a complete waste if they are not used. I'll tell you what they smell like after scalding and being peeled...they smell like corn!

 

[Arielle]

We don't heat the lids when we pressure can...just the water bath canning. Makes it an easier job if one can avoid that little step too.

I'm a stickler for procedures involving food cleanliness in the kitchern, BUT I will pick up a nut I just dropped off the floor! lol I trust my imunity system . . . to a point. lol

 

[Arielle]

Quote: THe fellow that showed me how to dress a bird i ncluding cleaning the legs at the time. Legs cleaned before gutting.

 

[3 NH reds]

I have two mirro-matic and two Presto, only one of which I purchased(I have a pressure canner collection....my father in law, uncle, cousin......stop canning and gave me their pressure canner. Isn't the All American brand the really expensive one? Looks like a really great one to have. I like having the extra canners because I can start one processing, get another ready, then start it processing as soon as the other is completed. By the time the second one is finished, then the first one has lost pressure, been emptied, and refilled if needed. I usually just have one on the stove at a time.

We are going to get the All American, yes it is expensive but not made in China and it has no gasket to rot out. I have been looking at our local Good Will store for a cheap canner with no luck.

Just an old Betty Crocker Mirro...simple, effective.

Don't forget to save the feet on your CX..they are enormous and make the best jellied stock. You can just scald them after removal...I just wired an old colander and placed them all in it and dipped it in the scald water. Then the skin peels off like a shrimp...don't forget the nails..they slip off too. This leaves clean feet and legs ready to be cooked down in stock. After that, the dog will love them as treats...good for them and their teeth.

I will try this on the CX. Right now I have a coop full of Jersey Giants that need to go. The feet on them would not be worth it.

We don't heat the lids when we pressure can...just the water bath canning. Makes it an easier job if one can avoid that little step too.

Just got the book, now to read it and try this out.

I'm a stickler for procedures involving food cleanliness in the kitchern, BUT I will pick up a nut I just dropped off the floor! lol I trust my imunity system . . . to a point. lol

Ah the three second rule. I use that on a few things, depends on how good it is and if it can be cleaned of "stuff" on the floor. The dogs stare in wait, " please say go" as they stand by and hope

 

[Arielle]

Quote: LOL-- loved having the dogs do clean up when the kids where babies and dropping cherios on the floor constantly. THey sure helped with clean up!!

 

[Sally Sunshine]

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!

I swear this happened during our blood draws last week! LOL

 

[Beekissed]

I can honestly say I've never seen a chicken go to sleep while hanging upside down...though it does calm them a great deal. All the more reason a killing cone is a cool tool for processing. Here's a pic of BUD, one of the cheap meats roosters awaiting his turn in the cone....not a bit sleepy, but not much he can do but hang there and be a good boy.

 

[loveourbirds]

im cooking a turkey this year, i have never baked one, but have had them baked of course. here is what im thinking: i have skinned the turkey, and have him in brine now. before baking im thinking i will coat him in olive oil, and wrap him in bacon. since i have never done anything like this, i was wondering if any of you have any ideas on how to make this better. i have questioned injecting butter into the breast.

 

[Beekissed]

A cooking bag is always nice and you can turn it upside down in it so that the breast is cooking in the bird's own juices, which can keep it nice and moist. Another option is deboning using the video on this thread so that you have a shorter cooking time and can really get that meat down into the broth of the cooking.