UPDATE: Apparently the following “caveat” wasn’t enough. So let me make this entirely clear:
IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO SEE A CHICKEN DIE THEN DON’T CLICK THE LINK AND THEN CLICK PLAY ON THE VIDEO
If you still watch the video and then complain about it, go look in the mirror, it’ll show you the root cause for the problems you have with the world.
Original post follows:
Caveat: The linked site is in Danish (translation of the important parts below), it’s not mine and the video is definitely NSFW … unless you work at a slaughterhouse, in which case it could be considered educational.
I have looked into using a funnel, way before MapleEngineer’s harvesting posts. But those posts did make me question the efficiency of our process.
So I need to know, is this really how it’s done? No clubbing a frightened bird in the back of the head? No ax? No close calls on chopping your own fingers off, because the bird started moving? No death flapping? Surely it can’t be this simple?
The important bits and pieces from the video:
- The blade is extremely sharp and is replaced every 10 or 15 birds.
- The water is 65-70°C
- Scalding is done for a whole minute or until the wing-feathers let go.
A quick note.
This post of FULLY compliant with the rules of this community. Do not report this post because that would be report abuse.
If you are not interested in the topic, go on with your day. No need to comment or downvote. Act like a grownup.
This video includes the killing of an animal and blood. Do not watch the video if you will be shocked or upset by that. OP has clearly warned you. I have clearly warned you. If you do it anyway then you’re clearly an outage addict and this is not the community for you.
That is the exact process that we use.
I use an 8" filet knife which I got as part of a field dressing kit which I touch it up with a 1000/4000 Japanese wet stone every 9 birds. 9 is as many birds as we can process through from live to fridge efficiently.
I place the birds in the cones with their bellies facing me, place my left index finger on the back of their head and my thumb on their beak, and make a single push stroke starting just anterior to their cheek bone while pulling slightly on the head.
Professional small abattoirs including the three we regularly use use metal poultry hangers.
The knife and hanger form an electrical circuit for an electric stunner which prevents the birds from flapping. I’ve read many people say with great authority that preventing the birds from flapping protects the meat. That is bullshit. I have eaten hundreds of birds killed both ways and no one could possibly perceive any difference. I believe that stunning the birds is more about expedience and efficiency in the abattoir since the birds can be taken down immediately and placed in the scalder.
Save for the electric stunning they remove the heads exactly the same way I do. The old gentleman who owned the first abattoir we used to the time to show me how to do it properly. They no longer process poultry.
I take the feet off with the same knife after scalding, plucking, and initial cooling. I find that the feet make the bird easier to handle and scalding the feet makes them easy to peel for people who want to eat them. Removing the feet with the knife is much faster than the process in the video.
I remove the feet, do the neck and crop, then the gutting all on the cleaning table.
So our flow is, cone, killed, then set on a table, scalded, plucked, then into a garbage can filled with ice and water. They rest there until I’m ready to start cleaning. They come out of the water into the cleaning table, feet, neck and crop, gut and clean up, then into a second garbage can filled with ice and water where they rest and cool until my wife bags them and puts them in the fridge.
The next day I do the cutting. We make some spatchcocks but mostly do boneless skinless breasts and thighs, wing parts, and legs. The bones, skin, and carcasses go into a roasting pan and get roasted then my wife adds water and puts them in the oven overnight to make bone broth.
Thanks for the feedback!
I’ll have to give this technique a try. The guy in video writes that he takes the feet off because he thinks it’s easier to handle in the plucker. I guess it’s in the eye of the beholder.
I mentioned taking the feet off in the scalder to my wife just now. She said, “That’s weird.” I find them very slippery once they’re plucked and we always handle them by the feet. Our plucker is quite a bit larger so that may contribute to the issue.
Decapitated is one of several acceptable killing methods in our province. It’s very fast.