Killing and Prepping a Turkey, with Pictures
Published by Joel November 22nd, 2006 in Food, Meat. Share This
It’s indicative of something—the nature of internet nerds’ interest perhaps?—that a great story about someone hand-harvesting a turkey for Thanksgiving dinner only has 7 votes on Digg.
I share the author’s philosophy that if you aren’t willing to kill something you shouldn’t be comfortable eating it. In lieu of actually being able to travel to a farm like this chap and whipping your own machete to laterally pop off the heads of a dozen birds at a stroke—okay, maybe I’m a little bloodthirsty; or at least hungry—then looking to see how it was done in the not-all-that-olden days is the next best thing.
One thing I don’t quite understand is why he bled the bird out instead of just lopping off its head. I thought that was standard procedure for fowl. Then again, I’ve only cleaned chickens, never a turkey. Maybe getting all the blood out is more important for a 35-pound bird?
A note: There are pictures of bleeding turkeys at the following link.
How to harvest a turkey [Friday]
According to the owner of the farm (very nice chap, btw), the method of bleeding out the turkeys by cutting an artery (and not lopping off the head, which sounds sort of satisfying in a Conan kind of way) allows the heart to pump out the blood, thus removing blood from the joints.
Paul indicated that lopping off the heads or the various shock methods of killing the birds results in more blood in the legs and wings in the prepped birds. Having eaten a bunch of his chickens and a bunch of store bought chickens, I have observed that there is a lot more blood — red veiny things and the like — in the joints of insta-kill chickens versus his method.
And Paul’s birds are definitely delicious. Way beyond anything bought in a store.
Got my own two birds this way. More or less.
My stepfather actually had to get out his scoped .22 pistol to whack George, who was a class A bastard from hatch to plucking.
My grand-parents and parents used to raise capons (chickens for those culinarily challenged) and we always bled the birds. Nowhere near the shock value of lobbing off heads, but more efficient according to the adults. Now I simply visit the butcher for a free-range bird.