One of the mileposts of societal decay was a movie called “Faces of Death” that purported to show people dying. I never saw it, so I can’t tell you a lot more.
As one often does in YouTube, you can start looking for one thing and hours later wind up on an entirely different place. I think I was looking at McDonald’s videos showing their executive chef and about 6 degrees of separation, I wound up on this video on the proper technique for electrically stunning a pig to humanely kill it. The video might be a little uncomfortable if you don’t know how animals are slaughtered and butchered.
If you hear FEMA hires this woman, then it is time to run to Paraguay
Wow, this is a bit radical for you, Art but it could lead to a useful understanding of how to ‘humanely’ kill an animal that is intended as a food source. Just keep in mind that homo sapiens sapiens may NOT be the highest form of Life.
OK, let’s get started with the caveat that I did not review the video, it’s on YouTube, and my feeble internet connection, or internet provider do not ‘talk’ to each other very well.
I would imagine that most people these days have never taken the life of an animal for the sole purpose of ‘putting food on the table’. The reason being is because it is not a pleasant experience. Not that long ago it was a common experience to hunt animals, or raise animals for consumption, and the reason being was to have a protein rich food source. When a person consumes more calories (energy) from carbohydrates than from protein their health will decline. If anyone disagrees with that statement then they are free to practice their own course of action without disturbing me.
So, how to humanely take the life of a pig? I don’t have much experience with that, but I do have some with fowls and cattle. As for fowls, say a typical chicken, do a search for “chicken killing cone” and I bet you will find some information, but briefly the method is to keep the chicken calm, place it head first into an aluminum cone that has an opening at the bottom to allow the head to easily pass through, and with a very sharp knife make a small, quick slice behind its ear. That method is not highly painful to the chicken, and if the same method was done to me or you, perhaps at your wrist, you would feel an intense burning sensation, but not nearly as painful as a crushing blow. Anyways, the method allows the chicken to fully bleed-out, which is an important step to maintain a ‘clean’ food.
As for cattle, the most efficient method is a gunshot to the center of the head and into the brain utilizing a small caliber rifle, i.e. a 22 gauge bullet. This method is highly effective and immediately ‘stuns’ the animal into an unconscious state. The next step is to slit its throat and allow it to bleed out and to death, probably the same method is practiced on swine.
As said above, it is not a pleasant experience to take the life of an animal, for me.
So, what really troubles me is the is the idea, as shown on TV these days, of other humans taking the life of another human in a grotesque way. That troubles me!
Since the point was the woman and not the way meat is processed, give it a look and get back to us
It’s on YouTube, give me a week or so. Thanks!
In years past at the Culinary Institute of America students were invited to watch a video of the slaughter of cows, pigs. Most students choose not to view the video, I don’t know if they still offer it, I doubt it – the place has become sadly PC. I hope the Chefs in training who took this information used it to increase a sense of gratitude for the sacrifice of the animals. The video confirms Nidster’s observations about the cow slaughter. It is another sign of decline that parents no longer instruct the children of the sacrifice involved stuffing that Dollar Value Meal down their throats. The ‘Greatest Generation’ spawned the ‘Greediest Generation’. Brokaw’s an ass.
There is an even more direct reason. A chef should be familiar with the anatomy of the animal and things like how animals are graded so they know what they’re buying and how to trim and otherwise judge the quality of what they’re buying.
The trend seems to increasingly be to have cooks that know little more than how to take a prepackaged product from a freezer and throw it in a microwave.
Back in college, my accounting professor took us to a small local butchering operation that primarily served local farmers. I tend to think a business like that could no longer exist trying to cope with government regulations.
Prior to this, I had watched a bunch of videos about food processing. There is a pretty clear pattern of replacing humans involved in meat processing with robots controlled by vision systems.
Yeah, I agree completely “,,, sign of decline that parents no longer instruct the children of the sacrifice involved ”
I remember when I was a kid my grand parents butchering hogs in the fall near Thanksgiving. I seen some of it, I fed the pigs in the summer. My mother kept me away from some of the hardcore stuff. I helped my dad and granddad skin a buck and sometimes take to the local butcher for processing. I remember the smell. I didn’t understand all of it and when I did (around first grade) understand, it was humbling. One year, I let the two hogs out of the lot mid summer to run away. I really had a talkin to. That was bad. I understood the sacrifice, still do.
I never did the shooting, but I had cousins volunteer. I respect it, its hard.
When my grandparents said grace, they meant it.
parrott
not buck sexton! oh no!
Right, No, Buck is referring to the ‘sacrifice’ to Ben Ghazie, big difference.
That woman is Temple Grandin (sic). She is somewhat famous. A movie starring Claire Danes was made about her life, IIRC.
I vaguely remembered that – this video has 3 million views, which is pretty exceptional given the topic. She became the industry expert particularly after the EU cracked down on inhumane slaughter techniques. Another video I watched was a machine that essentially does the same process to chickens. Am I a fun guy or what?
LOL. Yes.
Well a fun gal would be fungal! 🙂
They still break down primal cuts: essentially 1/4 or 1/2 of the animal that are them broken down for kitchen use and later individual portions.
Suppliers have upped their game dramatically (Sysco changes in quality, variety and presentation have been breath takingly good in the last 25 years) combined with the desire to pound down costs have driven educated chef’s into the top 6% or 8% of the market. Whether its fast food for rich people (think sauteed veal, sea food and chicken) or more and more corporate cooking. Some of my colleagues have left retail forever in favor of administering executive food service programs while providing very lucrative catering services to the execs. outside of work.
Sorry to ramble… misplaced my meds I guess.
US Foods acquired its own meat processing plants a few years ago. Their corporate direction was they were going to chase the high end high markup restaurants and not chase the low margin high volume places like IHOP and subway. They had to create a streamlined process where your meat order was cut at the packing plant and trucked in a cooler to the warehouse to be combined with the mundane commodity stuff for delivery a few hours later. When people are paying $50 a pound for meat, it better be good.
When people are paying $1.50 a pound for meat what are they really getting?
fat
Gwaltney hot dogs?
Spam, spam, spam, eggs and spam.
Just bought a nice tenderloin today for $1.99 a pound.