Today we are processing two birds. It is important to remember to keep the area clean, to refrigerate the meat as soon as possible, and that this method allows the meat to start drying out very quickly, so we don't want to start skinning more birds than we can process into packages.

We want to have our birds cool, and our work area assembled. We'll need a cutting surface, either an old board (foreground) or a cutting board. A sharp knife, and a cleaver makes cutting through joints easier if we don't want to finesse it with a smaller knife.

We begin by laying the bird on its back and making an incision through the feathers and skin, slitting between the meat and the skin. Pulling the skin back to expose the meat underneath. Grasping the bird firmly, working the skin and feathers off from the breast down to the feet, we ignore the wings for the moment. The skin may tear completely free, we just drop it into the trash can.



Above left, Peter makes the first incision, (right) begins peeling the skin away from the breast meat, and (left) after pulling the skin (with feathers) off of one leg, begins on the other. It can take a fair amount of force to pull the skin off, so often we work as a team, with one of us holding the bird to provide tension while the other peels the skin off (below, left). We've also done this with the bird still hanging, and hanging the bird makes it much easier for someone doing this alone.

While working the skin off the neck, Peter finds the crop, empty. Not feeding the birds the night before makes processing easier.

After peeling the skin (and feathers) off the bird we cut the wings off and set them aside, then cut the legs off (below left). While whacking them off with the cleaver is easier, finessing them off with a sharp knife will allow us to take more of the back meat.

Then we peel the breast meat off the ribs (below right). Breasts have two layers of muscle. Taking the top one first, then working the underlayer off from the ribs using a knife to finesse it if we have to.

Now that the legs, wings, and breast meat are off the bird, we'll cut the neck free. Notice that what we have left is the body, with the cavity intact. We discard the carcass at this point, and don't bother with the organ meat, which we don't enjoy anyway. One bird looks like this:

The final step is to package the two birds for freezing. One freezer container holds the breast meat. The legs and wings go into the oven where they're baked, covered, until the meat falls off the bones. The necks, and any little bits and pieces, are simmered until I have a rich broth, which is packaged for later use as soup stock.

We're sure to wash our equipment thoroughly before we go on to another chore.

The disclaimer: this is how we process our meat. If you've never processed your own meat, consult with your local agricultural resource before you begin. If you use this method and fall deathly ill, that is your own lookout. It is our opinion the advantage to this method is the body cavity staying completely intact, the cold ambient air temperature when we process the meat, and the overall santitation we observe. You may experience different results. Which, as I said, is your problem, not ours.

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