What About Butchering?

[rabbithutch]

I'm not about to buy a whole hog or beef on the hoof and butcher it, but I think that many folks here - myself at the top of the list - would benefit from articles and posts about how animals are butchered or cut up for the table. Much can be learned by knowing what part of an animal produces what cuts - and much disappointment can be avoided by learning about 'marketing' labels instead of honest cut descriptions. We need articles from those who know about this stuff.

I want to do some spatchcocked chickens in my mini-WSM. I see what the finished product looks like, but I'd sure like to know how to go about making the cuts and what parts to remove in preparing a spatchcocked bird for the grill or the smoker.

It would be great is someone could write and post an article, but the web probably is already full of that information if you know how to find it. Can someone point me to a good web page?

TIA

UPDATE: This is a good video on Spatchcocking a bird. Found it after I posted. How to Spatchcock

 

[pops6927]

I've posted several articles on beef, pork and chicken:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110971/guide-to-beef-cuts

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/107633/porcine-myology

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/79898/cutting-up-a-chicken-part-1

as an example.  Just use the Search Tool (at the top that says, "Search Forums, Articles, News, and More!") for additional information, you will discover quite a few.

 

[diggingdogfarm]

UPDATE: This is a good video on Spatchcocking a bird. Found it after I posted. How to Spatchcock

:icon_eek:
That's spitting a bird, not spatchcocking.
There's certainly nothing wrong with spitting, I split chickens for different uses, most notably Cornell chicken, but splitting isn't spatchcocking.
I split right down the middle of the back, I don't remove the keel bone or the cartilage because it helps to prevent the breast from drying. it's okay to split the bone, however.
I discreetly cut into the joints in the legs and wings so the cuts don't show, this helps the bird cook more evenly.
More importantly, I pop the the thigh bone out of socket of the body by feeling along the backbone and making a cut into the ball and socket, I then pop the ball out off the socket and expose it.
It's easy to do, total spatchcock prep time is no more than about 5 minutes.

If you're really serious about butchering and don't mind making the investment, I recommend the following DVDs.

http://www.thegourmetbutcher.com/



~Martin

 

[mdboatbum]

If you stop the video at 2:14 that's a spatchcoked bird. I always remove the keelbone and the backbone, it just makes it easier to carve after it's done. I also remove the ribs Haven't had a problem with the breast drying out, but I always use a probe thermo and pull them at 160˚  Once the keelbone is out, it's simply a matter of running your knife under the ribs and cutting the uppermost wing joint. Kinda like filleting a flying fish.

 

[johnnie walker]

Here's one to check out. Not sure if it's what you're looking for or not.

http://www.meatshop101.com/

 

[rabbithutch]

Thanks for the responses. I really like the link to Meatshop 101.

Martin, I'm still trying to figure out the difference between butterflying and spatchcocking a bird. Best I can tell is that the latter has something to do with cooking them on a spit - but I'm not very clear on the difference. That's one of the problems with looking things up on the interwebs - there's lots of stuff out there with no way of telling what's good stuff and what's not.

rh

 

[diggingdogfarm]

Yeah, the official definition of spatchcocked is a bird that's split open and grilled, but it's come to simply mean a bird that's butterflied so the terms are used interchangeably.
I forgot to mention above that removing the wishbone prior to cooking makes carving easier.


~Martin