OT Way Picture Heavy -My Harvesting/Butchery/Curing Experience

lkapigian

I wanted to expand my meat curing , sausage making experience and took a class on Vashon Island in Washington @ a Farmstead, Their philosophy is that humane methods of animal processing not only ensure use of the whole animal but also grant the most delicious provender for your home table.  With us ethics, efficiency and pleasure curiously unite in what we call a peasant economy.

Their focus from the kill to freezer-wrap is the culinary end of every cut.

I left the squeamish pictures out- Any questions feel free to ask 

Brandon Sheard , who puts on the class was amazing , his love and passion for what he does, I cannot put into words ....so, 

Day 1 The Harvest 

He methodically explains how he selects which one to harvest, why he uses the gun he uses and the bullet of choice 

Harvesting The Blood for Blood Sausage

He uses a 55 Gallon Barrel with a burner, 147 degrees before dip, 145 while soaking-About 3-5 minutes 

Hand Scraped with a Hand Scraper, took just a few minutes 

We removed the heads prior to  removing the pluck 

With a knife, just to the leaf fat, the rest by hand - we did tie the anus before removing the pluck

Caul Fat                                                                                                                                                                                                                    Split

Harvest Day Offal Fry

lkapigian

Day 2 Break Down Day 


Split the heads and removed cheeks for Guanciali 








We were paired up on the halves 




Removed leaf fat, tenderloin and skirt steak ( hanger removed on harvest day ) 





Ground up and rendered the leaf fat 

























Snack and Kidney Pie 





Cured some bacon @ the end of the day, he uses a 60/40 salt to sugar mix, no measuring. In the fridge for a week, smoke and hang in the shop

lkapigian

Day 3 Some More curing and Sausage Making 


Blood Sausage - Rendered down fat ,leaving chunks, sauteed some apples and onions....mixed with blood and added cream---poured into casings, poached then fried ....Delicious 



everyone did their own 3 pound batch of sausage.....








Prosciutto - Nothing measure ,just salt, in the walk in for afew weeks and hangs in the shop






Final Feast was Blood Sausage, Sausage , crepinette 










Thanks for looking, tried to keep it short, plenty of other pictures if interested 

lkapigian

He uses no bleach or soap or oil on his butcher blocks , just a bench scraper and a Block Brush 

kl8ton

Dude. 

nolaegghead

F*ckin' AWESOME!

I'm jelly.

No oil?  Are they end-grain?

I have a bunch of relatives living in the Seattle area that I've been meaning to visit again.  Might check it out.

Foghorn

More pics = good.

dbCooper

That is a fascinating experience, thank you much for sharing.

I agree with @Foghorn "more pics = good"

Sea2Ski

Looks like a jaw dropping wonderful experience.

I am interested in everything really.... but: 
1) the slaughter: bullet just off center above the eyes at the “cross”? Or behind the ear?  Then a jump into the pen to stick them?  

2) Curious to hear how he split the carcass. Hand saw?  
3) The Prosciutto hanging - looks like a few have green mold. Is it the picture or was it green. I thought anything not white needed to be removed?
4) There was a good amount of fat. What was the breed or were they crosses? 

Awesome... just awesome.  Thank you for sharing. 

lkapigian

Sea2Ski said:

Looks like a jaw dropping wonderful experience.

I am interested in everything really.... but: 
1) the slaughter: bullet just off center above the eyes at the “cross”? Or behind the ear?  Then a jump into the pen to stick them?  

2) Curious to hear how he split the carcass. Hand saw?  
3) The Prosciutto hanging - looks like a few have green mold. Is it the picture or was it green. I thought anything not white needed to be removed?
4) There was a good amount of fat. What was the breed or were they crosses? 

Awesome... just awesome.  Thank you for sharing. 

Mark @sea2ski

1) Golf ball size target 2-3 inches center above the eyes ( he says the cross method is to much work lol ), perpendicular trajectory, 22 jacketed hollowpoint...yes, in the pen to stick them to harvest the blood ...

2) we used a bone saw ( hand) for all our bone cuts, we split down center of vertebrae, not down either side

3)Some green mold , he doesn't really do anything with it but may wash it off as needed, adds sugna as needed as well

4) Magnalica Cross ....escapes me with what, he usually has old spots as well 

He likes his. Prosciutto to go through at least " 2 Summer Sweats" 3 is usual, the one we had was 7 years old, tasted of an amazing cheese ....

lkapigian

nolaegghead said:

F*ckin' AWESOME!

I'm jelly.

No oil?  Are they end-grain?

I have a bunch of relatives living in the Seattle area that I've been meaning to visit again.  Might check it out.

@nolaegghrad table is not and grain, blocks are...he says they get enough oil from the fat she bothering , all are in excellent condition , I ordered a block brush today 

GrateEggspectations

lkapigian said:

Harvest Day Offal Fry

That looks Offal good. 

*crickets*

lkapigian

GrateEggspectations said:

lkapigian said:

Harvest Day Offal Fry

That looks Offal good. 

*crickets*

Lol...looks better plated 

johnmitchell

Thanks for sharing 

SciAggie

That looks like a wonderful experience all the way around. I'm happy for you and all the eggheads here that will benefit from this knowledge.
Thanks for all the pictures and description. 

lkapigian

Thanks @johnmitchell @sciaggie , I'll likely go back for another class just because , he does just a few a year and is gladly pay twice the price

GATraveller

Posts like this are why I continue to come to this forum. Awesome! Thank you for sharing.

Ozzie_Isaac

lkapigian said:

Sea2Ski said:

Looks like a jaw dropping wonderful experience.

I am interested in everything really.... but: 
1) the slaughter: bullet just off center above the eyes at the “cross”? Or behind the ear?  Then a jump into the pen to stick them?  

2) Curious to hear how he split the carcass. Hand saw?  
3) The Prosciutto hanging - looks like a few have green mold. Is it the picture or was it green. I thought anything not white needed to be removed?
4) There was a good amount of fat. What was the breed or were they crosses? 

Awesome... just awesome.  Thank you for sharing. 

Mark @sea2ski

1) Golf ball size target 2-3 inches center above the eyes ( he says the cross method is to much work lol ), perpendicular trajectory, 22 jacketed hollowpoint...yes, in the pen to stick them to harvest the blood ...

2) we used a bone saw ( hand) for all our bone cuts, we split down center of vertebrae, not down either side

3)Some green mold , he doesn't really do anything with it but may wash it off as needed, adds sugna as needed as well

4) Magnalica Cross ....escapes me with what, he usually has old spots as well 

He likes his. Prosciutto to go through at least " 2 Summer Sweats" 3 is usual, the one we had was 7 years old, tasted of an amazing cheese ....

.22 centered above the eyes is how we used to do it.  Never aimed off-center.

Thank you for sharing your experience.  This thread is amazing.

paqman

fishlessman

waiting for the smokey pig eyeball taco....now thats a taco

https://youtu.be/RC1jC0lCNa0

lkapigian

We did have this for @ SGH 

lkapigian

For those interested to see the class, here is a student who filmed and posted the "Readers Digest Version" and did an excellent job, the class is still this way (apologies for posting ytube, but this is not promotional)


Day 1 Harvest Day 

https://youtu.be/vrlgXrzmwwk

Day 2 Butchery

https://youtu.be/C_OBCfEcb_o

Day 3 Sausage and Charcuterie

https://youtu.be/dC8w3Rb_K1A

Day 3 Sausage and charcuterie part 2


https://youtu.be/NpgenmfFor0

FarmingPhD

This is just awesome! Thanks for sharing.

nolaegghead

fishlessman said:

waiting for the smokey pig eyeball taco....now thats a taco

https://youtu.be/RC1jC0lCNa0

Did someone say "smokey eye"?  Is this a good thing?  I'm not convinced.

caliking

Its taken 2 days to absorb the gist of this... need more days to really take it all in

Looks farkin' awesome!! The blood sausage caught my eye. Its been years since I've had blood sausage/pudding.

lkapigian

@caliking , the blood sausage was simple and amazing...apples onion, back fat , cream and blood ....

CTMike

Damn - I watched that entire series of videos and now I want to go to his class. 

SGH

lkapigian said:

We did have this for @ SGH 

I am honored my friend 👍

lkapigian

Just thought I’d bump this, stumbled across a classmate on YouTube , thought I’d share this thread again 

GrateEggspectations

Epic thread!!

Ozzie_Isaac

Phenomenal thread.  Did you ever go back for another class?