Butchering: From Plains to Platter


Each slave will be expected to know how to expertly "dispatch" our revered bosk for the camp's consumption. Wide eyed, the kajira usually asks, "Kill a bosk?" Yes…kill a bosk - or a verr, or a tarsk, or any other animal that Tuchuks use for food. Kajirae will all know how to do this in such a way as to reduce stress and suffering to the animal and provide as quick and painless a death as possible, done respectfully to the beasts that give their lives so we may have ours.

Bosks, full-grown verrs, or tabuk: Any of the large domestic or wild game beasts are taken behind the commisarries where there are large A-frame-type scaffolds. Wild beasts are usually brought dead to the camp, and slaves only need worry about skinning and butchering. The domestic beasts killed for food, however, are another story. Slaves instructed to kill and prepare a bosk or a large verr will proceed thusly:
    •Take a lead rope, put it around the selected beast's neck, and lead it behind a commissary where an A-frame scaffold stands.
    •DO NOT chase the beast around in circles, nor frighten and alarm it…Go to it as you would a pet you are taking for a walk. This keeps it from getting wild-eyed and unmanageable.
    •Respectfully ask a Master or Mistress to use a quiva. Keeping the beast CALM with soothing words, petting strokes, etc., THANK the beast for giving its life for Tuchuk, then slit the throat of the beast from side to side UNDER the head. Slitting the throat is to be done quickly, cleanly, in a long smooth stroke. The blood will spurt, yes…and the beast will fold its legs and fall to the ground...
    •This is where the procedure for domestic and wild beasts becomes the same. (Dead is dead.) Roll the beast to its side and slit the belly from the cut throat to the tail, BEING CAREFUL to not cut any deeper than needed to pierce cleanly through the flesh. Cutting into the inner organs can "taint" or spoil the meat.
    •Cut out the entrails and put them in a bucket, saving the heart and liver for camp consumption and feeding the rest to the sleen or the kaiila.
    •Next, cut around the feet (hooves) of the animal and then down the INSIDE of each leg from the cut around the foot to the center belly slit. Cut around the neck completely as well. Now the beast is ready for skinning.
    •The skin of the beast will peel fairly easily, and the quiva can be used to cut the fatty tissue that holds the skin to the meat while peeling the skin back and off the animal. Start by peeling down the back legs. You can then use a long rope to tie around the skinned back legs, throw the rope over the top of the A-frame scaffold, and hoist the beast up from the ground. Hoist it a little at a time so that you may skin the beast along the way. Obviously the beast may weight hundreds of pounds, and using a well-fed kaiila or the help of several thralls to tug the beast upward may be necessary. Finally, the beast will be head down as is proper for the rest of the blood to drain, it will be skinned, and it will be hanging high to season.
    •Next take the skin (hide) and stretch it, nailing or tacking it to the outside commissary wall to dry so it may be tanned for use as leather and such.
    •Hanging meat can then be cut to roast as needed for Camp use.

Adult Tarsks: Tarsks are treated as above, with the exception that they must be tied and hung from the hind legs while alive, the jugular then being cut to bleed the beast to death. Otherwise, the meat will be tainted.

Young Verrs and Tarsks: In the interest of keeping our butchering areas as free as possible of blood, waste, and other offal which may attract scavengers and wild beasts, young verrs and tarsks will be dispatched by suffocation in the following manner: Hoisted up by the back legs until their heads rest on the ground and a foot may be placed on the windpipe. Butchering will then commence in the same manner as it would for any beast. Larger animals will be slain with a canvass beneath them to catch the blood as much as possible, the area them being washed down to dilute the mess. Note: bosk calves slain for veal will be dispatched in the same manner as adults. The Mother of the People sustains us, and her blood is always welcomed upon our land.

Vulo and game birds: Birds are much easier than are beasts. Like tabuk, game birds would arrive dead. Vulo would have to be caught and carried behind the commissaries for slaughter. There are two ways to dispatch a vulo. Either is acceptable.
    •The first method is by holding the bird and, with a quick snap, breaking its neck. Make sure if you choose this method, you can pull it off. Kajirae are NOT to make an animal to suffer beyond what is absolutely needed (death).
    •The second method requires you to ask a Master or Mistress for permission to use a sharp hand axe. Take the axe and the bird of choice behind a commissary wagon where there is a stump with a strap attached at one side, long enough to hang over the top of the stump and leave a long piece on the ground at the other side. Place the body of the bird on the stump, lay the strap over the bird, and hold the end tight with your foot. Then, grasp the bird's head with one hand, stretching the neck out, take one good swing with the axe, and chop the head from the bird. Make sure your cut is very precise - we don't want headless vulos running about!
    •Once the bird is dead (again, this is where domestic and wild birds are even), chop off the head and feet, tossing these scraps to the bucket for feeding to the sleen or kaiila.
    •Using a commissary knife or borrowed quiva to slice the neck region, reach into the body and pull out the innards, tossing them to the slop bucket. The heart, liver, and gizzards make for fine eating, however!
    •You will then boil a pot of water and dip the bird briefly. This will sear the skin and make the feathers pull right off easily. Pluck the bird, saving the feathers for use in pillows and other craft projects.
    •Finally, place the plucked bird in cold water to cleanse it and diffuse any bleeding which resulted from the plucking. The carcass is now ready to be roasted, cut up for use in boiling broth--however you plan on preparing the poultry.

Thanks goes to prism{*RgR*1*} for the original version of this page, and to amore{Caton} for her tips on vulo butchering!

 

General Info .. Men.. Women .. Slaves.. Visitors