Butchering and curing meats in China

by Carl Oscar Levine

The animal should be bled immediately after stunning or shooting. To do this properly requires practice. With the stunned animal lying stretched out on the floor, stand at its throat with the back toward its body. Place one foot against the jaw, and with the other hold back the front legs of the animal. Reaching down between the feet, lay open the skin from the breast toward the chin for a distance of about ten inches, using the ordinary skinning knife. Insert the knife with the back against the breastbone and the tip directed toward the spinal column at the top of the shoulders, cutting just under the windpipe, and about five or six inches deep. The vein and the artery cross at this point, and if they are severed, the blood will flow out very rapidly. When the vein has been cut below the windpipe, run a knife in on top of the windpipe and sever the blood vessels on that side also. If stuck too deep, the pleura will be punctured and the blood will flow into the chest cavity, causing a bloody carcass, which is not desirable.

The animal will bleed out if the blood vessels on one side only are cut, but it will bleed more quickly if those on both sides are severed. A little practice is required to do it properly, but when once learned it is not easily forgotten.

Bleeding can be accomplished, but not so rapidly, if the throat of the animal is simply cut, just back of the jaws.

§ 28. Skinning and Gutting

Begin skinning the carcass as it lies on its side, by splitting the skin down the face from the poll to the nose. Skin the face back over the eyes on both sides and down over the cheeks. Cut around the base of the horns, leaving the ears on the hide. Split the skin from the chin down the throat to meet the incision made in bleeding. Skin jaws, sides of neck, and a little distance back of poll. Remove the head by cutting from just back of jaws to the depression back of the poll. The atlas joint will be found at this point, and may be easily unjointed by cutting the ligaments which hold it in place.

The carcass should then be rolled on its back and held there by a small stick about three feet long, with a sharp spike at the ends. One end should be stuck in the floor, and the other end braced against the brisket.

Split the skin over the back of the fore legs from between the dew claws to a point three or four inches above the knee. Skin around the knee and the shin, unjointing the knee at the lowest articulation, and skin clear down to the hoof. The brisket and forearms should not be skinned until the carcass is hung up. Cut across the cord over the hind shin to release the foot. Split the skin from the dew claws to the hocks, and up the rear part of the thigh to a point four or six inches back of the cod or udder. Skin the hock and the shin, removing the leg at the lowest joint of the hock. In splitting the skin over the hock, the knife should be turned down flat with the edge pointing outward to avoid gashing the flesh. While the carcass is stretched flat, it is well to skin down over the rear of the lower thigh, but no attempt should be made to skin the outside of the thigh until the hind quarters are raised. After the legs are skinned, split the skin over the midline from the breast to the rectum.

Begin at the flanks and skin along the midline until the side is nicely started. Then, with a sharp knife held nearly flat against the surface, and the hide stretched tightly, remove the skin down over the sides with steady, downward strokes of the knife. It is important that the skin be stretched tight with no wrinkles in it. Care should be taken to leave the covering of muscle over the abdomen on the carcass. Its presence on the hide is not entirely objectionable, but the carcass looks better and keeps better with it on. In “siding” a beef, it is customary to go down nearly to the backbone, leaving the skin attached at the thighs and at the shoulders. Skin over the buttock and as far down the rump as possible. Care should be taken at all times to avoid cutting into the flesh, or tearing the membranes covering it. If the meat is to be kept fresh for any length of time, mould will form in such cut places and will be hard to clean off. A coarse cloth and a pail of hot water should be handy while skinning, and all blood spots should be wiped from the surface. The cloth should be wrung nearly dry for this purpose, and the less water used the better.

Open the carcass at the belly with a knife and pull the small intestines out to one side. Open the brisket and pelvis with a saw or sharp ax. Raise the windpipe and the gullet and cut loose the pleura and diaphragm along the lower part of the cavity. The carcass is now ready to raise. Make an opening with a knife between the large tendon and the bone just above the hocks. Insert the ends of a single tree in the openings thus made. Hook one end of a block and tackle in the ring in the center of the single tree and hoist until the hind quarters clear the ground several inches. A gambrel, similar to the one used in hanging up a hog carcass, though larger and stronger, may be used instead of a single tree.

While the carcass is in this position, loosen the rectum and small intestines and allow them to drop down over the paunch. The fat lining the pelvis and the kidney fat should not be disturbed or mutilated. The intestines are attached to the liver, from which they may be separated with a knife. The paunch is attached to the back at the left side. It should be pressed down with sufficient force to tear it loose. Let it roll out on to the ground or floor, and cut off or draw out the gullet. Raise the carcass a little higher and take out the liver, first removing the gall bladder. Remove the diaphragm, lungs, and heart, and finish skinning over the shoulders, arms and neck. Wipe off all blood and dirt with a cloth. Split the carcass into halves with a saw, a cleaver, or a sharp ax. Wash out the inside of the chest cavity with warm water, and wipe it dry. Trim off all bloody veins or any scraggy pieces of the neck, and leave the beef to cool before cutting it into quarters.