Chicken: kill, scald, eviscerate

Set up

Withhold feed 8–12 hours (water is fine) so the gut is emptier. Work in the cool of morning. Have: killing cone or a nail pair to hang by the feet, a very sharp knife, a pot of water at 145–150°F, a thermometer, a table, bowls for giblets, ice water, and a trash tub.

The work

A scald over 160°F tears skin and starts to cook the bird. Use a thermometer, not folklore.

1. 1.Settle the bird head-down in the cone. A quiet bird bleeds cleaner.
2. 2.Feel the jaw hinge. Cut both carotids just behind the jaw, not through the spine if you can help it — a live brain keeps the heart pumping blood out.
3. 3.Let it bleed 1–2 minutes. Hold the feet if it is not in a cone so the wings don’t bruise everything.
4. 4.Scald: dunk and slosh 30–60 seconds at 145–150°F. A wing feather should pull like a blade of grass. Too hot cooks the skin; too cool and you fight every pinfeather.
5. 5.Pluck while hot. Work with the grain first, then against. A wet towel helps pinfeathers.
6. 6.Cut off head and feet (save yellow feet for stock if you want).
7. 7.Oil gland: a shallow smile cut at the top of the tail, pop it out.
8. 8.Open just above the vent, shallow, two fingers, circle the vent, then draw the guts. Heart, liver (no green bile stain), gizzard stay. Everything else goes.
9. 9.Split the gizzard, peel the yellow liner, rinse. Chill the bird in ice water until the breast is 40°F.

Without ice

In November you can hang a dry-plucked (no scald) bird in the shed overnight and cut it in the morning. In July you cannot. Cook or can the same day. Pressure-can poultry 75 / 90 minutes like other meat.