The Complete Book of Butchering, Smoking, Curing, and Sausage Making

Book excerpt: Trust The Complete Book of Butchering, Smoking, Curing, and Sausage Making to ensure you get the most out of your beef, venison, pork, lamb, poultry, and goat. Everything you need to know about how to dress and preserve meat is right here. From slaughtering, to processing, to preserving in ways like smoking and salting, author Philip Hasheider teaches it all. Detailed step-by-step instructions and illustrations guide you through the entire process: you’ll see how to properly secure the animal, and get right into safely and humanely transforming the meat to a feast for the family. You’ll get to know different cuts of meat and see how to process it into different products, like sausages and jerky. With The Complete Book of Butchering, Smoking, Curing, and Sausage Making, you will quickly learn: How to make the best primal and retail cuts from an animal How to field dress wild game Why cleanliness and sanitation are of prime importance for home processing What tools, equipment, and supplies are needed for home butchering How to safely handle live animals before slaughter Important safely practices to avoid injuries About the changes meat goes through during processing Why temperature and time are important factors in meat processing How to properly dispose of unwanted parts The details of animal anatomy The best meals are the ones you make yourself, why not extend this sentiment all the way to the meat itself?