Eat What You Kill - Permaculture Activist Magazine

Eat What You Kill
Review by Peter Bane
JOHN J. METTLER JR., DVM
Basic Butchering of
Livestock & Game
Beef • veal • pork • lamb •
poultry • rabbit • venison
Storey Publishing. No. Adams, MA.
rev. ed. 2006.
192 pp. paper. illustrated. $16.95.
J
ust what its title says, this
well-illustrated work has stood the test
of time, having been written a generation
ago and having sold 200,000 copies since.
Mettler worked as a veterinarian in the
U.S. Army during the War in the Pacific,
training islanders to slaughter and butcher
meat in the wake of the U.S. forces’
westward advance toward Japan. His
writing is clear and the many illustrations
are good. It would be challenging to
learn to kill and take apart a large animal
with this book alone but, with the help
of several others, could clearly be done.
A better path would be to work with an
experienced butcher or neighbor who
has done the work. Still, in view of the
decline of community food systems and
the loss of skills, that may not everywhere
be possible.
Terminology in meat cutting is arcane
and even good cooks only know the
shopping end of things. Tools too are
distinctive, though the author makes clear
that common substitutes (a carpenter’s
saw for a meat saw) will do the job.
Blades, however, must be sharp, and he
points out just how to keep the edge on a
knife, why a steel is necessary, and how it
must scarcely be heard.
After some introductory remarks
about tools and working spaces (he
imagines you may be butchering in a
barn or a shed with straw or sawdust on
the floor), the author takes us through
seven chapters on the principal meat
animals listed in the book’s subtitle, and
then offers a few comments on unusual
or less popular domestic livestock and
game: horses, bison, woodchuck, and
raccoon. In a book about blood and guts
he tells a side splittingly funny tale about
goat meat. The last third of the book
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is dedicated to methods of preserving
meat, including instructions for making
a simple smokehouse, and recipes for
old-time flesh foods. If you’ve never had
souse, corned tongue, pickled pigs feet, or
sweetbreads (with lobster no less), here’s
testimony that many have enjoyed these
nutritious delicacies before you.
The emphasis throughout is on
responsible and humane slaughter that
minimizes suffering to the animal, and
as well on proper sanitary handling to
avoid food-borne illness. Mettler offers
tips on this throughout, but also stresses
how to evaluate an animal’s suitability
for the knife. He has clearly seen a
number of cases where prompt action by
the farmer was needed to turn a tragic
accident (pregnant cow with a broken
leg) into a much appreciated windfall.
By implication, the culture of animal
husbandry, slaughtering, and processing
was a communal endeavor that sustained
humans well in difficult environments
and will again. Whether we ever pick up
the shotgun or the knife ourselves, this
ancient adaptive enterprise deserves our
respect.
Recommended for its high quality
information, both textual and graphic. ∆