■ 25 July 2008 | 12:40 PM
Catching dinner at Polyface Farm
I’m just back from a road trip way out yonder to Swoope, beyond the Virginia mountains, a place so rural that won’t register on MapQuest.
When I arrived in Virginia Beach, I had bits of feathers stuck in my hair and an outdoorsy aroma. The shoes that I had been trudging around Polyface Farm in for the past couple of days were tied into a plastic bag and banished to the back of the rental car.
Vanity aside (it was raining out there, everyone was soaked), the picture shows me catching tonite's dinner. I’ve done that with a pole before, but never with my hands.
It was about 7 a.m. on slaughter day at Polyface Farm, where author and eco-innovator Joel Salatin raises livestock in a way that is kind to the environment and respectful of the animals.
In a coupla weeks, I’ll have a story in The Pilot about the farm and Joel’s philosophy that state and federal bureaucracy has made it nearly impossible for farmers to offer wholesome food for the American table. He’s a fascinating fellow, but busy. I had to interview him during the weekly slaughter of chickens.
The process, which he does outdoors, just like the old days (to the ire of some bureaucrats, he says), is far less alarming than one might think. It all goes rather quickly and there’s some solace in the fact that his chickens have grown up outdoors in the fresh country air, their pens moved daily to provide fresh grazing ground, which they eat in addition to feed.
Salatin calls them “pastured” chickens.
Now, being The Pilot’s “staff epicure,” I felt obliged to bring a big, empty cooler up to Polyface, and I now have a big, fat chicken chilling in my fridge (not the exact one I caught, but close enough). Polyface regulars say that of all the products the farm sells, the chicken has the most distinctive taste.
So I’m heading home shortly to consult Cook’s Illustrated's "The Best Chicken Recipes,” one of my favorite cookbooks. Dinner should be yummy! I’ll let you know.
With so much room in the cooler, I also stocked up on Polyface eggs, Delmonico steaks and some ground beef. (More on those later, when I figure out what to do with them.)
Have a delicious weekend!
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The chicken slaughter details
I think the Polyface slaughter process is is very similar to the "old days" when people slaughtered chickens to eat for dinner with no thought of it whatsoever.
Salatin's slaughter days involve a team of interns, apprentices and employees who ring the edge of a sloping cement floor. Hewn timbers hold a corrugated tin roof. Exposed water lines run across the ceiling and dangle down onto the tables where de-feathered chickens are eviscerated and painstakingly cleaned of every feather by hand. Then they are chilled in big, 100-gallon tubs.
Although there is quite a bit of blood at the front of the operation, and the automatic plucking machines are on the violent side, I watched the whole process for more than two hours and wasn't contemplating converting from my omnivore status.
I don't know how much detail I'll go into in the story as it's still coming together in my head
how much detail will you provide?
Will you include a description of the chicken-slaughter process in your story? No, I'm not a sicko looking for a kick of gratuitous violence; I'm wondering how close the process is to my Grandma's method.
I remember Grandma would clean several chickens on the day our family would arrive "in the country" (Missouri) while on vacation. After she caught one of the chickens by their legs (as in your photo), she'd tuck its head under one of its wings (this makes them go to sleep) and would hold them like that until they went to sleep. You (my sisters and I) could actually feel the chicken relax as the fear and tension left its body. Then, a quick twist and "off with its head!" and the rest of the story followed. I swear the chicken was more tnder and tasted much better than anything I've ever bought in a store or restaurant since.