My dad still does this as well, and I reap the rewards. Last steer we slaughtered I paid for the slaughter and I butcher and kept half and he and mom kept half which means I get away like a BANDIT, but IIRC I think they actually paid their half as well so basically at 42 my parents spoil me more financially now then they did when I was 16 and worked 3 jobs to buy a $500 nova that ran on 4 of its 6 cylinders (haha)
Oh yeah we hunt and fish here in Georgia for sure….man around here, hunting and fishing as a kid is like your initiation to manhood.


When we were kids we had video taped the process one time on 8mm and kept all the entrails in a huge bucket to take to a science teacher who wanted to keep it for class. I grew up hunting and fishing, gutting birds, deer, whatever, but to this day I have never taken it lightly. Even when I'm cleaning a duck or a rabbit, I try to get every piece of edible meat off that thing because it feels like the "right thing" to do.
When you watch your steer or cow take a bullet to the head and collapse as fast as the sound gets to your ears, it honestly does rock your world a little bit. But maybe it should. Maybe being connected to the process is healthier. I truly don't like killing animals, but I respect my place in the food chain, I love the therapy of hunting and I appreciate meat for everything it represents.
I don't mind gutting a dead animal at all, but I'm also very aware of the compartmentalization that's going on in my head.
OK so last night I made 15 more and I did ice bath them again but I honestly have no idea why. I don't like my eggs over cooked, so I think once they were "done" my only goal was to stop the cooking.
1. bring pot to boil
2. add eggs. cold eggs stop the boil.
3. bring pot to boil again
4. once boiling, set timer for 5-7 minutes (depending on if I was paying attention or not)
5. move eggs to a strainer filled with ice, they're still very hot
6. peel eggs that are still too hot to hold, under cold water
6a. at this point I am NOT running cold water on the other eggs, I am attempting to peel them while still hot.
did this 2 times this week and all but one peeled like a charm!