Electrocuting your chicken

[PurpleCArTires]

Hey guys, I came across something curious and was wondering anyone ever tried it and how did you do it?

My kids were watching The Backyard Scientist on YouTube and he did an episode about electrocuting your meat to tenderize it (already processed, not live animals). He claimed Ben Franklin found that electrocuting Turkeys made them more tender. He did some experiments and claimed some fresh fish was more tender. He also stated alot of food processors use electricity to tenderize and add flavor to the meat! (GOOGLE Confirmed this BTW) He used an old diffibrulator, but I was thinking of sticking two probes in my chicken attached to a car battery . I don't know if it would work. My husband seems to think I am crazy .

Anyone every tried this?

 

[Geena]

 

[Molpet]

Hey guys, I came across something curious and was wondering anyone ever tried it and how did you do it?

My kids were watching The Backyard Scientist on YouTube and he did an episode about electrocuting your meat to tenderize it (already processed, not live animals). He claimed Ben Franklin found that electrocuting Turkeys made them more tender. He did some experiments and claimed some fresh fish was more tender. He also stated alot of food processors use electricity to tenderize and add flavor to the meat! (GOOGLE Confirmed this BTW) He used an old diffibrulator, but I was thinking of sticking two probes in my chicken attached to a car battery . I don't know if it would work. My husband seems to think I am crazy .

Anyone every tried this?

He killed the birds with electricity.

https://arstechnica.com/science/201...lin-tried-and-failed-to-electrocute-a-turkey/

He eventually figured out how much was needed.

Some countries it's considered a humane way to dispatch and commonly used.

 

[Battlepants]

I haven't tried it, but I wouldn't expect very good results. Electricity has a habit of finding the path of least resistance and just going that direction. So I would expect lines of overcooked/tough/burnt meat in the middle while the outside remains raw.

The general suggestions that I have for keeping meat tender is to keep that temperature low and to keep the meat moist. I love cooking sous vide as this is a great way to cook meat right in it's own juices or even butter. Comes out very tender and moist and is impossible to overcook if you set things up right.

The other method that I use for tenderization is to try to break down the long muscle fibers - this can be from either cutting against the grain or smacking it around with a mallet.

 

[iwltfum]

I'm pretty sure some of the big guys use electrocution to stun the birds (chickens and turkeys) on their butcher line before bleeding them out. They do it in a tub of water to conduct the electricity if I'm not mistaken. A small step in the conveyor belt systems they use.

Personally, to do this on a home scale, seems like overcomplicating things.

Butcher your birds young and you wont have a problem with the tenderness. Older birds need a bit more thought and different cooking methods. And really old birds just aren't that great eating. There's a point of diminishing returns.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

He killed the birds with electricity.

https://arstechnica.com/science/201...lin-tried-and-failed-to-electrocute-a-turkey/

He eventually figured out how much was needed.
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Some countries it's considered a humane way to dispatch and commonly used.

Oh very interesting! Yeah, I don't want to do that. Lol

 

[PurpleCArTires]

I'm pretty sure some of the big guys use electrocution to stun the birds (chickens and turkeys) on their butcher line before bleeding them out. They do it in a tub of water to conduct the electricity if I'm not mistaken. A small step in the conveyor belt systems they use.

Personally, to do this on a home scale, seems like overcomplicating things.

Butcher your birds young and you wont have a problem with the tenderness. Older birds need a bit more thought and different cooking methods. And really old birds just aren't that great eating. There's a point of diminishing returns.

Yeah, I don't want to stun them before death. I just thought it was an interesting idea to further tenderize meat. I usually turn my extra roos into capons or butcher my meaties young. They are pretty good as is, just thought it was an interesting topic

 

[PurpleCArTires]

I haven't tried it, but I wouldn't expect very good results. Electricity has a habit of finding the path of least resistance and just going that direction. So I would expect lines of overcooked/tough/burnt meat in the middle while the outside remains raw.

The general suggestions that I have for keeping meat tender is to keep that temperature low and to keep the meat moist. I love cooking sous vide as this is a great way to cook meat right in it's own juices or even butter. Comes out very tender and moist and is impossible to overcook if you set things up right.

The other method that I use for tenderization is to try to break down the long muscle fibers - this can be from either cutting against the grain or smacking it around with a mallet.

Oh good point about the path of least resistance! I didn't even think about that.

My chickens cook up pretty good as is, I just thought this was an interesting topic. Like I butchered some turkeys last year and I don't know how old they were, but boy were they wild tasting. Very tough. I felt bad, I ended up giving most of it to the dogs

 

[iwltfum]

Oh good point about the path of least resistance! I didn't even think about that.

My chickens cook up pretty good as is, I just thought this was an interesting topic. Like I butchered some turkeys last year and I don't know how old they were, but boy were they wild tasting. Very tough. I felt bad, I ended up giving most of it to the dogs

Been there. I butchered two three-year-old turkeys that my boss wanted gone. Waste of time. Both of them also went to the dogs. It was so stringy that it was like eating clumps of wet horse hair. It was early on in my butchering experience so I'm not sure if I contributed to the toughness in someway by not resting or something but, by golly, it was bad.

 

[PurpleCArTires]

Been there. I butchered two three-year-old turkeys that my boss wanted gone. Waste of time. Both of them also went to the dogs. It was so stringy that it was like eating clumps of wet horse hair. It was early on in my butchering experience so I'm not sure if I contributed to the toughness in someway by not resting or something but, by golly, it was bad.

Stringy wet horse hair is the perfect description!