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When I was in 7th grade I had the greatest science teacher. One thing he did for us was to take us on a field trip to the local slaughterhouse where we could see how beef and veal were slaughtered. They don’t make teachers like that anymore.

I'm eating my lunch while I watch it, don't bother me.

Maybe a dog food or soap making operation in the pre-breaker video. Back in the '60's dad got me the worst summer time employment that he could find largely I think to keep me motivated to stay in school. One of those was the local packing house where I got to fill in for guys out sick or on vacation. Washing heads up on the kill floor was memorable and yes, there is a lot of muscle meat on a cow's head and it can and does turn into grinds. What surprised me more than anything was once you hang an animal upside down, what was on the inside wants to get outside with gravity. We killed about 1,200 head a day and those heads came by on a hook and needed to be hosed off. There was a USDA inspector in a white coat over my shoulder pretty often making sure that the green stuff (use your imagination) wasn't on the head after my station. Note to all, cook those burgers.

We dried the blood and it went into a big tank for animal feed supplement. Cleaning the dried blood off the inside of that tank with a shovel was another not so great job or on my back descaling the boiler.

A still warm prime black Angus got gored in transit and died in the truck and I had to skin it because the hide was the only thing we could use from that animal. Worth 5 cents a pound and I rolled it into the bone truck. I should have back strapped that one and paid the nickel a pound price.

This is why I try to only eat what I shoot. Haven't bought meat from the store since 1986.

Richard - I migrated over from Albert City to the turkey plant (Vilas at the time) and worked clean-up for three nights before I got a call from Wilson's in Cherokee to come and work there.

[quote=SuperCub} ...
Muscle is muscle no matter where it comes from and meat is muscle.
[/quote]

That is a difficult concept for many to grasp.

One of my jobs at the packing plant involved trimming the red meat from the "saddle" that went from ear to ear across the top of the hog's head. The ears had been removed for dog treats before they came to me. The trim that I took off went to the wienie room.

When I billed trucks, there was one driver who took drop shipments to California who would take 47,000 - 48,000#. As you said, typical loads ran around 38,000, with Great Dane trailers taking more like 36,000.

None of y'all ever had cabeza tacos?

Pit roasted overnight steers head...............Yum!

I got no problem with the flesh of the skull at all, ate a lot of sheep and lamb head in Basque sheep camp as a kid. I get squeamish with stuff like glands and cerebrospinal fluids and unidentified parts that are utilized from mechanical separation. Sometimes, I guess it's just better not to know.

Most of the head meat generated east of the Mississippi gets sent to Cincinnati for making Cincinnati Chili. Head meat is good, but it needs to be cooked longer. It's the only meat out there that will stand up to 27 hours of continuous cooking. Others cuts will disintegrate. I actually prefer Gold Star chili over most of the others for this reason. Gold Star uses the most head meat of any of the major chili operations.

https://www.goldstarchili.com/

Whatever that is, I highly doubt it is for the production of human food.

You're probably right if this is an American plant.
Being goat, I have some doubts.
Some guys like the intestine contents, but I always field dress that out before processing game, as you likely do too. Besides those others who eat the pellets, they do add chicken crap to dog food. The urea boosts the nitrogen content.

I don't care about a goat head salami. Maybe that's what the giros are?
I just don't like swallowing a chunk of lead that they put it down with..

PS: my screen is too small. Are those horses?
If so, this definitely ain't america.
That hide is worth way more for leather than dog food.
Besides, they can't sell it for human consumption any more than dog and cat. My bad.

After I graduated High School I worked a while for my Mothers, first cousin that ran a custom meat processing plant. Part of the price to butcher a beef was that He got to keep the hide and head. When He would get several heads, he would then bone them and use the meat along with pork butts to make sausage. It was really good sausage, and sold quickly when He made a batch. I tried last winter to mimic His Kielbasa using deer meat and pork butt, and it turned out pretty good for my first try. Two of man's sons ate some and thought I was close. In fact, the one from Colorado is supposed to send my His Dad's Kielbasa recipe, and I will do some more. miles

My Dad was a truck driver for Swift & Co in the East St Louis stockyards. Employees could have "trim" for free. Back then, "trim" included tongue, brains, cheeks, liver, heart, and ribs from beef and pigs. I had a lot of brains and eggs as a kid. Liver, too. But the best was beef tongue. Boiled in salt water, skinned, and then thinly sliced. It's the most delicate, fine-grained meat you can imagine. Possibly the best tasting meat on the animal.

Old Black guys all ran little BBQ shacks. Cinder block and window screening with a hand-painted sign out front "Ribs and Snoots." Low and slow over hickory wood coals, those men were magicians with meat. Ribs and head meat.

Those parts/ trim cost a premium around here, even though there's not much demand for them. Organs and tongue from beef at least.
As a young boy I wondered what was in the yoder amish market meat case. Mom said it was cow tongue. I thought, "oooohh gross, the part that tastes you back when you eat it!" Then I said, SURE MOM looks gross, but I'll try it!
Friends still think I eat weird food.
I will do the salt soak/ boil and skin it like you say. I was wondering why mine was never tender as moms way of cooking it. Is this to tenderize it?

Question Rocky,
Should I keep the salt water for a broth afterwards, or is the flavor off?

The meat tastes fine, but the reason I ask is that sometimes that's recommended for small game to draw out the gamey flavor before broiling, etc

You do not keep the salt water in which you boiled the tongue. It's been over 60 years, so the details are a mite hazy. I do remember that after Mom boiled it and let it cool enough to handle, she removed the outer skin, leaving just the smooth inner muscle. Then sliced it maybe a quarter inch thick, on an angle to get the widest slices. We usually ate it as sandwich meat with a smear of mustard.

I kill it and bring it home, or raise it right here under my ever watchful eye, GTG! fugg the stores and the trash they push across the meat/deli counter.

I read the book Fast Food Nation many years ago. I have not eaten certain meat products since. I do my utmost to butcher two deer every year. It gets me by.

Thanks!
I'm looking forward to giving that a try.
Our mom's knew how to make real good food that the school lunch kids would never touch. They don't know what they're missing.

My Dr is one of the few that studied nutrition, history, demographics, and how it relates to health challenges.
She is also my teacher.
She found that poor Southerners would eat the whole animal, hocks, ears, brain, etc. This was the key to the outstanding health that they had over the wealthy.
She recommends certain foods to her patients instead of drugs or surgeries. Her results speak for themselves.