Book excerpt: Butchering Small Game and Birds is essential reading for those who have embraced self-sufficiency, and who regard small game and birds, both domesticated and wild, as an essential part of their diet. The book covers rabbits, hare, quail, chicken and turkey as well as game birds and provides comprehensive guidance relating to all aspects of the craft of butchery. It begins with an in-depth examination of equipment and presents instructions on how to use and maintain knives correctly. This is followed by a careful consideration of how to humanely dispatch the animal or bird for butchering with speed and precision. The volume then studies in detail the butchery techniques and procedures including basic small game and bird anatomy, the importance of meat inspection and hygiene and dealing with aged birds and animals. Further sections cover techniques such as paunching, the removal of offal, extraction of shot, skinning, plucking, drawing and dressing birds, washing carcases, jointing rabbits and hares and trussing. The preservation of meat, preparing meat for the freezer and hanging and curing of skins is also covered following the philosophy that every part of an animal or bird that is usable should be used. This invaluable book presents a complete manual for anyone who wishes to become a humane and skilled home butcher, and is superbly illustrated with 164 colour step-by-step photographs.