The Queen - an interesting culinary aside

If you haven't seen this movie and don't want any information to distort your enjoyment of this movie, then please stop now and come back another time.






In the film 'The Queen,' there is the stalking and killing of a stag with a substantial set of antlers. The Queen visits the estate where the stag was killed to review it. She is lead to a special purpose building where the stag, less its head, is hanging. The body positioned precisely to drain the blood into a drain hole. If you look at the outer perimeter, there are birds hanging. On a table is the stag's head waiting to go to the taxidermist. The only purpose of this building was for hanging and processing game. It was a glimpse into the lifestyles of the wealthy gentry of a different era.

Tallyrand's Culinary Fare wrote:- Hanging is essential for all game. It drains the flesh of blood and begins the process of disintegration which is vital to make the flash soft and edible, and also to develop flavour.
- The hanging time is determined be the type, condition and age of the game and storage temperature.
- Old birds need to hang for a long time than young birds.
- Game birds are not plucked before hanging.
- Venison and hare are hung with the skin on.
- Game must be hung in a well ventilated, dry, cold store room; this is not to be refrigerated.
-Game birds should be hung by the neck with the feet down.

I have a friend who believes a game bird is not ready to eat until the body falls to the floor separated from the head.

Reminds me of that moment in the mini-series "Shogun," when the servant is beheaded for taking down the Englishman's hanging game bird. The Chinese considered the rotting flesh to be a real horror -- so much so that beheading seemed preferable to letting the bird continue to hang.

Not to be a smart-*ss, but Shogun takes place within Japanese culture, not Chinese.

Artemesia wrote:Not to be a smart-*ss, but Shogun takes place within Japanese culture, not Chinese.

Of course. I shouldn't post when I'm tired. Or perhaps it was because I'd just read too many LTH posts about Chinese restaurants.