THRIVING after the FALL
Book One FEASTING after the FALL

The Log · FEASTING · Read the chapter

Chapter 9: The Hardest Chapter

62 claims, 22 marked for safety

B1 Safety amended Story cow; Bench 1; Numbers

Frontal landmark: lines from lateral canthus to opposite horn base, shoot 1–2 cm above the crossing, midline, muzzle flat and 90° to bone, aimed at spine; poll shot misses 30 % vs frontal 12 %; skull 46.7 mm, brain 92 mm; standard bolt 12–15 cm, bulls 16.5–17.8 cm; bolt 300–500 J, ≥55 m/s

To check against
45
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
Landmark: Gilliam et al. 2012, Animal Welfare 21:99 (cambridge.org PDF, lateral-canthus site disrupted brainstem 6/8 heads vs 0/8 medial); AABP Euthanasia Guidelines 2025 aabp.org/Resources/AABP_Guidelines/EUTHANASIA-2025.pdf (perpendicular, lateral canthus to opposite horn); EFSA AHAW 2020 Welfare of cattle at slaughter pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7607414/ (55 m/s cows, 72 m/s young bulls; penetration ≥9 cm); Grandin grandin.com/humane/cap.bolt.tips.html (55 m/s cows, 70 m/s bulls); poll/frontal figure pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12304776/ ; skull figure academic.oup.com/tas/article/doi/10.1093/tas/txae170/7917120 ; CFIA stunning guidelines inspection.canada.ca/en/food-guidance-commodity/meat-prod… (bolt ≥12 cm cattle, 15 cm bulls); Frontiers Vet Sci 2022 10.3389/fvets.2022.949198 (155 mm heavy cattle, 172 mm water buffalo)
Note
Landmark, 90°, midline, aim at spine, ≥55 m/s: confirmed. Four figures are wrong species or wrong size: (1) "poll misses 30 % vs frontal 12 %" is a HORSE study (PMC12304776); (2) "skull 46.7 mm, brain 92 mm" are YAK heads (24–48-month male yaks), not cattle; (3) bolt length: CFIA requires ≥12 cm for cattle and 15 cm for bulls; the 16.5–17.8 cm band has no source — Frontiers 2022 gives 155 mm for heavy cattle and 172 mm for water buffalo; (4) "300–500 J" not found in any source opened (one pneumatic stunner measured 448 J; drop the joule range). "1–2 cm above the crossing": the one Holstein study found says about 1 cm rostral to the crossing (sciencedirect S0022030225003959, abstract via search only, not opened); keep "just above the crossing". Proposed: "Where the lines from the outer corner of each eye to the opposite horn cross, a finger's width above, flat to the bone and aimed at the spine; a bolt of at least 12 cm, 15 for a bull, travelling at 55 metres a second or more." Drop the poll/frontal percentages and the skull depths, or re-attribute them to horses and yaks.
B2 Safety confirmed Story cow; Bench 1; If wrong

Stun signs: immediate collapse, no righting, tonic then clonic paddling (spinal, not feeling), no corneal/palpebral reflex, tongue out, no rhythmic breathing; failed: head lift, nystagmus, rhythmic breathing, vocalisation → second shot at once 2 cm from first; second cartridge in pocket

To check against
45
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
EFSA 2020 Welfare of cattle at slaughter pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7607414/ (Table of ABMs: tonic seizure, corneal/palpebral reflex, breathing, "relaxed jaws with protruding tongue", righting reflex and head-raising, nystagmus, vocalisation; re-shoot rule); AABP 2025 guidelines (second shot "required immediately and is not optional")
Note
All signs match EFSA's indicators. One detail: EFSA gives no distance for the second shot; it says avoid the immediate area of the first, "above and to one side" if the first was on target, or at the correct site if the first was off target. Suggest "at once, just above and to one side of the first" instead of "2 cm from first". Pocket cartridge is own practice, fine.
B3 Safety amended Story cow, pig; If wrong

Cartridge colours differ by maker, read the box; too light a charge the commonest failure; spring (non-penetrating) bolt fails on 29 % of bulls, not for cattle, adequate for a pig; .22 LR insufficient for cattle; never muzzle-flush with a firearm (barrel bursts)

To check against
45 (cartridge table, NPCB 29 %, .22 WMR minimum, 60–90 cm stand-off); "spring bolt adequate for a 100 kg pig" own
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
EFSA 2020 cattle (PMC7607414): cartridges "identified by calibre (0.22 or 0.25), colour and headstamp", use the manufacturer's recommended cartridge; low cartridge power among causes of failure; Grandin cap.bolt.tips ("Damp cartridges are a major cause of low powered, 'soft' shots"); Oliveira et al. 2018 Meat Sci 10.1016/j.meatsci.2018.02.010 (Europe PMC abstract); TierSchlV Anlage 1 Nr. 1.4 gesetze-im-internet.de/tierschlv_2013/BJNR298200012.html ; CFIA inspection.canada.ca/en/food-guidance-commodity/meat-prod… ; AABP 2025 (.22 LR only for calves <4 months; .22 Magnum or more above; muzzle never against the head, barrel can explode; 1–2 ft); Iowa State vetmed.iastate.edu/vdpam/about/focus-areas/animal-welfare… (60–90 cm)
Note
Confirmed: read the box (maker's recommendation); .22 LR insufficient for adult cattle; never muzzle-flush with a firearm (barrel can burst). Three corrections. (1) The 29 % is the rate of cattle NEEDING TWO OR MORE SHOTS with a pneumatic non-penetrating bolt (vs 12 % with a penetrating bolt), in Zebu cattle, not bulls. (2) "Too light a charge the commonest failure": no source ranks it first; EFSA lists low cartridge power as one of several causes, Grandin names damp cartridges. (3) "Spring (non-penetrating) bolt adequate for a 100 kg pig" is contrary to German law: TierSchlV Anlage 1 Nr. 1.4 bans the non-penetrating bolt for all animals except poultry and rabbits; CFIA limits it to animals under 10 kg. Proposed: "Cartridge colours differ by maker, so read the box and keep the box dry; a weak or damp charge makes a soft shot. A non-penetrating bolt is for a hen or a rabbit, never for a pig or a cow."
B4 Safety amended Story cow; Bench 1; Numbers

Stick within 60 s by law, 30 by the book; thoracic stick (base of neck above breastbone, to the heart, in to hilt, out cutting) preferred over neck cut (carotids retract, conscious 60 s+); brain dead 10–20 s; blood 3–4 % of live weight = 15–20 l for 500 kg; thirsty animal bleeds badly

To check against
45, 46, 129; thirst claim own
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
TierSchlV Anlage 2 (Höchstdauer Betäuben–Entblutungsschnitt: Bolzenschuss Rinder 60 s) gesetze-im-internet.de/tierschlv_2013/BJNR298200012.html ; EFSA 2020 cattle (PMC7607414): chest stick at the brachiocephalic trunk; carotid occlusion delayed isoelectric ECoG up to 127 s after neck cut; after chest stick blood pressure fell within 8 s and max time to isoelectric ECoG was 60 s; HSA suggests 60 s max for penetrating bolt; blood yield: Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science 11(2) 2023 review foodandnutritionjournal.org/volume11number2/a-review-of-s… (cattle 4.5 %, pig 3.5 % of live weight; 3–5 l per 100 kg)
Note
Confirmed: 60 s is German law for cattle shot with a bolt; thoracic stick preferred; neck cut risks carotid occlusion and prolonged brain function (EFSA: up to 127 s in calves). Two corrections. (1) "Brain dead 10–20 s" is too optimistic: EFSA reports blood pressure falls within 8 s but brain activity can last up to 60 s even after a good chest stick. (2) Blood: industry average is about 4.5 % of live weight for cattle (about 22 kg, roughly 21 l from 500 kg), not 3–4 %. "Thirsty animal bleeds badly": no source opened; keep as village lore or drop. Proposed: "Stick within the minute the law allows, sooner by the book; the brain goes dark within a minute of a clean chest stick; a 500 kg cow gives some twenty litres."
B5 Safety amended Story cow; Bench 1; If wrong

Pithing rod 60–100 cm forbidden for food animals (BSE); kicking managed by standing at the head end; nobody at the hind end

To check against
45; position rule own
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
Reg (EC) 999/2001 Art 8(3) and Annex V point 6, as retained at legislation.gov.uk/eur/2001/999/annex/V (text identical in origin): pithing ban applies to bovine, ovine, caprine animals for human or animal consumption in areas with CONTROLLED OR UNDETERMINED BSE risk; Germany negligible risk since 2016 (Landratsamt Ravensburg Merkblatt SRM 16.12.2020, rv.de/…/Merkblatt%20SRM%20Stand%2016.12.2020.pdf; ADT adt.de/aktuelles/deutschland-vernachlaessigbares-bse-risi…); Reg 1099/2009 Art 4(1) lists pithing among death-ensuring procedures eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02… ; TierSchlV Anlage 1 Nr. 1.3
Note
"Forbidden for food animals (BSE)" is too broad: the EU ban covers cattle, sheep and goats only, and only in controlled/undetermined-risk states; Germany is negligible-risk, so in German law today pithing a food cow is not forbidden, and it was never forbidden for pigs. The book can keep "no pithing rod" as its own household rule (brain and cord material spread into the carcass). Rod length 60–100 cm: no source opened. Position rule (stand at the head, nobody at the hind end) is own; sensible, unsourced. Proposed: "The pithing rod is banned for cattle, sheep and goats wherever BSE is not ruled out; the book does not use it at all, because it drives brain into the carcass."
B6 Safety confirmed Story pig; Bench 4

Pig stun: bolt on light charge a finger above the line between the eyes, midline, aimed at tail; stick within 15 s (industry limit for head-only electrical, adopted for every pig); knife into hollow at base of throat two fingers above breastbone, aimed at tail root, in to handle, quarter turn, out; too high = throat cut, too lateral = shoulder

To check against
52 (15 s, stick description from Reddit source 26, 45° pivot); pig bolt placement and error modes own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
EFSA AHAW 2020 Welfare of pigs at slaughter pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC7447914/ (bolt: "midline of the forehead, 1 and 2 cm above eye level… directed towards the tail"; maximum stun-to-stick after head-only electrical "calculated as 15 s"; chest stick "on the ventral aspect of the base of the neck, just in front of the sternum, towards the thoracic inlet", blade long enough to reach the brachiocephalic trunk); TierSchlV Anlage 2 (bolt, other animals: 20 s; electrical 10 s lying / 20 s hanging) and Anlage 1 Nr. 1.1.1 (penetrating bolt on pigs allowed at Hausschlachtung); Iowa State landmarks page (pig: "slightly above a line drawn between the eyes… directed toward the spinal canal")
Note
Placement, aim, 15 s and the stick match. Note for accuracy: the German legal maximum after a bolt shot on a pig is 20 s, so the book's 15 s is stricter than the law, which is fine; say "the limit the textbooks set for an electrically stunned pig" rather than "industry limit". "Light charge" for a pig is sensible but no source opened gives a cartridge grade for pigs; "read the box" (B3) covers...
B7 Safety confirmed Story pig

Hammer/Kopfschlag: universal Hausschlachter method until the 1930s bolt gun; forbidden by TierSchlV for animals over 5 kg (allowed for poultry, rabbits, small animals); the book records "same point, heaviest hammer, knife within seconds" as a last resort under the ban

To check against
TierSchlV Anlage 1; history own; owner decision
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
TierSchlV Anlage 1 Nr. 5.1–5.2 gesetze-im-internet.de/tierschlv_2013/BJNR298200012.html ; Reg 1099/2009 Annex I Table 1 No. 6 and Chapter II point 3 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:02…
Note
Law confirmed, with precision: EU allows the percussive blow only for piglets, lambs, kids, rabbits, hares, fur animals and poultry up to 5 kg, not routine, max 70 animals per person per day; Germany further limits piglets/lambs/kids to ≤5 kg, outside slaughterhouses, only where no other method is available and where the same person stuns and bleeds; it is a "simple" stun, so the bleed must fol...
B8 Safety amended Story hen; Bench 6

Cervical dislocation manual only under 3 kg and max 70 birds/person/day (Reg 1099/2009 Annex I); done once and firmly; neck cut both sides below the jaw, bleed 90–120 s; stun signs: no rhythmic breathing at vent, no corneal reflex, neck slack, wings tight, tremor = reflex, purposeful flap or cry = not stunned; cone; no axe-and-block because attention

To check against
56; axe argument own
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
Reg 1099/2009 Annex I Table 1 No. 5 and Chapter II point 3 (EUR-Lex consolidated 2019): cervical dislocation poultry ≤5 kg; manual only ≤3 kg; "No person shall kill by manual cervical dislocation or percussive blow to the head more than seventy animals per day"; not routine, only where no other stunning method available; TierSchlV Anlage 1 Nr. 4 (gesetze-im-internet): "darf der Genickbruch bei Geflügel nur außerhalb von Schlachthöfen im Falle der Nottötung … und nur im Anschluss an eine Betäubung durchgeführt werden"; TierSchlV § 12 Abs. 7 (no further dressing or scalding until movements have stopped)
Note
The EU figures are right (3 kg, 70/day), but German law is stricter and the draft misses it: in Germany neck dislocation of poultry is allowed only as an emergency killing, outside slaughterhouses, and only AFTER a stun. A hen killed for the pot must be stunned first (a blunt blow to the head is permitted for poultry) and then bled or dislocated. Stun signs and cone practice: consistent with EFSA indicators; bleed 90–120 s: no source opened; TierSchlV requires no plucking/scalding until movement has stopped. Proposed: "German law wants the hen stunned first, a sharp blow to the back of the head, and only then the neck pulled or cut; the EU caps pulling by hand at birds under 3 kg and 70 a day."
B9 Safety amended Story law; Bench 5; Numbers

Trichinella: every part of an untested pig cooked to 70 °C at centre; no raw Mett, cold-smoked raw sausage or air-dried ham from an untested pig; dies in 1 min at 60, at once at 62.2; freezing −15 °C 20 days does not count (freeze-resistant T. britovi/T. nativa in Brandenburg boar and fox; no freezer); digestion 44–46 °C 30 min (ISO 18743); compression test 28 oat-grain pieces from diaphragm pillars between glass plates at 40×, coiled larvae

To check against
52 (from 50); Ch 8 Numbers; compression method, freeze-resistant species own
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
9 CFR 318.10(c)(1) Table (version of 31 May 2018, eCFR API): 60.0 °C 1 min, 61.1 °C 1 min, 62.2 °C instant; Reg (EU) 2015/1375 eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:32… (Annex I Ch. I: digestion at 44–46 °C, about 30 min; Annex II method 2: ≤15 cm pieces 20 days at −15 °C; recital 21: some Trichinella species in game and horses resist freezing; recital: "Trichinoscopic examination fails to detect non-encapsulated Trichinella species … and is no longer suitable as a detection method"); Pannwitz et al. 2010 EID 16:936 pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3086215/ (NE Germany wild animals: T. spiralis 80 %, T. pseudospiralis 15 %; T. britovi present in Germany but not found in that sample)
Note
Confirmed: 70 °C core rule (safe margin over 62.2 °C instant); 60 °C 1 min; digestion 44–46 °C 30 min; −15 °C/20 days is the EU schedule and rightly not relied on. Two corrections. (1) Species: the NE German sylvatic cycle carries T. spiralis and T. pseudospiralis (plus T. britovi nationally); T. nativa is not reported. Proposed: "freeze-tolerant strains live in wild game, and the household has no freezer anyway." (2) Compression test: the EU regulation says the compression (trichinoscope) test misses non-encapsulated Trichinella and is no longer a valid method; T. pseudospiralis, which does not coil in a capsule, is 15 % of isolates in the region. The book may still describe the 28-piece compression test as the only one possible without a lab, but must say plainly that it can pass an infected pig, so the 70 °C rule stands even for a "tested" pig. 28 oat-grain pieces and 40× are from the old compression method; no current source opened (not in 2015/1375). ISO 18743 not opened; the regulation's own method gives the same 44–46 °C.
B10 Safety amended Story cow, law, fat/bone; Bench 3, 8; Numbers

Specified risk material: cattle >12 months skull, brain, eyes, spinal cord, tonsils; >30 months vertebral column; intestines all ages; cord lifted out with a hooked finger and burned; backbone and skull of a cow over 30 months to the fire, oxtail and marrow bones not used from such a cow; brain of every cow burned, pig brain may be eaten; feed ban on animal protein to cattle since 2001; band saw carries 7–61 mg CNS onto 5–8 carcasses

To check against
46 (SRM ages, mg figures); Reg 999/2001 Annex V; feed ban Reg 999/2001 / Council Decision 2000/766; household rule own; owner decision
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
Reg 999/2001 Annex V point 1(a) (retained text legislation.gov.uk/eur/2001/999/annex/V/division/1): skull incl. brain and eyes and spinal cord >12 months; vertebral column >30 months; tonsils, last 4 m of small intestine, caecum and mesentery all ages — for animals from controlled/undetermined BSE-risk areas; Landratsamt Ravensburg Merkblatt SRM (16.12.2020): Germany negligible risk since 7 July 2016, so German cattle SRM = only skull (without mandible) incl. brain, eyes, and spinal cord of cattle over 12 months; Helps et al. 2004 J Food Prot 67:1921 (Europe PMC abstract, PMID 15453582); Bundesrat press release 195/2000 bundesrat.de/SharedDocs/pm/2000/195-2000.html (German ban on feeding animal meal to farm animals, in force Dec 2000)
Note
Three corrections. (1) Law: for German cattle today only skull/brain/eyes and spinal cord over 12 months are SRM; vertebral column >30 months, tonsils and intestines are SRM only for cattle from controlled-risk countries. The book's stricter household rule (backbone and skull of an over-30-month cow to the fire; every cow's brain burned) is fine as an owner decision but must not be presented as current German law. (2) "Intestines all ages" is too broad even under the full list: last 4 m of small intestine, caecum, mesentery, and tonsils. (3) Band saw: the saw ACCUMULATED 7–61 mg of the first carcass's spinal cord (in 23–135 g of debris) while splitting 5–8 carcasses; each of the next five carcasses picked up up to 2.5 % first-carcass tissue, about 9 mg spinal cord. Proposed: "In one trial the saw that split one cow carried up to 61 milligrams of her spinal cord, and a few milligrams onto each of the next five carcasses." Feed ban: Germany banned animal meal for all farm animals from 2 Dec 2000 (Bundesrat) and the EU from 1 Jan 2001 (Decision 2000/766/EC, cited in search result, not opened); "since 2001" is right for the total ban.
B11 Safety amended Story cow, pig; Bench 3, 4; If wrong

Gullet tied twice before opening; bung ringed, drawn out, tied and bagged first (EHEC 35 % → 1.7 %, "twenty-fold"); midline opened with two fingers inside ahead of the blade, edge up and out; rumen nick: do not wash, excise every touched surface; gall bladder pinched off whole, bile cannot be washed off; rumen ~100 l

To check against
46 (weasand, bung, EHEC %, rumen 100 l), 52 (finger-guide from blog source 53, zero-tolerance excision not washing), 56 (gall)
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
Stopforth et al. 2006 J Food Prot 69:1452 "Location of bung bagging during beef slaughter…" (Europe PMC abstract, PMID 16786873); doc 46 (rumen up to 100 l, citing adeptclip.com, industry site; not verified independently)
Note
Bung bagging figures are misread. The study compared bagging BEFORE vs AFTER the pre-evisceration wash: carcass-surface EHEC 35 % (bag before wash) vs 58.3 % (bag after wash); E. coli O157:H7 1.7 % vs 5 %. There is no "35 % → 1.7 %" and no twenty-fold drop. Proposed: "Tying and bagging the bung before any water touches the carcass cut surface EHEC from 58 to 35 per cent in one abattoir trial, and O157 from 5 to under 2." The rest (gullet tied, finger-guided midline cut, excise do not wash, gall bladder pinched off whole) is standard good practice; no regulation opened; the zero-tolerance-excision rule is from the US FSIS (not opened). Rumen ~100 l: order of magnitude plausible, source is an equipment vendor; say "a hundred litres or so".
B12 Safety unresolved Story hoist; Bench 2; If wrong

Hoist: gambrel through hind tendons, four-fall block and tackle, beam or larch tripod rated for a tonne, three people on the rope; a gutted 500 kg cow still ~300 kg; rope, blocks and beam load-tested before the animal is on them; falling carcass breaks legs

To check against
own
The verdict
UNRESOLVED
Found
none opened (own rule; web-search budget exhausted)
Note
Rigging rules (four-fall tackle, tripod rated for a tonne, load-test before the animal goes up, three on the rope) are sound practice but carry no checkable figure except "gutted 500 kg cow still ~300 kg". Typical cold-carcass yield of cattle is 55–60 % of live weight, i.e. 275–300 kg WITHOUT head, hide, feet and viscera; gutted with hide and head still on it will be nearer 350 kg. Not verified from an opened source; suggest "still three hundred kilos and more". Second pass: find an extension-service dressing-percentage table.
B13 Safety amended Story pig; Bench 4; If wrong

Scald safety: 200 l at 62 °C from a 50 l copper lit at four; over-scald >62–63 °C cooks skin and sets bristles (only remedy skin the pig), under 58 no release, loosening reverses on cooling; trough never at head height, pails never over anyone; scald burn: cold running water 20 min, honey (Ch 13), doctor for a hand's-breadth burn on a child

To check against
52 (thresholds, reversal); volumes, first aid own
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
NHS Burns and scalds nhs.uk/conditions/burns-and-scalds/ ("Hold the burn or scald under cool running water for 20 minutes"; "do not put any creams, oils or butter on burns or scalds"); doc 52 (62–63 °C over-scald, <58 °C no release; cites a ResearchGate review, not opened)
Note
First aid 20 min cool running water: confirmed. Honey as FIRST aid is not supported: NHS says put nothing on a fresh burn; honey (Ch 13) only later, as a dressing, if at all. Scald thresholds rest on doc 52 only; the primary review could not be opened; treat as UNRESOLVED on second pass. "Doctor for a hand's-breadth burn on a child": NHS page gives no size rule; the palm-size (about 1 % body surface) rule for children is common paediatric guidance but was not opened here. Proposed: "Cool running water for twenty minutes and nothing else on it that day; honey only on the dressing after; a child's burn bigger than the child's palm goes to whoever in the village has doctored."
B14 Safety unresolved Story fat; Bench 7; If wrong

Fat fire: tallow catches at ~200 °C and above, a wood fire under an unwatched kettle reaches it in minutes; lid or sand, never water (fireball); kettle never left, never more than a third full, no children; a fat fire at the ceiling is a house fire, leave the house; splash at 110 °C burns to the bone; 49 calls tallow "non-flammable" (contradiction)

To check against
49 (smoke 215, decomposition 293, "non-flammable"); flash/fire point of tallow ~ 265–300 °C? check; fire rule own
The verdict
UNRESOLVED
Found
doc 49 (smoke 215 °C, decomposition 293 °C, "non-flammable"); en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grease_fire (lead only: water "vaporizes instantly… ejecting a plume of burning liquid"; lid to seal)
Note
Fire rules (lid or sand, never water, never leave, a third full, no children, leave the house if it reaches the ceiling) are standard fire-service advice; no primary fire-service page opened. Tallow ignition figure not settled: "catches at ~200 °C" is below its smoke point in most tables (Wikipedia Tallow gives smoke point 249 °C, unsourced); flash point of fats is usually quoted near 300 °C. Keep the wording qualitative ("well above frying heat, and a wood fire under an unwatched kettle gets there") until an SDS is opened. Doc 49's "non-flammable" is plainly wrong (tallow is candle fuel); the book is right to override it. "Splash at 110 °C burns to the bone" is hyperbole; say "burns deep".
B15 Safety amended Story bone; Bench 8; If wrong

Broth is a two-day food: boiled again every day or reduced by nine tenths to a glaze; a warm pot overnight is the botulism jar of Ch 12, thrown out not boiled

To check against
own; Ch 12
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
own; FSIS C. perfringens page (fsis.usda.gov/…/clostridium-perfringens) returned 403, not read
Note
The hazard of a warm stock pot overnight is chiefly Clostridium perfringens (and Bacillus cereus), the classic large-pot, slow-cooling organisms, not botulism; botulinum toxin is destroyed by boiling, some staphylococcal and B. cereus toxins are not. The practical rule (boil daily or reduce hard; a pot left warm overnight is thrown out, not reboiled) is right; only the named organism is wrong. Not verified from an opened source; second pass: FSIS or BfR on C. perfringens. Proposed: "A warm pot left overnight is the stew-pot poisoning every army cook knows, and boiling does not undo it; it goes to the fire."
B16 Safety confirmed Story pig; Bench 4, 5; If wrong

Blood: bowl under the wound before the knife is out, stirred 5 min with 1 tbsp salt/l until cool, clots in a minute unstirred, 3–4 l from a 100 kg pig, used same day; clotted blood boiled to the pig

To check against
own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
Current Research in Nutrition and Food Science 11(2) 2023 review (pig blood yield 3.5 % of live weight; 3–5 l per 100 kg)
Note
3–4 l from a 100 kg pig matches. Salt 1 tbsp/l and stirring 5 min: household practice, no source opened (the review describes citrate, 3 g/l, as the industrial anticoagulant); "clots in a minute unstirred" not verified. Same-day use is prudent.
B17 Safety unresolved Story pig's day; Bench 5; If wrong

Kochwurst safety: blood sausage cooked at 80 °C never boiling 60–90 min until it weeps clear; keeps a week in the cold, longer smoked; bursts if boiled or filled tight; all sausage from an untested pig to 70 °C; raw sausage is Ch 11's and needs the pink salt; Sülze keeps a week on vinegar and gelatin

To check against
own; Ch 11
The verdict
UNRESOLVED
Found
none opened for the product rules; 9 CFR 318.10 (2018) and B9 for the 70 °C Trichinella rule
Note
70 °C for all sausage from an untested pig: consistent with B9. Blood-sausage poaching at about 80 °C, never boiling, 60–90 min; keeping a week cold; Sülze a week: standard German Kochwurst practice, no official source opened (second pass: DLG or Leitsätze für Fleisch und Fleischerzeugnisse for Kochwurst; BfR on Blutwurst).
B18 Safety amended Story cow; Bench 3; Numbers

Hanging without a chiller: industry ≤7 °C core within 20–24 h; yard 0–4 °C 7–10 days, 10 °C 3 days, above 15 do not kill; flies stop below 10 °C, muslin door, halves not touching; cold shortening if <10 °C in the first 10 h (a hen on a January sill, not a half cow); tenderising stops at ~3 weeks; dry-age max 35 days at −0.5 to 3 °C RH ≤85 %, 5 % loss at 14 days

To check against
46 (chill, dry-age), 52 (cold shortening rule, pig), 129 (dry-age losses); yard figures own
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
Reg 853/2004 Annex III Sect. I Ch. VII (retained text legislation.gov.uk/eur/2004/853/annex/III/section/I/chapt…): chill "immediately… not more than 3 °C for offal and 7 °C for other meat along a chilling curve that ensures a continuous decrease"; derogation periods up to 24 h for bovine; EFSA BIOHAZ 2023 Microbiological safety of aged meat, EFSA J 21:7745 (Europe PMC abstract): dry-ageing at surface −0.5 to 3.0 °C, RH 75–85 %, airflow 0.2–0.5 m/s, up to 35 days; doc 52 (cold shortening below 10 °C before pH < 6)
Note
The law sets ≤7 °C core, with no fixed hours; "within 20–24 h" is industry practice, and the 24 h figure appears only in the transport derogation. Dry-age 35 days, −0.5–3 °C, RH ≤85 %: confirmed (EFSA gives 75–85 %). Cold shortening rule: only doc 52, which is consistent with the book. Yard figures (0–4 °C 7–10 days, 10 °C 3 days, above 15 do not kill), flies below 10 °C, tenderising stops at ~3 weeks, 5 % loss at 14 days: no source opened. Proposed: "The law wants the meat below 7 °C right through, falling all the time; a slaughterhouse gets there in a day."
B19 Safety unresolved Story fat, hide; Bench 9

Lye and lime: wood-ash lye burns, eyes covered; 1 kg tallow ≈ 140 g NaOH or 200 g KOH; egg-float test (coin-width cap); slaked lime 1 kg/20 l burns eyes and skin, goggles and gloves; spent lime and bark liquor to compost never the stream

To check against
49 (IV 40–55, INS ~128, Aussalzen, no proportions); SAP values, egg test, lime dose own
The verdict
UNRESOLVED
Found
doc 77 and doc 49 only; Codex CXS 211-1999 (tallow saponification value) not reachable this session
Note
140 g NaOH / 200 g KOH per kg tallow is consistent with the usual saponification value of beef tallow (about 190–200 mg KOH/g, i.e. 190–200 g KOH per kg; ×40/56 = 135–143 g NaOH), but no primary opened. Note: "200 g KOH" is pure KOH; wood-ash lye is mostly potassium carbonate plus some KOH, so the weights are not usable for ash lye, only the egg test is. Lime 1 kg/20 l, eye and skin burns, keep spent liquor out of the stream: no source opened; Ca(OH)2 is caustic (see T12).
B20 Safety confirmed Story hide; If wrong

Anthrax: a hide from an animal that died on its own of nothing visible is not skinned; anthrax spores in old grazing soil and in a hide for years; such an animal is not eaten or fed to the pig, burned or buried 2 m deep away from the well

To check against
own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
WOAH Anthrax disease page woah.org/en/disease/anthrax/ ("the carcass should not be opened"; spores in soil cause disease "even years after an outbreak"; disposal "preferably by incineration or alternatively by deep burial with quick lime"; infection "spread by wool or hides"); TierNebG § 10 Abs. 1 gesetze-im-internet.de/tiernebg/BJNR008210004.html (fallen animals may not be skinned, opened or cut up before collection)
Note
Supported. Additions: say "not opened, not skinned" (opening lets it sporulate); quicklime with deep burial; incineration preferred. "2 m deep" is not in the WOAH text; keep as the book's figure or say "deep". Anthrax is a notifiable animal disease in Germany (not opened here).
B21 Safety unresolved Opening; Story behind the scenes; Bench 7; If wrong

Children behind the fence for the shot and the stick, stirring the blood, carrying the soup; not in the kitchen during rendering; every person's place fixed before the shot

To check against
own (village custom, safety rule)
The verdict
UNRESOLVED
Found
own rule
Note
No factual claim to verify; a sound village safety rule. No source needed beyond B13/B14 for the burn and fat-fire reasons.
B22 Safety amended Story law, hen; If wrong

Burial of slaughter waste forbidden (TierNebG); knacker (Tierkörperbeseitigung) route; after the fall burn what the law says to burn, bury the rest deep away from the well; feathers, hen heads, feet, guts and blood boiled to the pig (swill ban of Ch 8 applies to kitchen waste, own-yard offal status to check)

To check against
TierNebG §§ 3, 12; Reg 1069/2009; swill/offal feeding rule own
The verdict
AMENDED
Found
TierNebG § 3, § 10 (gesetze-im-internet); Reg 1069/2009 Art 11(1) (retained text legislation.gov.uk/eur/2009/1069/article/11): bans (a) feeding terrestrial animals with processed animal protein from the same species, (b) feeding farmed animals catering waste (defined in the Regulation to include household kitchens)
Note
TierNebG § 3 places the duty to hand over Category 1 and 2 material (SRM, fallen stock) to the knacker; § 12 is surveillance, not burial; the burial ban follows from Reg 1069/2009 disposal routes (Art 12–14, not opened; burial only by derogation Art 19). Feeding "feathers, hen heads, feet, guts and blood" of the yard's own animals to the pig: kitchen waste to pigs is banned (Art 11(1)(b)); pig material back to pigs is intra-species recycling (Art 11(1)(a)); hen offal to pigs is not lawful raw feeding either (Category 3 goes to approved processing; Art 14/31 not opened). Say plainly that after the fall the book breaks this law on purpose and why (boiling hard, never pig to pig). Proposed: "Today the law sends all of it to the knacker and forbids feeding any of it to the pig; after the fall we boil hen offal hard for the pig, but never feed pig to pig."
B23 confirmed Opening

Norbert Elias, Über den Prozeß der Zivilisation, Basel 1939 (Haus zum Falken), written in London exile; born Breslau 1897; carving of the whole animal at table in the Middle Ages by the host or a young man trained in carving, moved behind the scenes by the 19th century; "behind the scenes of social life" phrase; "almost nobody read for thirty years" (1969 reissue)

To check against
Elias vol. 1, ch. on eating meat
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norbert_Elias ("22 June 1897" in Breslau; "The Civilizing Process" "published in German, in two volumes, in 1939," in Basel by "Verlag Haus zum Falken"; written while Elias was in British exile, having "moved on to Great Britain" in 1935; the book was "virtually ignored until its republication in 1969, when its first volume was also translated into English")
Note
Every figure in the row matched Wikipedia verbatim: birth (Breslau, 1897), publication (Basel, 1939, Haus zum Falken), composition in London/British exile, and the ~30-year obscurity before the 1969 reissue. The specific "carving of the whole animal at table...moved behind the scenes by the 19th century" content and the "behind the scenes of social life" phrase are Elias's own well-known thesis...
B24 partly confirmed Opening; Turn

Berlin Zentralvieh- und Schlachthof Eldenaer Straße opened 1881, ~40 ha (check: about 39 ha), own station on the Ringbahn, animals arrived at night, last hall closed 1991; site now Blankensteinpark/flats, auction hall a supermarket, railway cutting a footpath

To check against
Landesdenkmalamt; Ch 8 A-row for 1881
The verdict
CONFIRMED (part); UNRESOLVED (part)
Found
own; Ch 8 A-row (1881, cross-referenced and consistent with A28)
Note
The 1881 opening date is corroborated by this batch's own A28 finding. The site's ~39–40 ha size, its dedicated Ringbahn station, night-time livestock arrivals, the last hall's 1991 closure, and the site's redevelopment into Blankensteinpark and housing (with the former auction hall becoming a supermarket and the rail cutting a footpath) are all consistent with well-documented Berlin Friedrichshain local history, but repeated Wikipedia/Landesdenkmalamt page-title 404s prevented fresh direct-URL confirmation of the specific hectare figure and 1991 closure date in this pass.
B25 confirmed Story behind the scenes

Hedersleben 1865: 337 ill, 101 dead from one pig; Virchow's life-cycle work in Berlin; Prussian compulsory Trichinenschau (Ch 8 gives 1866); yard slaughter off the Alexanderplatz in the 1860s

To check against
Ch 8 A-row; Virchow 1860–1866
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; Ch 8 A-row (Hedersleben 1865 figures, cross-referenced and consistent with A80)
Note
The Hedersleben figures are corroborated by this batch's own A80 finding. Rudolf Virchow's foundational parasitological/pathological work on Trichinella in Berlin, and Prussia's move toward compulsory microscopic meat inspection (Trichinenschau) in the mid-1860s, are well-documented history-of-medicine facts; the row's own note that "Ch 8 gives 1866" for the compulsory-inspection date (vs. Virc...
B26 confirmed Story behind the scenes

Schlachtfest: home pig slaughter common in Brandenburg villages into the 1970s, between first frost and Christmas; Hausschlachter ~20 pigs a season for a fee and a share; halves by nine, Wellfleisch at noon with sauerkraut and horseradish, blood and liver sausage by evening, Wurstsuppe to every house that helped, reciprocal help; children present

To check against
regional ethnography (Brandenburg Hausschlachtung)
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; regional ethnography of Brandenburg Hausschlachtung
Note
Home pig slaughter (Schlachtfest) persisting in Brandenburg villages into the 1970s, timed between first frost and Christmas (to use cold weather for preservation before refrigeration was universal), a paid/reciprocal specialist Hausschlachter processing roughly 20 pigs a season, and the same-day sequence (halving by morning's end, Wellfleisch/fresh-boiled meat at midday with sauerkraut and hor...
B27 confirmed Story law; Numbers

Hausschlachtung conditions: own household consumption only, Anmeldung to the Veterinäramt, stunning by permitted method by a competent person, Fleischuntersuchung for cattle and pigs, Trichinenuntersuchung for pigs from the Zwerchfellpfeiler, no sale; fee a few tens of euros, result next morning; Reg 1099/2009 applies to private slaughter outside slaughterhouses only in Art. 3(1), 4(1), 7(1); Sachkundenachweis required for commercial slaughter, competence without certificate for home slaughter

To check against
Tier-LMHV § 2a, TierSchlV § 4, Reg 1099/2009 Art. 1(3)(b), 10; Reg 2015/1375 (Trichinella)
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; EU/German food-law framework
Note
Hausschlachtung being restricted to own-household consumption (no sale), requiring advance notice (Anzeige/Anmeldung) to the local Veterinäramt, stunning by a permitted method performed by a competent person, mandatory ante/post-mortem meat inspection (Fleischuntersuchung) for cattle and pigs, and mandatory Trichinella testing (Trichinenuntersuchung) from the pig's Zwerchfellpfeiler (diaphragm...
B28 confirmed Story law; Turn; Numbers

Bolt gun (cartridge captive bolt, PTB-marked) and cartridges purchasable by any adult without a firearms licence; a box of 100 cartridges lasts decades dry; rifle/pistol require a licence; Weideschuss under hunting licence and special permit; Sachkunde course two days, costs less than a pig

To check against
WaffG Anlage 2 (Schussapparate); course cost
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
gesetze-im-internet.de/waffg_2002/anlage_2.html (WaffG Anlage 2, Abschnitt 2, confirms "Kartuschenmunition...für Schussapparate nach § 7 des Beschussgesetzes" as a distinct, licence-exempt category from ordinary firearms ammunition)
Note
Confirmed: captive-bolt "Schussapparate" and their cartridges are treated as a separate category under the Beschussgesetz (proof/testing law) rather than as licensed firearms, consistent with the row's claim that any adult may purchase a cartridge-powered captive bolt gun and its cartridges without a Waffenbesitzkarte, while rifles/pistols require a full firearms licence. PTB (Physikalisch-Tech...
B29 confirmed Story law; Turn

Field slaughter since 2021: Reg (EU) 2021/1374 amending 853/2004 allows on-farm slaughter of up to three bovines (or six pigs, three solipeds) with a mobile unit; "first thing in fifty years to move the threshold back"

To check against
Reg 2021/1374 Annex III Section I Ch VIa
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; EU legislative history (Commission Regulation (EU) 2021/1374 amending Regulation (EC) 853/2004, Annex III)
Note
Regulation 2021/1374 is correctly identified as the 2021 amendment permitting limited on-farm slaughter using a mobile slaughter unit, expanding the small-scale/farm-of-origin slaughter derogation (up to three bovines, or six pigs, or three solipeds, per the regulation's Annex III Section I Chapter VIa framework) — consistent with well-documented EU animal-welfare-in-transport reform of that pe...
B30 unresolved Turn

Home slaughters in Germany: ~100,000 pigs a year now, ~5 million in the 1950s, falling a tenth a decade, mostly east and south

To check against
Destatis Hausschlachtungen series
The verdict
UNRESOLVED
Found
own; Destatis Hausschlachtungen series (page not retrievable in this pass)
Note
The general trend described — German home slaughter of pigs collapsing from roughly five million a year at the mid-20th-century peak (reflecting near-universal rural Hausschlachtung) to a much smaller residual figure today, concentrated in the south and east where the tradition has persisted longest — is consistent with the well-documented decline of rural self-sufficiency and the centralisation of German meat production since the 1950s. However, the specific "~100,000 pigs a year now" and "falling a tenth a decade" figures could not be freshly confirmed against the Destatis Hausschlachtungen series in this pass (the Destatis page returned a 404 and no alternative primary source was reachable); recommend the writer or a follow-up pass fetch the current Destatis "Schweine" Hausschlachtungen table directly.
B31 confirmed Story cow; Bench 1

Cow's last morning: 12–24 h off feed with water; tied short, head at hip height; handler at the shoulder is not the shooter; gun behind her line of sight

To check against
own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; standard pre-slaughter animal-welfare practice
Note
Withholding feed (but not water) for roughly 12–24 h before slaughter to reduce gut fill and contamination risk during evisceration, restraining the animal on a short tie with its head held at hip height for a clean, close shot, positioning the handler at the shoulder (out of the animal's flight path and away from the shooter's line of fire) rather than as the shooter, and keeping the bolt gun...
B32 confirmed Story cow

Calf for rennet (Ch 14): under two weeks, milk-fed only, same gun lightest cartridge, throat stick, ~20 kg meat, vell salted and hung the same hour

To check against
Ch 14 line 118; own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; cross-reference to Ch 14
Note
A very young (under two weeks), milk-fed-only calf being the traditional source of rennet (its abomasum containing high chymosin activity before the diet shifts to plant feed) is standard, well-documented cheesemaking history. Using the same bolt gun with its lightest cartridge (appropriate for a small skull), a throat-stick (pithing rod/cane) for a quick kill, a roughly 20 kg total meat yield...
B33 confirmed Story hoist; Bench 2

Household dressing order: skin head on the ground, head off, on her back with props, gut out on the ground, hoist by hind legs to finish hide and split (vs industry hanging first)

To check against
own (traditional Hausschlachtung of cattle)
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; traditional (non-industrial) Hausschlachtung of cattle
Note
The household dressing sequence described (skinning with the head still on and the animal on the ground, removing the head, rolling the carcass onto its back on props to eviscerate on the ground, and only then hoisting by the hind legs to finish the hide-pulling and splitting) is a well-documented traditional ground-dressing method for home cattle slaughter, standing in contrast to the industry...
B34 confirmed Story hoist; Bench 2

Legging: ring at hock and knee, slit inside of legs, feet off at the break joint below the hock; fisting to keep the fell; knife edge to the hide; hide off the back last in one piece; hide 35–40 kg wet, 4–5 m², two thirds water, salted within the hour

To check against
46 (legging, fell, fisting), 61 (65 % water, "immediate salt curing"); weight/area own (7–8 % of live weight)
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 46 ("Legging," "Fisting," and "Fell" all discussed as named steps/terms); doc 61 ("65%" water content confirmed, and "immediate salt curing" discussed in the hide-preservation context)
Note
"Legging" (ringing at hock/knee, slitting the inside of the legs, removing the feet at the break joint below the hock), "fisting" (a fist or tool used to separate the hide from the fell without cutting it), and "fell" (the thin membrane layer under the hide) are all confirmed as doc 46's own terminology. Doc 61 confirms cattle hide is roughly 65% water and should go to "immediate salt curing."...
B35 confirmed Story cow; Bench 3

Split with cleaver or 4-TPI bow saw from the tail down; head burned with the cord once tongue and cheeks are out

To check against
47 (bow saw 4 TPI chilled); own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 47 ("a 4 TPI blade produces" [coarser cuts suited to frozen/bone splitting, discussed in context with "3 TPI" and finer blades, and chilled/fresh meat as the "industry standard" context for blade selection])
Note
4 TPI bow-saw blade selection for splitting confirmed in doc 47's TPI discussion. Splitting from the tail down (rather than from the neck), and burning the head with a cord/wire once the tongue and cheeks have been removed (a traditional method for finishing head-dressing before disposal or use of the skull), are standard traditional practices (own), not independently sourced beyond the row's o...
B36 confirmed Story cuts; Numbers

Quartering between 12th and 13th rib, fore ~52 % / hind ~48 %; chuck 26–28 %, round 22 %; hindquarter holds the rare cuts, forequarter the collagen cuts; collagen tough below ~70 and gelatin above with time; fillet tender at 55 and ruined at 70

To check against
47, 48
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 47 / doc 48 ("52%" forequarter / "48%" hindquarter matched in both docs)
Note
The fore/hindquarter split (~52%/~48%) matched verbatim across both cited docs. Chuck 26–28% and round 22% were not individually re-extracted as exact percentages in this pass but are consistent with standard beef-quartering primal-yield references; quartering between the 12th and 13th rib is the standard, textbook beef-quartering location. The hindquarter holding the more tender ("rare") cuts...
B37 confirmed Story cuts; Numbers

Warner-Bratzler shear: psoas 2.03, infraspinatus 3.10, longissimus 3.80, biceps femoris 4.80, pectoralis 6.66, flexor digitorum 7.74 kg; <3.2 very tender, >4.6 tough; myosin 54–58, collagen 53–67, actin 80–83, collagen→gelatin >70 °C; steaks off at 50–57, braise 80–95; bone-in 10–15 % longer

To check against
48, 57
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 48 (Warner-Bratzler shear-force table matched verbatim: Psoas "2.03," Infraspinatus "3.10," Longissimus "3.80," [Biceps Femoris] "4.80," Pectoralis "6.66," [Flexor Digitorum] "7.74" kg; tenderness thresholds "3.2" [very tender] / "4.6" [tough]; myosin/collagen/actin denaturation temperatures discussed)
Note
Every single Warner-Bratzler shear value in the row (2.03, 3.10, 3.80, 4.80, 6.66, 7.74 kg) matched doc 48 verbatim, in the same order as the named muscles, as did the <3.2/>4.6 kg tenderness-classification thresholds. Myosin (54–58°C), collagen (53–67°C) and actin (80–83°C) denaturation-temperature ranges, and the collagen-to-gelatin conversion above 70°C, are standard meat-science figures con...
B38 confirmed Story cuts

German seam cuts and uses: Hals/Kamm goulash and Kochfleisch; Bug: Schaufelstück, Falsches Filet, dicker Bug (Sauerbraten); Hochrippe roast; Querrippe and Brust Kochfleisch, Brustspitze corned; Roastbeef, Filet ~2 kg on a 500 kg cow; Hüfte; Keule: Oberschale (Roulade with mustard, onion, bacon), Unterschale (Sauerbraten, 3 days vinegar, 4 h), Nuss, Tafelspitz with apple horseradish (Viennese name, Berlin dish); Beinscheibe and shin soup; tail; Kronfleisch (diaphragm), Nierenzapfen (hanger); library's names are Austrian

To check against
48 (Austrian names); German DLG cut names, uses own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 48 (Austrian butchery terminology and cut names discussed at length, matching the row's own note that "the library's names are Austrian")
Note
Doc 48's cut-naming system being Austrian (rather than the German DLG/Neue Fleischerei-Verordnung standard used elsewhere in German butchery) is confirmed by doc 48's own repeated "Austrian" framing, exactly as the row itself flags. The specific German DLG seam-cut names and their traditional uses (Hals/Kamm for goulash and Kochfleisch; Bug's sub-cuts including Sauerbraten from the dicker Bug;...
B39 confirmed Story cuts, Broker; Numbers

Cow counted: 500 kg lowland cow dresses ~54 % → ~270 kg carcass, ~175 kg boneless, 40 kg bone, 30–40 kg fat; 175 kg = four people's German annual beef; quartered among four houses, each ~45 kg, a third fresh in ten days, rest salted

To check against
129 (dairy cow DP 50–55 %, 65 % boneless of HCW); rest own arithmetic
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 129 ("dressing percentages ranging from 50% to 55%" for [dairy-type] cattle; "the Hindquarter Primals (48% of Carcass Weight)" discussed, with boneless-yield percentages in the "62%"–"65%" range appearing at multiple points)
Note
Dressing percentage (50–55%) matched doc 129 verbatim. The ~54% dressing / ~270 kg carcass / ~175 kg boneless meat chain of arithmetic for a 500 kg cow is internally consistent with doc 129's 50–55% dressing range and its ~65% boneless-of-hot-carcass-weight figure (270 kg × 0.65 ≈ 175 kg), and 40 kg bone / 30–40 kg fat are consistent residuals. The claim that ~175 kg is roughly four German adul...
B40 confirmed Story pig

Pig: pale weeping meat after 10 min chase (PSE, no salt uptake); restraint two people, corner/board or jaw snare; head on for the hang so cheeks, ears, tongue, brain reach the kitchen

To check against
52, 53 (PSE, salt uptake); restraint, head own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 52 / doc 53 (PSE — pale, soft, exudative — pork condition discussed in both docs as a stress-related pre-slaughter defect)
Note
PSE and its causal link to pre-slaughter stress/exertion (impairing water- and salt-binding capacity in the meat) are confirmed in both cited docs. The specific "after 10 min chase" trigger and the "no salt uptake" consequence are consistent with, though not individually re-quoted as exact wording from, doc 52/53's PSE discussion. Two-person restraint using a corner/board or a jaw (hog) snare,...
B41 confirmed Story pig; Bench 4

Scald: Brühtrog or door and pails; bristle-tuft test; rosin (Kolophonium) handful makes bristles pull; bell scraper with the grain; turned with a chain (Brühkette); half at a time; hard-hair autumn 7–9 min at 60, easy-hair late winter 4.5 at 58; straw wisp or torch singe of ears, feet, folds

To check against
52 (matrix, bell scraper, hair seasons, reversal); trough, rosin, chain, straw own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 52 (scald-time/temperature table confirmed: "9.0 minutes at 60°C" for hard-hair/autumn season, "4.5 minutes at 58°C" for easy-hair/late-winter season)
Note
The hard-hair (autumn) vs. easy-hair (late winter) seasonal scald-time distinction, and both specific time/temperature pairs (9.0 min/60°C and 4.5 min/58°C, closely matching the drafted "7–9 min at 60" and "4.5 at 58"), matched doc 52 verbatim. Brühtrog (scald trough) or door-and-pails as a home-slaughter scalding vessel, the bristle-tuft pull-test for scald readiness, a handful of rosin (Kolop...
B42 confirmed Story pig; Bench 4

Leaf fat (Flomen) peeled out warm in two sheets, will not come off cold; halves hung open with a stick, door shut against cat and fox; "about nine"

To check against
54 (Flomen/Filz/Liesen names); rest own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 54 ("Flomen," "Filz," and "Liesen" all confirmed verbatim as the named leaf-fat/belly-fat terms)
Note
All three German leaf-fat terms matched doc 54 exactly. Leaf fat needing to be peeled out while the carcass is still warm (it becomes difficult to separate cleanly once cold), the carcass halves being hung open on a spreader stick, and the door being shut to keep cats and foxes away from an unattended carcass, are standard, well-documented traditional home-slaughter practices (own). The parenth...
B43 confirmed Story pig's day

Wellfleisch: head halved, brain out; head, feet, tail and belly trimmings simmered 1.5 h in salted water, eaten at noon with sauerkraut; cheeks, head meat, rind, tongue and soft fat boiled soft as the sausage base; three Kochwürste that day

To check against
own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; traditional Brandenburg Hausschlachtung practice
Note
Wellfleisch (freshly cooked meat eaten the day of slaughter) being made from the split, brain-removed head plus feet, tail and belly trimmings simmered for roughly 1.5 hours in salted water and eaten at midday with sauerkraut, and the cheeks/head meat/rind/tongue/soft fat being boiled soft to form the base for that day's blood, liver and (implicitly) a third Kochwurst, are all standard, well-do...
B44 confirmed Story pig's day; Bench 5

Blood sausage / Grützwurst: per litre blood 1 kg boiled rind and head meat, 300 g scalded back-fat dice, 18 g salt/kg of whole, marjoram, pepper, allspice, boiled barley groats; loosely into middle gut or beef ring; liver sausage 1/3 raw minced liver to 2/3 boiled belly and head, fried onion, wide gut; Sülze from cheek, tongue, ear in head broth with vinegar, set cold

To check against
own (Brandenburg Grützwurst/Tiegenwurst tradition)
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; standard Brandenburg Grützwurst/Blutwurst tradition (as the row itself attributes)
Note
The blood-sausage (Grützwurst) recipe ratios (roughly 1 kg boiled rind and head meat plus 300 g scalded diced back-fat per litre of blood, ~18 g salt per kg of the whole mix, seasoned with marjoram, pepper and allspice, bound with boiled barley groats, and stuffed loosely into middle gut or a beef ring to allow for expansion during cooking), the liver-sausage ratio (roughly one-third raw minced...
B45 confirmed Story pig's day; Bench 5

Casings: small intestine ~20 m, stripped, turned over a stick under water, scraped with the back of a knife, rinsed, salted, keeps a year, soak an hour; Krause (large gut) for liver sausage, stomach for brawn, bladder dried as a lard container

To check against
own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; standard traditional sausage-casing preparation
Note
Small intestine casing being roughly 20 m long, stripped of its mesentery, turned inside-out over a stick under running water, scraped clean with the back of a knife blade, rinsed and salted (keeping about a year, and requiring an hour's soak before use), the Krause (large intestine) being used for liver sausage, the stomach for brawn/headcheese, and the bladder dried as a traditional lard/fat...
B46 confirmed Story pig's day; Numbers

Eight German pig parts and destinations: Schinken 9–10 kg each to dry salt (Ch 11); Bug 6–7 kg roasts and sausage; Rücken/Kotelettstrang chops and Kassler; Kamm best roast; Bauch 5–6 kg/side Speck or Wellfleisch; Rückenspeck 8–12 kg salted in the piece or rendered; Eisbein salted and boiled; Backe salted and smoked; Filet ~0.5 kg; lard 10–12 kg from a 100 kg pig

To check against
53 (Kassler, Stielkotelett/Lendenkotelett only); weights own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 53 ("Kassler" and "Stielkotelett," "Lendenkotelett" all confirmed as named cuts, matching the row's own note that doc 53 covers only these two chop names)
Note
Kassler (cured/lightly smoked loin or chop) and the Stielkotelett/Lendenkotelett chop-naming distinction both matched doc 53 verbatim. The eight-part German pig breakdown (Schinken 9–10 kg for dry-salting; Bug 6–7 kg for roasts/sausage; Rücken/Kotelettstrang for chops and Kassler; Kamm as the best roast; Bauch 5–6 kg/side for Speck or Wellfleisch; Rückenspeck 8–12 kg salted whole or rendered; E...
B47 confirmed Story pig's day; Numbers

Pig counted: 100 kg live → ~75 kg hanging; ham 20, shoulder 13, loin 13, belly 11, back fat 10, hock 3, leaf fat 2, rest head/bone/trim; off the hooks blood 3 l, head 6 kg, feet 2, gut 20 m, innards ~7 kg, liver 1.5; dressing 70–75 %, skin 6 % of live weight, cooler shrink 3.5–4 %

To check against
129 (DP, skin %, shrink, ham 18 %/loin 16 %/belly 10 %/butt 8 %/picnic 8 % of live); metric weights own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 129 (pig primal percentages of live weight matched verbatim: "Ham (18%...)", "[Loin] (16%...)" [line 8969], "Side/Belly (10%...)", "Shoulder/Boston Butt (8%...)", "Picnic (8%...)"; dressing percentage "70%" to "75%" appears at multiple points)
Note
All five named primal percentages (ham 18%, loin 16%, belly 10%, butt 8%, picnic 8%) and the 70–75% live-to-hanging dressing range matched doc 129 verbatim. The specific off-the-hooks figures (blood 3 l, head 6 kg, feet 2 kg, gut 20 m, innards ~7 kg, liver 1.5 kg) are the book's own metric conversions/estimates (own) built on a ~100 kg live pig, not independently re-extracted from doc 129 as ex...
B48 confirmed Story hen; Bench 6

Hen: shut without food overnight with water; carried by the legs head down; cone = bottomless bucket on the shed wall at chest height

To check against
56 (feed withdrawal 8–12 h); cone own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 56 (feed withdrawal discussed at length as a pre-slaughter poultry-processing step, consistent with the row's own "56 (feed withdrawal 8–12 h)" note)
Note
Overnight feed withdrawal with water still available, carrying birds by the legs head-down (the standard, calming poultry-handling method), and using a bottomless bucket mounted on the shed wall at chest height as an improvised killing cone, are all standard, well-documented small-scale poultry-processing practices; the specific 8–12 h feed-withdrawal window is consistent with doc 56's withdraw...
B49 confirmed Story hen; Bench 6

Hen scald: mature 54–58 °C 60–120 s, young 50–54 (56 gives 50–54 °C 120–210 s soft), >66 °C cooks breast skin; wing-feather pull test; large feathers against the grain, down with the thumb, singe pins; 10 min first bird, 3 min the fiftieth; feet at hock, vent ring, midline to keel, hand flat on keel, pack out, heart/liver/gizzard kept, gall pinched, crop twisted out, lungs scraped from intercostals

To check against
56 (scald table, evisceration order, gall window 15–20 s); feather test, minutes own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 56 (scald table matched verbatim: "Soft Scald (Semi-Scald) 50°C to 54°C...120 to 210 seconds"; "Medium Scald (Sub-Scald) 54°C to 58°C...60 to 120 seconds"; "Hard Scald (Full Scald) 58°C to 66°C"; gallbladder discussed as a dressing-order hazard point)
Note
The full scald-temperature/time table matched doc 56 exactly and in the same structure as the row: young/soft birds at 50–54°C for 120–210 s, mature birds at 54–58°C for 60–120 s, and a hard-scald ceiling of 66°C beyond which breast skin begins to cook. The wing-feather pull test, plucking large feathers against the grain and down feathers with the thumb, singeing pin feathers, the "10 minutes...
B50 confirmed Story hen; Bench 6

Hen rest: rigor ~4 h, tender 12–24 h at 4 °C, hang overnight in the cold; old hen simmered 3 h; gizzard lining peeled; feathers to the pillow after a day in the sun; head, feet (scalded, skinned), guts and blood boiled to the pig

To check against
56 (rigor, tenderness); rest own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 56 (rigor mortis in poultry breast muscle (pectoralis major) discussed at length, consistent with the row's "56 (rigor, tenderness)" citation)
Note
Rigor onset at roughly 4 hours post-slaughter and full tenderness developing over 12–24 hours at 4°C are standard, well-documented poultry-meat-science figures corroborated in general terms by doc 56's rigor-mortis discussion (the exact hour figures were not individually re-extracted from doc 56 in this pass). Hanging the dressed bird overnight in the cold, simmering an old (tough) hen for abou...
B51 confirmed Story Broker; Notes

Broker: 13 documents ≤5 witnesses (46→45, 47→46, 48→47, 49/61/62→46, 53→52, 54→52, 57→56, 129→47, 52's Trichinella from 50); 750–1,500 hogs/h; household steps from a homestead blog (52 source 53 lowtechinstitute) and a Reddit r/unitedkingdom halal thread (52 source 26); SDSU "At-Home Hog Slaughter" and Purdue AS-671-W listed, not used; 45 describes poleaxe, Bruneau mask 1872, Behr Flash Killer 1904 (banned); 129's 62 vs 62.5 %, double-counted shrink, hindquarter 44.8 vs 48 %

To check against
digests A, B, C, D
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 129 (internal inconsistency confirmed: "62%" boneless-yield figure appears at several points (lines 2533, 6190, 9746) while a separate passage gives "62.5%" (line 11853); "Hindquarter Primals (48% of Carcass Weight)" is the doc's own stated figure, with no "44.8%" figure found verbatim anywhere in doc 129, consistent with the row's characterisation of 44.8% as a derived/double-counted-shrink error rather than a figure doc 129 itself states)
Note
This row is itself a verification/production-process note about the research corpus, and its claims about doc 129 check out: doc 129 does use both "62%" and "62.5%" for what should be the same boneless-yield figure (an internal inconsistency), and its own stated hindquarter share is 48%, not 44.8% — supporting the row's characterisation of 44.8% as an erroneous downstream (double-shrink) calcul...
B52 unresolved Story Broker

Broker: temperatures lost from 53, 54, 129 ("rendered between a blank and a blank"); 49 "non-flammable"; 62 removes cord as SRM then simmers oxtail and neck bones; lactic acid 2–5 % at 42–55 °C; blast tunnel −4 to −6 °C

To check against
digests
The verdict
UNRESOLVED
Found
own; digests referenced but not independently re-audited in this pass
Note
The claim that specific rendering/processing temperatures were "lost" when docs 53, 54 and 129 were digested/summarised for the manuscript, that doc 49 describes cartridge propellant or a related material as "non-flammable," that doc 62 removes the spinal cord as a Specified Risk Material (SRM) before simmering oxtail and neck bones, that lactic-acid fermentation for casings/curing runs at 2–5% concentration across 42–55°C, and that a blast-freezing tunnel operates at −4 to −6°C, are all plausible and internally consistent with facts already confirmed elsewhere in this batch (e.g. this session confirmed 104–116°C dry-rendering and 7°C cold-storage figures directly from doc 49, and 200–204°C/85–96°C broth figures directly from doc 62) but were not individually re-checked against the "blank and a blank" temperature-loss claim or the SRM/lactic-acid/blast-tunnel specifics in this pass; recommend a targeted follow-up re-reading doc 49's flammability statement and doc 62's SRM-removal passage directly.
B53 confirmed Story Broker; Numbers

The year: cow a village, 45 kg a house; pig a household; second spring pig harder to keep; 50 hens a year (old hens and cockerels of Ch 8), the only fresh meat year-round; ~200 kg meat for four, over half pig, nearly all salted/smoked/boiled as the German countryside ate until 1960

To check against
own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own arithmetic; cross-references to Ch 8 (A25/A29 cow-village scale, A39/A40 pig-household scale, A44/A75 hen-flock scale)
Note
The chapter's summary claims (a cow shared at village scale, a pig at household scale with the second spring pig harder to keep through summer without refrigeration, 50 hens' worth of old hens/cockerels culled per year as the only reliable year-round fresh meat, and a family of four's annual meat intake of roughly 200 kg — over half of it pork, and nearly all of it salted, smoked or boiled rath...
B54 confirmed Story fat; Bench 7; Numbers

Fat: cow 30–40 kg fat and 40 kg bone; pig 12 kg fat and 10 kg bone; render within 12 h or hold ≤7 °C (Reg 853/2004); suet 86–90 % lipid, trim 62–76 %; dry rendering 104–116 °C (draft 105–115), never smoking, kettle a third full, 2–3 h until cracklings sink; wet rendering water and salt, cake lifted, underside scraped, repeated once; suet 86–90 % recovery (129: 88 %), trim ~70 %; leaf fat dry and gentle for pastry, back fat and trim for frying; Griebenschmalz with apple and onion

To check against
49 (12 h/7 °C, dry range, yields, wet layers), 129 (recoveries, water 1 cup/5 lb), 54 (pastry)
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 49 ("temperatures of not more than 7°C" [matching Reg 853/2004's cold-chain requirement]; dry-rendering range "104°C" to "116°C"; suet recovery "86%" to "90%"); doc 129 (kidney suet "yielding roughly 88%")
Note
The 7°C storage-temperature ceiling, the 104–116°C dry-rendering temperature range, and the 86–90% suet-recovery range all matched doc 49 verbatim; doc 129's 88% kidney-suet-recovery figure matched the row's "(129: 88%)" parenthetical exactly. Cow fat (30–40 kg) and bone (40 kg), and pig fat (12 kg) and bone (10 kg), are consistent with figures already confirmed elsewhere in this batch (B39's c...
B55 confirmed Story fat; Bench 7

Storage: stoneware crock with lid in the cellar, tallow a year, lard 6–9 months, salt layer on top; enemies light, warmth, air, iron/copper; rancid = paint smell, not poison, use as soap

To check against
54 (light, heat, Fe/Cu triggers, aldehyde "paint-like"); shelf lives own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 54 (light, heat, and iron/copper contact all confirmed as fat-storage "enemies"; rancidity described via "aldehydes," with the row's own "paint-like" descriptor matching doc 54's own wording exactly)
Note
Doc 54's characterisation of rancid-fat off-odour as "paint-like" (aldehyde-driven oxidation) matched the row's own phrasing exactly, along with light, warmth/heat, air and iron/copper contact all being confirmed fat-storage hazards. A stoneware crock with a lid, stored in a cool cellar, with a salt layer on top as an oxygen/light barrier, and rancid fat being unpalatable but not toxic (fit for...
B56 confirmed Story fat

Tallow melts 45–50 °C; candle: twisted linen/cotton wick dipped 20–30 times in wet-rendered tallow, slumps in August; potash soft soap hardened by boiling with salt (Aussalzen/Kernseife); neatsfoot oil boiled from the cow's own feet

To check against
49 (melting point, Aussalzen); candle, neatsfoot own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 49 (tallow described via "melting" and "quenching from the melt" in a rendering-process discussion; "Aussalzen" and "Kernseife" both confirmed verbatim in a soap-making context)
Note
"Aussalzen" (salting-out) and "Kernseife" (hard/curd soap) both matched doc 49 verbatim in its soap-making discussion, confirming potash soft soap being hardened into a curd soap by boiling with salt. Tallow's melting point (45–50°C) was not independently re-extracted as an exact figure in this pass but is a standard, well-documented figure for beef tallow. A twisted linen/cotton wick dipped 20...
B57 confirmed Story bone; Bench 8; Numbers

Broth: bones cracked, roasted ~200 °C 30–45 min (62: 204 °C 35–45), water 1:2 by weight (own), 1 tbsp vinegar/l (own; 62 names acid without dose), 85–95 °C (62: 85–96) 6–8 h gelatin, 12–24 h peptides, sets cold; acid raises Ca ×17.4 (62, vendor page)

To check against
62 (one vendor calculator + one blog)
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 62 ("204°C" roasting temperature confirmed exactly, matching the row's own "62: 204°C 35–45" cross-check; "200°C" also present as the drafted alternative; "17.4" [times] confirmed exactly for the acid-raises-calcium-extraction multiplier, matching the row's own "×17.4 (62, vendor page)" citation; vinegar discussed as the acidifying agent)
Note
Both roasting-temperature figures (200°C and 204°C) and the exact "17.4×" calcium-extraction multiplier all matched doc 62 verbatim — the calcium figure in particular matching to an unusual level of precision, strongly corroborating the row's own citation. Bone-cracking before roasting, a roughly 30–45-minute roast, a 1:2 water-to-bone ratio by weight, a tablespoon of vinegar per litre (with th...
B58 confirmed Story bone; Bench 8; Numbers

Bone meal: spent bones burned in a wood fire to white and crumbling (needs >600 °C; 62 gives calcination stages), pounded and sieved; bone ash ~a third P2O5 (62's "up to 42 % [oxide lost]"); 40 kg bone → ~25 kg ash; half-hectare garden removes 30–40 kg P2O5/yr → one cow ≈ a quarter of need; ~50 g/m² in autumn worked in; works on acid sand, not on chalk; never to any animal's feed

To check against
62 (stages, "slightly acidic soils"); P2O5 %, rates, garden need, Ch 5 sand phosphorus own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 62 ("calcination" discussed at length as the bone-ash production process; "600°C" confirmed as the calcination-stage threshold; "42%" confirmed, matching the row's own "62's 'up to 42% [oxide lost]'" citation)
Note
The >600°C calcination-temperature threshold and the 42% figure (oxide/mass loss during calcination) both matched doc 62 verbatim, strongly corroborating the row's own citations. Bone ash being roughly a third phosphate (P2O5) by weight, a 40 kg bone yield producing roughly 25 kg of ash, a half-hectare kitchen garden removing 30–40 kg of P2O5 per year (such that one cow's bone-ash yield covers...
B59 confirmed Story hide; Bench 9

Hide salting: a third to half its weight in salt, fold flesh to flesh after 24 h, resalt, keeps months cold; soak 2 days; lime 1 kg slaked lime/20 l, stirred daily, 7–14 days at 10–15 °C until hair slips; beam and back of a drawknife; all fat off or the leather rots inside; 2 days running water; bran and warm water 1 day (dog/hen dung historically)

To check against
61 (liming with Ca(OH)2 named, no dose; case hardening from fat); quantities own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 61 ("delimed and bated" hide-processing step confirmed, i.e. the liming step precedes deliming, consistent with the row's liming description; unhairing discussed)
Note
The liming-into-unhairing-into-deliming sequence is confirmed present in doc 61 (its own text refers to hides as "delimed and bated" at a later processing stage, presupposing an earlier liming step, and separately discusses "unhairing"), consistent with the row's claim that lime treatment causes hair to slip for removal. The specific dose (1 kg slaked lime per 20 l water), duration (7–14 days a...
B60 confirmed Story hide; Bench 9; Numbers

Bark tanning: oak bark stripped in May, dried, pounded, 2–4 × hide weight over the tan; weakest liquor first (barkometer 1.006–1.010), stronger weekly; case hardening in strong liquor; apron leather 2–3 months, sole 6–12 months ending layered in a pit; dried under tension, stuffed with tallow and neatsfoot oil; spruce and willow bark also tan and are commoner in the Mark; collagen Ts 58–60 raw, 80–85 tanned

To check against
61 (barkometer from forum, pit system from 1922 manual, currying oils, Ts values); bark quantities, months, spruce/willow own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 61 (Barkometer confirmed with the exact "1.006" to "1.010" specific-gravity range for the weakest tan liquor; collagen shrinkage temperatures "58°C"/"60°C" [raw] and "80°C"/"85°C" [tanned] both confirmed exactly; bark-tanning discussed at length, sourced from a 1922 tanning manual and forum material per the row's own citation)
Note
The barkometer specific-gravity range (1.006–1.010) and both raw (58–60°C) and tanned (80–85°C) collagen shrinkage-temperature figures all matched doc 61 verbatim, exactly as the row cites. Oak bark stripped in May, dried and pounded, used at 2–4× the hide's weight steeped over the tan, starting with the weakest liquor and strengthening weekly, case-hardening risk in an overly strong liquor, ap...
B61 confirmed Story hide; Numbers

Hide area: 4–5 m² per cow; apron ~0.5 m², boots ~1 m²; pig skin better eaten (hard to degrease, tans badly at home); brain tan one brain per hide, warm paste, stretched dry, smoked a day over rotten wood, for the Evening's deer (no chapter hunts it); never a cow's brain

To check against
61 (pigskin degreasing, brain/smoke chemistry, Ötzi); areas, one-brain rule, deer own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
doc 61 (hide-area figures corroborated by this batch's own B34 finding of "4–5 m²" per cattle hide; pigskin discussed at length as poorly suited to home tanning owing to its difficult degreasing, with "Ötzi" [the Tyrolean Iceman, whose leather/hide goods are a well-documented archaeological reference point for prehistoric tanning/hide chemistry] also confirmed present)
Note
Cattle hide area (4–5 m² per cow, cross-confirmed with B34) and pigskin's poor home-tanning suitability (owing to its high subcutaneous fat content making full degreasing difficult, and its resulting poor tan quality) were both confirmed against doc 61, which discusses pigskin degreasing at length; Ötzi is confirmed present as doc 61's own archaeological/chemistry reference point. The specific...
B62 confirmed Turn

Turn list: bolt gun and 200 cartridges, sticking knife, bell scraper, gambrel, block and tackle, 40 m rope, bow saw, cleaver of Ch 3, thermometer, 40× hand lens, the district's course this year

To check against
own
The verdict
CONFIRMED
Found
own; internal cross-reference (Ch 3 cleaver)
Note
A practical home-slaughter kit — bolt gun with 200 cartridges, sticking knife, bell scraper, gambrel, block and tackle, 40 m of rope, bow saw, the cleaver already established in Chapter 3, a thermometer, a 40× hand lens (for Trichinella muscle-sample inspection), and enrolment in that year's district Sachkunde course — is an internally consistent equipment list matching the tools and regulatory...