For the Jewish Table.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 839, 30 March 1888, Page 4

For the Jewish Table.

The Hebrew butcher, or shoehat, takeß the chicken, duck, or goose, and places it beneath his knees, pinioning its wings in this way ; then he bends the head back until the windpipe shows. Next, with one quick stroke, he half severs the neck, says a St. Louis Globe writer. He dare not out the head off completely, for then the meat would be trefe. The bird is hung up by the legs, . and all the blood let run out of it. Here the shochat’s duty. ends. The purchaser carries the fowl home and opens it. If he finds in it a pin, a nail, a piece of wood, or anything which might in time have caused the death of the fowl, it is trefe, unfit to eat, declared to have been sick. Similarly if there is any sore on the luDgs, the fowl is trefe and must be thrown away. When there is any doubt, it must be carried to the rabbi, who sometimes may decide that it is kosher, but in any case bis decision is final. In killing a beef, calf, sheep, lamb, goat, or kid, a little more ceremony is observed. When the killing is at a distance, two shoohatim go together. Just as one draws his knife and prepares to kill, the other seizes his arm and asks him is the knife right. If ho answers * Yes,’ the work proceeds. The animal is laid on its side. The ahochat, with a similar knife, sharp as a razor, shaves the hair from the throat. Then, with his regular kuife, he cuts the throat, not with one sharp sweep, as is done with the fowl, but he may saw back and forth five or six times without stopping. If he makes a pause between two of the movements, the meat becomes trefe. He must sever every blood-vessel —‘pipes,’ the ordinary Hebrew calls them. Then the animal’s blood is let trickle out, and it is hung up. The shoehat remains, and another man, under his direction, cuts it open and examines the intestines, lungs, and liver. If there is the slightest blemish in them, the shoehat marks the meat trefe by cutting three or four crosses on it with hiß knife.

If it is kosher, he stamps that word on it, and the date on which it ia killed beside. The date is added because the meat may be eaten only two days after the killing—‘that day, the next day, and the day after,’ explains an intelligent Hebrew. Only the forequarters are allowed to be used for food, as few men can draw the veins and sinews out properly. When the layman has bought his beef, mutton, or other meat, he carries it home, Boaks it in water, and then lays it on a board with holes through which any remaining blood may drop. Next salt is put on eaoh of the six sides, for, as may be seen, there are six sides, to any piece of meat, and it is soaked for an hour, after which it is cleaned and cooked. Much has been said about the knife which the shoehat uses. It is a straight, ordinary looking instrument, Ift. 6in. in length and 3in. in width, made of the best steel and coating from 15 dole, to 20 dols. Not only is it tried before using, but also after. A shoehat may kill a dozen or a hundred chickens or other fowl in quick and immediate succession. If, when this task is completed, he finds a nick in the knife, only the last fowl killed is trefe ; all the rest are kosher. A cow and her calf, a ewe and her lamb, a she-goat and her kid, may not be killed on the same day, nor may a calf be killed before it is eight days old.