Can I burn the feathers off instead of plucking?

[slimo]

Hello. I have a male muscovy and I want to do a backyard duck roast but afraid of the mess of plucking... I was wondering if I could burn the feathers off over fire pit?

 

[sourland]

Have you ever smelled burning feathers?

 

[lagrange chicks]

No, the tip of the feather will still be in the skin. probably not taste good.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

If you do it right, plucking doesn't need to be messy. If you're plucking by hand, have a tarp laid down under the bird, and drop all the plucked feathers there. Then you can either throw them away or throw them in your compost pile if you compost. What my family has always done is after a large plucking party, we just rake up the feathers and put them in garbage bags (we were doing a lot of birds). Oh, if you've never plucked before, I suggest watching YouTube videos first. You want to dip your bird in certain hot temperature (and possibly a cold temperature afterwards- it's been awhile since I've done this) to loosen up the feathers. Afterwards, on the stubborn feathers, there's certain tools you can use to get those out.

I don't suggest you burning the feathers off at all. Not only like the previous poster said it will stink, it can also cause you to ruin the bird. You'll have nothing but I burnt taste, along with the taste of the burnt feathers. You can accidentally burn the bird too, which will go for some very nasty textured meat.

All in all, if you're still not convinced to pluck, then skin. Some people actually do this, where they skin the bird instead of pluck. If somebody likes skin, they'll miss out, but it'll be a lot better than burnt on feathers.