Cooked my first this morning!

[Dances with Ducks]

I was interested to see that muscovy pic. I've never met a muscovy in person and was just wondering if their long tails were all feather. Apparently not, looks like an extra two and a half pounds right there.

 

[dichotomymom]

We plucked and I didn't notice it being any more difficult than the chickens. We had two spaghetti size pots of very hot water alternating at all times so it never had a chance to cool off.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
Then I need to take lessons from you.

My duck sausage dinner. Thanks to Steve of Sands Poultry for the recipe.

 

[dichotomymom]

Mmm, another yummy meal! The down stuck to our hands more than the chicken feathers but that was our only real hurdle. I've read on here that some people put in a drop of dishwashing liquid but I didn't try that....

 

[augustmomx2]

Quote:

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

Quote:
I use two 120 quart (30 gallon) NSF stock pots for scalding and waxing. The first one is brought to 150 deg F and diswashing detergent is added to the water. The second is brought to 160 deg F and has a couple inches of wax floating on the top of the water. I get my wax from here. The wax really helps to get a good looking carcass. Takes me 20 minutes to do process a duck when I'm working efficiently. However, it never really works out that way in reality. I'll be processing today, so that is why the pots are outside in the snow.

 

[ultasol]

Have you tried upping the scalding temp? For geese I up it to 160-170 in order to get the same scald I get at a slightly lower temp on chickens. The feathers come right off and other than looking like I was tarred and feathered (due to wet hands and the nature of down) I'm no worse off than when processing a chicken.

I would love to try raising some scovies for meat. Any idea how they compare re: greasiness with geese? I always remove the obvious subcutaneous fat pads and render them for later use prior to cooking bird.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

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I got my initial scald temperature from Brower.

http://www.browerequip.com/products/brower/poultry/processplans/400.htm

The wax temperature I got from the manufacturer.

I have pin feather problems with my ducks that the wax easliy removes. Then again, I'm self taught on ducks so I could be doing something very wrong. All I can tell you about muscovies is that they are less fatty than my pekins. When processing I save all the small pieces of duck fat for later use. Potatoes fried in rendered duck fat is out of this world.

 

[Le Canard de Barbarie]

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The best part about all this dictomymom is that if you bought duck in a restaraunt it would cost you a lot of money. This is a menu from one our local places in the UP. A half duck costs $21.

http://www.stonehouseescanaba.com/Default.aspx?tabid=21281

Chicken can be found just a short distance away at KFC.

 

[dichotomymom]

Holy cow! I mean duck......I can make several meals for our entire family for that price!