Does Anyone Just Skin The Chicken Rather Than Pluck??

[greyfields]

But the skin is the tastiest part!!

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

It's also the fatty part, and some of us are watching our girly figures.

For the birds I'm going to part (I do skinless boneless) I just split the skin up the midline and take out the breasts boneless, and then the legs with bone in. I take the thigh off adn the bone out and just leave the drumstick intact. Since my dogs get the rest of it anyway I stuff the skin from the legs and the thigh bone and wing tip in the cavity if it had been fully processed. This year I'm thinking I will do a rough pluck and then do all that but leaving the guts in and freezing them indivudually in the dog's freezer. I have done the breasts and legs without plucking when in a real hurry, and just disposed of the rest of the bird. Usually a mean roo in the middle of winter or some time when I'm not setting up the whole sha-bang for just one bird.

 

[greyfields]

There isn't enough saturated fat in chicken skin to harm you. It's all bizarre lies put forth by the "eat lean meat" people. Since people were told to eat lean meat, obesity and heart disease has increased while people's consumption of saturated animal fats has gone down. Don't believe the hype!

Eat the skin and love it!!

 

[adoptedbyachicken]

I have very low cholesterol, it's just total calories I'm on the watch of. I agree, pasture raised poultry is good fat anyway, and good fat is helpful in weight loss.

 

[Shaun Hagan]

I haven't done a lot of chickens, but I have always skinned game birds. On a grousse the operation takes all of two minutes.

 

[Azure]

We do both with ours. One point to note though is that free rangers if they live in the colder/wetter climates can have huge feather quills and so the skin is quite puckered and holey after plucking and so not that pleasant anyways.

Skinning is far easier and for some older birds just slit the breast and then carve the breast out and cut the legs and don't even need to be gutted or drawn.

 

[ZykloniaDark-GothikRanchr]

After my first butchering experience, I realized that plucking is no fun!! my and my hubby found a site that suggested you melt some parrafin wax in the water you would normally scald the chickens in. you rough pluck the chickens, then warm the water enough to completely melt the wax. Dip the chicken in for a few seconds, and pull out. immerse it in a bucket of really cold water, and let it sit there for a few minutes. pull the chicken out and feel the wax. it should be hard, not warm or soft. if needed return to the cold water for a bit longer. when the wax is hard, just peel it off, ALL the feathers come with it!!! even the tiny ones, and the pins!!!!!!!! When you are done pulling all the wax off, give the chicken a quick rinse in warm water to remove all the wax flakes, and enjoy a perfectly cleaned chicken!!! This works with all feathered poultry, and I have done it 4 times now!!! Good luck, and have fun "waxing" your chickens!!

 

[Beekissed]

We skin all birds, both wild and domestic. Easier and we rarely roast or fry ours in a traditional manner. Also nice to not expose the meat to all the mess on the inside when one just extracts the breast, thighs/legs from the skin.

With our wild turkeys we fry the breast and crockpot the rest!

 

[miss_thenorth]

Quote:
Our neighbours dog killed our rooster. Being hunters, we skinned also. It is easy- step on the wings and pull the legs--the breast pops right out--but not as easily as on a grouse. When we process our meat birds, we will probably do acombination of both.

 

[Riparian]

Roast chicken with lemon and crispy skin. The skin is the best part. Its like crackling from pork.

You guys are really missing out.