FEATHER PLUCK vs SKINNING?

[chicksalot]

I have a question about processing birds for those of you who do this on a regular basis... I repeatedly read (from books & online) about the scalding & feather plucking. But I have recently run across an article where a person took the skin off (thus skipping the plucking part of processing & alot of the mess) since many people now pull the skin of the bird before cooking it anyway. What are any pros & cons for this technique regarding how well it would keep in the freezre, etc...? I would like to hear what your ideas are on this & what works the best for you...I know different ways suit different people, so ALL ideas/ input are welcome. Thanks.

 

[jvls1942]

this is going to be a hit and miss reply.. I can't remember who said what.. I am going by memory and it is short..

so pick out what you want ....LOL

freezing without skin should make no difference in the length of time frozen, because you are not going to keep it frozen long enough to make any difference..

to the flytiers.. after the chicken is dead, take a scissors and give him a "haircut"... after you have the feathers you want, then scald and pluck him....

canned meat does not need skin ..

My cardiologist recommends to not eat the skin..(but fried crispy it still tastes sooo good) LOL

If you want to kill a bird and eat just the breast, do it.. If you want to save every scrap of meat, liver, heart, neck etc etc,,do it.. I have said that someday I am going to buy a watermelon and eat just the heart out of it.... I better do it soon before my next heart attack.LOL
My kids were teenagers before they knew there was a heart in the watermelon. I would cut a slice and eat the heart and give the kids the seedy part.. they didn't know the difference..LOL

My point is, you raised it, do what you want with it.. If somebody criticizes you for it, cut off the parts you want and give the rest to that person..(or throw it away and tell them you did) It is your bird,,,your choice..

 

[Ridgerunner]

The main difference in the quality of the bird in skinning or plucking is that the skin has fat in it. In younger birds where you have the option to roast and you cook them whole, having the skin on could help keep the meat more moist, sort of self-basting. But you are probably not going to cook it where this makes any difference in this.

Some people like the taste of skin, some don't. That's probably due to the fat in it. This comes down to personal preference. Cooking it with the skin on will add more flavor. Do you and yours like that extra flavor. At 1-1/2 years he will have a lot more flavor than the chicken you buy at the store anyway, sort of a gamey flavor. Some people really don't like that since they are not used to it.

When you butcher a rooster this age there is a lot of connective tissue that will make skinning slow. It takes quite a bit more of hand strength than a young bird, a world of difference. On a younger bird skinning if fast, you can fly through. Not on this bird. You need a sharp knife to cut through a lot of that connective tissue. The legs and especially the wings are rough. I skin roosters older than this but they are a pain.

Thinking more on the skinning versus plucking process, I'd think plucking might be easier for you because of that connective tissue. If you are not used to the flavor you probably won't realize the difference when you cook it. It's going to taste different anyway.

I also suggest plucking.

 

[PurpleChicken]

I've done both.

The skin adds so much flavor when baking, frying, and even using as soup.
Once you get good at plucking it's not much harder than skinning.

If I have one small rooster who is being aggressive I'll usually just
skin it. For 2 or more birds I'll fire up the turkey fryer with water in it
to scald and pluck.

Dry plucking is possible too, just a lot harder.

 

[greyfields]

chicken skin is proof god loves us.... skinning is wasting good food!

 

[eggonomist]

I have done both now and with smaller birds you get so much more if you pluck, but I like the idea of having lots of left over scraps on the cage for stock. We have a system now that allows us to process a bird in around 20 minutes. I Bleed the bird and then check on the scalder, once up to temp I hand the bird to my wife and she scalds and starts plucking, I then get number 2 and bleed him. Once plucking is finished no.1 goes on the processing table and I go and get no.3, no.2 is then taken by my wife for scalding and plucking while I process no.1, then no.4 is taken to be bled and no.2 is now ready for processing and no.3 is ready for scalding and plucking. We just keep going untill we are done. Then My wife starts clearing up the feathers wile I process the last chicken and then it's clear up time. The system works well and we each have our own jobs to be doing.
If I were doing it on my own then I would probably just skin the birds, but with a helper (or two) you can process very quickly.

 

[triplepurpose]

I've just never been convinced that skinning is that much easier than plucking. Chickens are easy to pluck--if you don't think so, try doing a goose. I can pluck about as quickly as I can skin, and the food value I save by not wasting wingtips, feet (for stock), and nutritious, flavorful skin, more than justifies the extra minute or two that it takes to pluck. If you only have a few chickens to do, it seems like you'd want to save as much useful parts as possible, and if you have a ton of chickens to do, then economy of scale makes heating scalding water and buying some basic equipment very practical anyway. I feel the same way about organs--you're going to the trouble to raise and process this thing already, why not take 60 extra seconds or so to save something so nutritious and useful, rather than tossing it? After all the hours of feeding and other work it took to raise it, am I really in such a hurry I can't be bothered to save and exploit that bit of extra value?

Every time I've tried skinning, I just felt kind of guilty, like it was just carelessly wasteful and not that much easier to justify it. I don't judge other people for finding different solutions that make sense in their own circumstances. But for me, after trying various methods and trying to understand the rationale, it just never made much sense--morally or pragmatically.

 

[romea]

just coming from a cerebral POV, i would think that keeping the skin intact (as much as possible), thus sealing in whatever is left re: fat and 'juices', would help to make the meat as tender as possible.
you can always reconsider during the cooking process - but once the skin is off... well... it is off.
so i'd suggest to pluck, not skin him.

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I gotta agree with PurpleChicken, we do it both ways for the same reasons.
Small game chickens & birds going through molt are a booger to pluck in my opinion, so we just skin them, and if we are just getting a single bird ready for dinner (Any breed) I usually just skin it as it's so much faster & easier.
If we are cleaning several birds we pluck them. It seems to keep longer in the freezer if the skin is intact and of course the flavor is better & it helps keep the juices in if roasting.
We might be different, but my wife removes the skin if she's frying anyway, as neither of us like the skin.

 

[CK Chickadilly]

Quote:
A friend says she scalds them & then plucks. Shw says boiling water is your best friend!

How long do you scald for? Doesn't it start cooking the bird?

Also, when you bleed them, do you cut off the head completely? Or just slit the throat?

You use a turkey deep fryer to scald them? How long does it take for the water to heat up?