How do you skin a chicken?

[ChickieBooBoo]

I might have a few roosters to do in a few days and I want to try skinning one, just to see how it works. Can you juts rip the skin with your fingers? Or do you need to cut it? I have skinned rabbits before and it was pretty simple, is there a trick to doing a chicken?

 

[Liamm_1]

check youtube. I saw some good videos, one was very detailed as I recall.

 

[jsmonasmith]

I just had a long explanation of how i have done it, and opened a new page and lost it all. Oh well it's pretty easy, just do like you would a rabbit, but when you get to the feathers cut between the skin and flesh to cut of the wing feathers. The wing feathers go deeper into the flesh than on the other parts, so this method leaves little feather stubs in the wing. You can pull these out with pliers, or not. If you scald first you can pull the feathers out before skinning. I'm guessing though that you are wanting to skin to avoid the scalding and plucking though. However, I have found a trick that makes scalding a piece of cake, just turn your hot water heater up until it is between 140-150 degrees(all the way up on my hot water heater), then run a short hose from the drain valve on the tank into a bucket. Presto, easy scald water.

This guy has a good video on the rest of the processing.

 

[jaj121159]

Quote:
Don't forget to turn it back down or you're going to be the scadlee not the scalder.

 

[RoosterGeek]

I've seen videos of folks using a blower attachment for their air compressors.

They pretty much make an opening between the skin and muscle and insert the blower tube. It inflates the chicken skin and you can hear the connections popping.

I haven't tried it myself, but intend to once I get an air compressor.

 

[jsmonasmith]

Quote:
Yep, I forgot to turn it down and the wife just bout divorced me over it. ;( Make sure you turn it back down unless you wctually want to be lonely.

 

[CDennis]

We skin pheasants by stepping firmly close to the body on the wings, then pulling up steady and slow on the base of the legs, the skin or jacket just comes off nicely I have not yet tried it w/ a chicken but if the little bantam rooster attacks me one more time, he will be my test subject.

 

[RoosterGeek]

Quote:
Yep, I forgot to turn it down and the wife just bout divorced me over it. ;( Make sure you turn it back down unless you wctually want to be lonely.

Haha! I'll make sure not to do that with my wife. I'll be processing mine this weekend and I'll try skinning one or two. I've heard that skinned whole chickens are more susceptible to freezer burn and being dry. Dunno about that personally though.

 

[glassparman]

I don't like the skin either so when I cull a chicken, I let it bleed out first then I put it in a 2 gallon freezer bag and put it in the freezer for about 2 hours or so. That should be just long enough to chill the body. Now you can skin the bird. If you don't chill it first, it will have a tendency to tear at the meat when you peel the skin.

I start by making a slit in the front of the neck then across the front of the shoulders and completely around the neck. You should be able to grab a hold of the skin and just start peeling it back. It's tough in some spots especially at the wing tips. I don't bother scalding and pulling feathers, it all comes off nicely this route.

I get to the vent and stop peeling so I can do the evisceration carefully to not spoil the meat. It's really not that hard once you give it a try.

Michael

 

[Stefrobrts]

Quote:
I freeze skinned chicken meat all the time, and as long as it's properly wrapped, there's no reason why it should freezer burn.