Is the convenience of skinning worth it?

[fowlfriends]

I will be starting some processing of my birds - chickens, ducks, and turkeys. Some of them I will be skinning to save time, and my back. I have a LOT of birds to do - at least in my opinion.... Depending on how many I want to keep for laying/breeding stock, I have at least 6 turkeys, 11 ducks, and well who knows how many chickens? 30??

I assume the time the skinned birds keep in the freezer will not be as long if the bird still has the skin to protect the meat. I also wonder if I am loosing too much flavor by skinning, and if it will still have as much diversity in methods I can prepare it. Is it worth the time saved?

 

[Davaroo]

I know one person who says it is - dipsydoodledoo. Look her up and ask her.

 

[fowlfriends]

Thank you

 

[silkiechicken]

I prefer skinning. Much less mess and less "evidence" blowing around after wards. Also less hot water to heat, less stink. I still need to boil some water to save the feet to eat though.

I say go skin them! I mean you can buy costco breast pieces frozen, I don't think skinning whole birds will make that big of a difference. As for flavor, what's a loss of a bit of collagen and lipids?

It is ALOT less time too.

 

[jab91864]

Think about how you/your family like to eat the poultry and how adaptable the recipes are. I usually end up doing some each way.

I'm more willing to skin if I have a lot of birds to do and am getting tired or somebody has a lot of pin feathers...nobody helps me so it's always a solo job start to finish.

Julie

 

[JacobsRewardFarm]

fowlfriends, my husband and I processed 26 birds yesterday and we opted for skinning. I vacuum-packed them with my new Food Saver and it was as slick as a whistle. Now, that was my first ever processing so I can't compare the two methods, but it just seemed simpler to me for our first time to skin rather than pluck. I am going to post more about our experience over on the thread I started: "Tomorrow's the Big Day." See you over there...

Cindy T.
Parker, TX

 

[eggchel]

If you fillet the breasts off the ribs after skinning, and cut off the leg/thighs, then you can throw away the rest of the carcass without having to gut it. All you lose is the back.
Seems like a good trade off for the amount of work saved and having less mess.

Chel