Magically Appearing Quills

[Oregon Blues]

I just roasted a home raised duck. The duck had cleaned up really nicely with smooth clean skin. I checked it again before it went into the oven. Nice and clean.

At the half way mark, I pulled it out of the oven to check on it and it looked like a hedgehog. It was covered with bristling pinfeathers. The pinfeathers had to have been right below the surface, ready to break out, and as the skin cooked and softened, out they popped.

Fortunately, any pinfeather in cooked skin come out super easily. It would have taken just a minute to pull all those pinfeathers, but I happened to be cooking that duck to get shredded meat for duck tacos, so I just threw the skin away.

I just had to tell you how surprised I was to open the oven and find my nice clean duck looking like an angry porcupine.

 

[City Chicken]

maybe it's like humans.... warm the pores, they open up and le voila! look what's inside!
duck tacos sound amazing.

 

[Life is Good!]

That would be quite a surprise!

This has happened to me with our Black Java chickens (cockerals). I'll get them super-clean, pop 'em in the oven - pull 'em out and it looks like they need a good shave! It's the sensory feathers that get me on these birds. I've skinned 'em, washed the bejeebers out of 'em, dress 'em and they get 5 o'clock shadow!

Discouraging, but a learning process.

 

[DianeS]

I had that happen in a crock pot once. Really awful-looking. It went in nice and clean, and when I looked through the lid partway through, it looked all spikey. I wasn't at all sure what the feathers would do to the taste, so I opened it up and skinned it even though it was halfway through cooking. It finished up just fine. Just... naked.

I have several more from the same batch still in the freezer. I wonder how many of them I'll have to skin even after taking the time to pluck them?