Proceesing Quail

[ladybug4ut1]

Hi,

I am going to process some quail and have never done it before...I have a few questions......DO you have to let them sit in the fridge before freezing and how do you do gut them. I understand about the defeathering and all but needed the other information...Thanks A head of time for any information.. I just

 

[sweetshoplady]

The easiest way for me to gut them is with a spoon. If they're young, like 12 weeks, no need to let them rest in the fridge for a while. They're pretty tender just processed and cooked. Or at least I thought they were. Others may feel differently.

We just enjoyed a chicken that we brined and let rest 24 hours before frying. Meat was super tender.

They process easily too. Bon appetite!

 

[Mrs MIA]

This sounds horrible, but we used sharp kitchen shears and just cut their heads off.

We decided to remove the breasts and legs, figuring there wasn't much on the wings. We just skinned them first, and then they sat in the refrigerator overnight. Then we froze them. Hubby pulled them out on T-day, and saute'd them up... very yummy.
We haven't tried gutting them and leaving them whole, yet. I'd like to try. I would think that you could slice/cut up the breastbone and butterfly it out to gut it, too. There are a couple of threads on processing quail... SamG347 had a thread going on it, with a recipe, too...

 

[ticks]

scissors, scissors, scissors.

It is fast and painless.

 

[perfectly_polish]

We process our quail will a sharp pair of scissors. Just snip the head right off. Most people skin their quail because they're so small, but you can scald and pluck, their skin is delicious. Last time we did a few and put them right in the oven, didn't even brine them. They were nice and tender. But that was on 6-8 week old quail, not sure how old yours are. But you can let them brine in salt water for about 24 hours. As for gutting, it's pretty simple. Cut an "X" by their vent, stick your finger in and pull. Cut their off their oil gland, vent, etc.

And you'll end up with this:

 

[BirdBoy88]

Quote:
Is that a Coturnix quail? jumbo?

i have been wanting to try one of mine or when i hatch out more of them ...the jumbos that is... are they good?

 

[perfectly_polish]

Quote:
Is that a Coturnix quail? jumbo?

i have been wanting to try one of mine or when i hatch out more of them ...the jumbos that is... are they good?

Yep that's a Jumbo Brown Coturnix. And they are delicious, one of the best meats I've ever eaten.

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Wow - yours are HUGE!!!! What are you feeding them???

They are super-simple to process - I used a chef's knife to behead them, but good poultry shears work well too. I didn't need to scald - I was able to pluck them very easily. Left them whole, just need to cut from the vent to the base of the breastbone. I have little hands so getting in there wasn't much of a problem. Bigger hands would need a spoon. I did 5 in less time than it takes me to do one chicken!

 

[BirdBoy88]

I need to hatch out more.. i only have 13 jumbo Coturnix quails.. i need to hatch more that way i can process some and stil have some left because i know once we start processing my brothers and dad wont stop....lol

 

[LilRalphieRoosmama]

Yep - that's the way to do it - keep cycling them. I just hatched out 12 more and in a few weeks, they will replace the older ones. If only I had more room...!