Processed a Muscovy today. GRAPHIC pic/description UPDATE

[jdywntr]

Quote:
Why to go jdy, After the first try i would probably be bawling but am very proud of you for getting through it and doing the job. I appreciate the info because we plan on processing some muscovies next year. you mentioned soaking in a bucket of water did you put salt in the water how much per gallon if you don't mind.

Again, the actual killing was difficult after that it was easy for me. I'm trying to think of a "gentler" way of doing it next time.

On the day of, I had a cooler with plain ice water in it. I had planned on processing 2 but didn't. He was only in there for a little while when I was running inside. After eviserating, I put him in a different cooler with ice water but no salt or anything for about an hour to chill him completely. I had actually planned on putting salt in the water but forgot

My thought process was that I could leave the 2 in there overnight to brine.

I ended up putting him in a brine solution on Monday morning. I didn't really measure and I don't think that I actually added enough salt to have a tenderizing effect. Again

. I put maybe 1 gallon of water and about 1/3 cup of kosher salt and about 1/4 cup of sugar in a large tub. I found a recipe (Alton Brown's maybe) for a brine but (as usual) I didn't really measure. I put it in the fridge for 24 hours then drained, dried, and put on a paper towel covered platter covered with paper towels

. FYI when your bird dries with paper towels over it, the paper towels stick to it. :lol (easy fix just wet the dried area and peel off)

 

[Miss Lydia]

Quote:
Why to go jdy, After the first try i would probably be bawling but am very proud of you for getting through it and doing the job. I appreciate the info because we plan on processing some muscovies next year. you mentioned soaking in a bucket of water did you put salt in the water how much per gallon if you don't mind.

Again, the actual killing was difficult after that it was easy for me. I'm trying to think of a "gentler" way of doing it next time.

On the day of, I had a cooler with plain ice water in it. I had planned on processing 2 but didn't. He was only in there for a little while when I was running inside. After eviserating, I put him in a different cooler with ice water but no salt or anything for about an hour to chill him completely. I had actually planned on putting salt in the water but forgot

My thought process was that I could leave the 2 in there overnight to brine.

I ended up putting him in a brine solution on Monday morning. I didn't really measure and I don't think that I actually added enough salt to have a tenderizing effect. Again

. I put maybe 1 gallon of water and about 1/3 cup of kosher salt and about 1/4 cup of sugar in a large tub. I found a recipe (Alton Brown's maybe) for a brine but (as usual) I didn't really measure. I put it in the fridge for 24 hours then drained, dried, and put on a paper towel covered platter covered with paper towels

. FYI when your bird dries with paper towels over it, the paper towels stick to it. :lol (easy fix just wet the dried area and peel off)

Thank you for the info, I have been looking at killing cones do you think for the ducks this would be the way to go? for our roos we just use the axe and chopping block or rather dh does.

 

[jdywntr]

Quote:
Again, the actual killing was difficult after that it was easy for me. I'm trying to think of a "gentler" way of doing it next time.

On the day of, I had a cooler with plain ice water in it. I had planned on processing 2 but didn't. He was only in there for a little while when I was running inside. After eviserating, I put him in a different cooler with ice water but no salt or anything for about an hour to chill him completely. I had actually planned on putting salt in the water but forgot

My thought process was that I could leave the 2 in there overnight to brine.

I ended up putting him in a brine solution on Monday morning. I didn't really measure and I don't think that I actually added enough salt to have a tenderizing effect. Again

. I put maybe 1 gallon of water and about 1/3 cup of kosher salt and about 1/4 cup of sugar in a large tub. I found a recipe (Alton Brown's maybe) for a brine but (as usual) I didn't really measure. I put it in the fridge for 24 hours then drained, dried, and put on a paper towel covered platter covered with paper towels

. FYI when your bird dries with paper towels over it, the paper towels stick to it. :lol (easy fix just wet the dried area and peel off)

Thank you for the info, I have been looking at killing cones do you think for the ducks this would be the way to go? for our roos we just use the axe and chopping block or rather dh does.

If you (or DH) can do the axe, I think that may be quicker. It was surprising how thick the neck was. I have read that slitting the throat is difficult in Muscovy drakes because of the amount of muscle. I think that I am going to look more into it and try the cone method though next time.

 

[Cheapchicksfarm]

Reading your first post reminded me of the time I killed my first and last rooster I had two roos who needed to go and asked hubby to do it but he said he didn't believe that I really wanted them dead so he was worried I would be mad if he killed them so he said you do the first one and I will take care of the second will I missed 3 times with the hatchet then hit him but had the same results as you it wasn't pretty so hubby ran over took the hatchet from me and killed the second roo in one clean swing I now have him do all the killing and I happily clean and pluck. I scrape the lungs out with my hand and then hose it down and soak in water we do sprinkle salt in the water over the meat I have never measured it out. On old buck deer my husband shots we add salt and some vinegar to the water the vinegar is supposed to help draw out more of the blood

 

[jdywntr]

Quote:
I wished I'd had my hubby as a back up. He didn't even want to be home at the time

I didn't realize that vinegar may help draw the blood out. I will certainly try it the next time. I had a checklist leading up to the deed (I do better with lists) though I forgot to put "add salt to water" on the list.

If I could get someone to do the killing, I'd be thrilled. I'm hoping it will get easier with experience but its not like I will be processing more than 2 or so at a time. Maybe 3, thats all of the excess drakes I have left.

 

[PatS]

Is it just muscovies that are difficult to kill with a knife/cone? What about mallard-types?