Skinning vs plucking

[kyleeaton93]

For those that skin instead of pluck, I’m curious if you still put the parted out meat in an ice bath for a couple days? I’m considering skinning this time around. I’m just not sure if the parted out meat still needs time to rest before packaging up. Thanks in advance.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Skinning or plucking has nothing to do with why the meat needs to rest. The meat will go through rigor mortis either way. If you do not rest it before cooking you run the risk of the meat being inedible.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Like @Ridgerunner said, resting the meat is to wait for rigor to pass. It really doesn't matter whether you pluck or skin, rigor will affect the muscles the same either way. You can rest the meat before freezing, or you can freeze first and then rest in the fridge after thawing.

For what it's worth, skinning and plucking takes me about the same amount of time. Unless I'm using the automatic plucker, that's much faster.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I don't skin unless I intend on using the pelts, then the meat is used for soup cuz meat dries out if you bake it without skin.
Plus the skin has the most flavor, & we really love it.

 

[FunClucks]

I save half an hour of processing time by skinning instead of plucking. Skinning takes me 1.5 hrs and plucking takes me 2 hrs from live bird to finished carcass. Setup time for the water bath is also reduced.

Sometimes I part out the bird, sometimes I leave it as a whole carcass after skinning (for those I need to pressure cook). For the whole carcass, I put it in an icebath for 2-3 days (simulates the fridge), or I can bag the carcass and the parted bird (separately) and put them in the fridge, laid out individually (not stacked up) to cool as fast as possible.

You can also freeze the carcass directly after skinning or parting, but you will still need the meat to sit in the fridge for 3+ days to get past rigor mortis after you thaw it and before you cook it. When the joints move easily, you know rigor mortis is over and it's ready to be cooked. I've had birds take a day or two, and some take a week or more to get thru rigor mortis. Don't really know why, but moving the joint easily is always accurate for when things are ready to cook.

 

[FunClucks]

I don't skin unless I intend on using the pelts, then the meat is used for soup cuz meat dries out if you bake it without skin.
Plus the skin has the most flavor, & we really love it.

I agree, skin is tasty, I just don't always have the patience for it.

I cover my skinned chicken with cheese or sauce when I cook it, and cook in a covered dish to avoid drying out. Like as a curry or under BBQ sauce or something.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I save half an hour of processing time by skinning instead of plucking. Skinning takes me 1.5 hrs and plucking takes me 2 hrs from live bird to finished carcass. Setup time for the water bath is also reduced.

Sometimes I part out the bird, sometimes I leave it as a whole carcass after skinning (for those I need to pressure cook). For the whole carcass, I put it in an icebath for 2-3 days (simulates the fridge), or I can bag the carcass and the parted bird (separately) and put them in the fridge, laid out individually (not stacked up) to cool as fast as possible.

You can also freeze the carcass directly after skinning or parting, but you will still need the meat to sit in the fridge for 3+ days to get past rigor mortis after you thaw it and before you cook it. When the joints move easily, you know rigor mortis is over and it's ready to be cooked. I've had birds take a day or two, and some take a week or more to get thru rigor mortis. Don't really know why, but moving the joint easily is always accurate for when things are ready to cook.

Plucking takes practice. I can pluck one bird in 26 minutes.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Welcome to the forum @kyleeaton93 . Glad you joined. I did not notice you were new when I first read your post.

As you will quickly notice we have a lot of different opinions and experiences so there is generally no one way that is right where every other way is wrong. For their own reasons, some people pluck while others skin. Their reasons are all valid for them.

Not counting set-up and teardown I can process about 4 each hour whether I skin or pluck. I've been doing it a long time so I've had practice.

Personally I skin. My wife prefers skinless meat. The way we cook it skinless meat is fine. Set-up and teardown takes a bit longer if I pluck, mainly due to heating the water. When I heat the water I use a gas ring which I consider a fire hazard where I heat it. Other people heat water in a different way so they aren't concerned about a fire hazard.

You will get the same differences in opinion on practically any topic on here. You'll need to figure out which are valid for you with your specific goals, climate, and facilities. Never hesitate to ask a question on here, but don't be surprised if we don't always agree. You'll even find some people that don't think aging is necessary as strange as that is to me.

Try to select which responses actually apply to you. And once again,

 

[FunClucks]

Plucking takes practice. I can pluck one bird in 26 minutes.

I agree, it took me a bit to get fast at it. I pluck in about 30 minutes.
The time it takes to get the water set up and heated up, the cleaning of the scalding pot, and the tear down time are what annoy me most. And the smell. I hate the smell of the scalding water - it gets into all my clothing and hair, and nasal passages for like three days afterwards. I love the taste of crispy chicken skin, and make it a point to process some of my smaller more tender birds with skin on for roasting, but most of the time I avoid plucking because it's a hassle and I don't like the scalding water smell. A silly reason perhaps, with all the other smells one must deal with to process a chicken, but it's a big one for me.

 

[MysteryChicken]

I agree, it took me a bit to get fast at it. I pluck in about 30 minutes.
The time it takes to get the water set up and heated up, the cleaning of the scalding pot, and the tear down time are what annoy me most. And the smell. I hate the smell of the scalding water - it gets into all my clothing and hair, and nasal passages for like three days afterwards. I love the taste of crispy chicken skin, and make it a point to process some of my smaller more tender birds with skin on for roasting, but most of the time I avoid plucking because it's a hassle and I don't like the scalding water smell. A silly reason perhaps, with all the other smells one must deal with to process a chicken, but it's a big one for me.

The smell, you get used to it after awhile. I was exposed to it when I was younger.

I slaughter when the water gets about half way to scalding so the wait time isn't very long.