hanging, plucking and gutting

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hanging, plucking and gutting

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Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 07 6:55 pm Post subject: hanging, plucking and gutting
Mrs JB came in today with a brace of pheasant and brace of duck shot by one of her colleagues at the weekend. How long should I hang these and does anyone have any tips on how to go about plucking and gutting them? Should I gut them quickly as with rabbit or should I leave them intact until I need to pluck them?

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 07 7:19 pm Post subject:
Leave them intact until you want to prepare them, an unopened cavity gives less chance of bacteria getting in. I don't like my birds overlly gamey so I leave for 3-4 days max.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 07 7:25 pm Post subject:

Hanging is a matter for personal taste - I rarely hang pheasants for more than a couple of days as I'm not keen on gamey meat. Wild duck doesn't come my way very often, so I can't help there. For both birds, don't gut until you have plucked.

Plucking: do you want to roast the birds or will you be using the breasts/legs separately. I normally do the latter as I find that the legs need long slow cooking and the breasts a lot less. If you will be jointing the birds, then consider skinning rather than plucking - remove the wing tips, pluck a small patch on the breast clean, pull up the skin and slit gently with a sharp knife. You can then "peel" off the skin by simply pulling it, perhaps easing it away with your knife if it is reluctant to part company.
To pluck, I start with the wings and tail, and then try to work over the whole body methodically. I normally end up tearing the skin on the breast a bit, so I don't worry about it - you can always cover it with a bit of bacon!

Gutting: slit the skin along the neck, pulling it apart to give access to the cavity. Carefully remove the crop, then get your knife inside and sever the neck as far down as you can reach. Run your finger around the inside of the cavity to separate the internal organs from the body, then go to the other end! Very carefully, cut around the vent and cut the skin towards the breastbone to make enough room for manoeuvre. Start pulling out the guts - best to get your hand in there and grab it all at once, rather than pulling it all out bit by bit. In your handful of guts, you will also pull out the liver and gizzard - detach these (and remove the bile duct from the liver). Once the main body of the guts are out, have a rootle inside to look for other gibbly bits, then wash the whole bird inside and out.

Think that's about it.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 07 7:34 pm Post subject:

judith wrote:

... gibbly bits ...

Is that a technical term?

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 07 7:36 pm Post subject:

Length of time hanging depends on weather and where you hang the birds. In cold weather like this, I leave mine in the outbuilding for 5-7 days.

Plucking - I usually start at the neck down the back, then the front, and work towards the other end, with a detour via the wings (but only down to the 'elbow', as I cut the ends of the wings off with meat scissors. Mind you, they always look a bit of a baggy crumpled mess by the time I've finished plucking and gutting - they improve in appearance if you fold their legs and wings in.

For gutting, what Judith said

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46211
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Nov 12, 07 11:59 pm Post subject:
i like duck quite fresh pheasant only a few days old even in the cold peel pheasants ,pluck ducks unless they are very young ie summer , pheasant is best slow cooked rather than roasted imho

KILLITnGRILLIT

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 894
Location: Looking at a screen in the front room

Posted: Wed Nov 14, 07 3:47 pm Post subject:
I like to hang pheasant for at least a few days and up to 2 weeks in frosty weather, Duck however don`t need hanging and need to be done in a day or 3 at the most. Nice article here about processing pheasant with pics too!! https://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=14621

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 10:15 am Post subject:

Well I've dealt with the ducks and what I've learnt is ...

- rabbits are a lot easier to deal with, at least there one can open them up and find all the anatomy!
- it a lot easier to pluck while hanging them from a ceiling by the neck rather than trying to do it on a flat surface
- rupturing their intestine while gutting is a _bad_ idea
- do not pluck in the kitchen unless you want feathers in everything!

Other than that apart from the fact that the first one took me forever it wasn't too bad a job. So which gibbly bits do people keep for stocks and gravies and so on?

KILLITnGRILLIT

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 894
Location: Looking at a screen in the front room

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 10:20 am Post subject:

JB wrote:

So which gibbly bits do people keep for stocks and gravies and so on?

As above........ https://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=14621

Posts 9&10.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 10:22 am Post subject:

KILLITnGRILLIT wrote:

JB wrote:

So which gibbly bits do people keep for stocks and gravies and so on?

As above........ https://forums.pigeonwatch.co.uk/forums/index.php?showtopic=14621

Ta for the link. I ignored it last time as none of the images seem to be downloading here. I'll go away for a reread of the text there.

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 10:40 am Post subject:
Got the images now - seems one needs to register to view the pictures (which seems a bit odd!)

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 11:15 am Post subject:

JB wrote:

- do not pluck in the kitchen unless you want feathers in everything!

The first time I plucked a pheasant, I sat in the bath to do it.
It was quite effective at containing the feathers!

Jb

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 7761
Location: 91� N

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 11:19 am Post subject:

judith wrote:

JB wrote:

- do not pluck in the kitchen unless you want feathers in everything!

The first time I plucked a pheasant, I sat in the bath to do it.
It was quite effective at containing the feathers!

As soon as I realised the issue I moved out to the garage. It was a much colder job but at least we didn't have down pizza for dinner

KILLITnGRILLIT

Joined: 14 Sep 2006
Posts: 894
Location: Looking at a screen in the front room

Posted: Thu Nov 15, 07 11:00 pm Post subject:

JB wrote:

Got the images now - seems one needs to register to view the pictures (which seems a bit odd!)

My apologies, I forgot, it was the admins attempt to avoid offending the general public, who are welcome on the site, as the pictures are of animal body parts and the intention was to not shock or offend.

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