Once you have denuded the bird, you can remove the extremities of the neck, wing tips, and the legs below the knee. A kitchen scissors works best for this. Once plucked, make a small slit below the breastbone, and push two fingers into this opening and back into the cavity of the bird and pull out the offal. The heart and liver can be reserved. Some find it easier to do this task while wearing rubber gloves, and latex medical gloves come in hand for the purpose.
Wash and dry your birds after they are plucked and drawn, and they are now ready for the table or the freezer. No meat is unaffected by freezing, so we try to use game birds fresh, but they hold up reasonably well to freezing in butcher paper, wrapped and taped neatly. Freezer bags with a bit of water work best for game birds particularly if you just breasted the birds, which we rarely do, as the legs and bones are great for stocks which have been skinned. Then the question becomes to pluck or not to pluck , which is well done in this piece over at Project Upland?
Previous Next. Here is the best plucking method for ducks-hot wax. The science behind aging says that enzymes start to break down the meat as the time after death increases, tenderizing the meat and making it more flavorful. Aging birds in temperatures warmer than 60 degrees invites the risk of introducing harmful bacteria into the process.
I leave the guts in my birds when I age them, though there is some argument to this point as well. If you wash the cavity with water, dry the area quickly to prevent spoilage. After cleaning the cavity, place carcasses in plastic storage bags and pack on ice or snow, or refrigerate as soon as possible. Keep carcasses out of direct sunlight and allow for adequate air circulation. Young birds have lighter legs, softer breastbones, and flexible beaks.
Older birds have darker, hard-skinned legs, brittle breast-bones, and inflexible beaks. Transporting and Processing Game Birds Keep carcasses cool during transport. Keep them out of sunlight. Do not put birds in a vehicle's trunk while still warm. Allow for adequate air circulation. Freezing the carcass before processing may toughen the meat. During processing, frequently clean your knife between cuts to avoid contaminating the meat.
Wash your knife, hands, and cutting boards often with warm, soapy water. When preparing ducks, remove the wings by cutting them off at the joints, remove the head, and pluck out the pin feathers. Scrape off the feathers after the wax has hardened. Soak grouse, pheasant, quail, and partridge carcasses in cold water for one to two hours to remove excess blood.
Kitchen Processing Store any unfrozen meat in the refrigerator and use it within two to three days. Save the carcass and neck bones to make soup base. The skin on plucked birds that are aged turns golden in color. Pheasants can taste a little bland, but this bird was wonderful. I have even hung some spruce grouse I shot in Manitoba. Locals claim that spruce grouse taste terrible, but these were young birds and after hanging a few days they were delicious.
Hanging pheasants and other fowl may not be for everyone, but for those who enjoy tradition and delectable meals, hanging may be just the thing. Please subscribe to keep reading. You can cancel at any time. Already a subscriber? Log in or Activate your account. No thanks, return to homepage. Edit Close.
Log In Subscribe. Dashboard Logout. Aging game birds results in a delectable treat. Share this. By Gerry Steinhauer. Watch Now: Related Video. Tennis star Novak Djokovic still faces possible deportation from Australia. Bitter cold rivalry match-ups and more in this week's NFL playoff forecast.
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