Have You Ever Plucked A Duck?

The Backwards Man

When I was a little backwards man my granny taught me how to pluck ducks, as well as various other fowl. Duck plucking in my family goes back centuries, apparently. I've never consider plucking a duck in my adult life, and I don't think I ever will, but nevertheless, one of the skills that will always stay with me, thanks to my granny, is that of duck plucker.

Have you had any skills handed down from your elder generations that you will never use?

IM0

Im not a pheasant plucker Im a pheasant pluckers son, Im only plucking ducks tilll the pheasant plucker comes

bacon n eggs

Always thought that rhyme was pheasant plucker, not duck.

The Backwards Man

Ah, your grandmother taught you to be a wordsmith, I see. Very good.:)

Ilik Urgee

the pope's nose is popping up all over AH today

IM0

bacon n eggs wrote: »

Always thought that rhyme was pheasant plucker, not duck.

I ad libbed it

bacon n eggs

Granny was and still is a cantankerous old gal. Not passed on to me at all.

Mariasofia

Did ya ever ride a country pony?

bacon n eggs

I ad libbed it

Initiative is good.

corktina

The most difficult tasks when preparing a duck are:

Plucking it
Drawing it
trussing it up
catching it
killing it

(Not in that actual order though...)

IM0

bacon n eggs wrote: »

Initiative is good.

yah :cool:

DrumSteve

Ive choked a chicken, if that counts.

The Backwards Man

corktina wrote: »

The most difficult tasks when preparing a duck are:

Plucking it
Drawing it
trussing it up
catching it
killing it

(Not in that actual order though...)

The most important thing to remember is to NEVER try to stuff it while it is still alive.

corktina

not if you might get caught by the Missus anyway!

bacon n eggs

The most important thing to remember is to NEVER try to stuff it while it is still alive.

Aaahhhh, that's where I was going wrong.

kneemos

Is there a system for plucking a duck or is it just generally pull feathers?

Hownowcow

If you do pluck a duck and then decide that it looked better with feathers, how do you put them back on it?

bacon n eggs

erm..glue of course doh

Cork24

kneemos wrote: »

Is there a system for plucking a duck or is it just generally pull feathers?

just pull the feathers, i have seen done with Chickens, cut the Skin and pull it off and off comes the feathers.

Obliq

kneemos wrote: »

Is there a system for plucking a duck or is it just generally pull feathers?

I've only done chickens and a pheasant (yeah, I know.....but I'm a daughter, not a son) but I imagine it's the same. My system is:
1 Behead the beast & hang up by feet
2 pull feathers from neck away from body
3 pull feathers on breast in small clumps or even single feathers, while simultaneously keeping the skin taut with other hand. Skin tears easily.
4 Yank feathers off legs
5 Go as far as you are going to eat near the tail, chop off rest
6 Don't forget to take out glands near tail when plucked
7 Go across skin with a lighter to burn off the tiny down feathers
Not going to list gutting procedure!

I usually skin them though, as they're generally not fit for roasting and need stewing, so I don't need the skin.

The Backwards Man

kneemos wrote: »

Is there a system for plucking a duck or is it just generally pull feathers?

Yeah it's all in the wrist action. Some people have the natural knack for pulling them, others have to go through hours and hours of practice to perfect the correct jerking procedure.

kneemos

The Backwards Man wrote: »

Yeah it's all in the wrist action. Some people have the natural knack for pulling them, others have to go through hours and hours of practice to perfect the correct jerking procedure.

Quick,fast, slow.

Obliq

kneemos wrote: »

Quick,fast, slow.

At all times, being careful not to tear the skin.

moy83

Dip them in scalding water and the feathers come out alot easier .

Karl Stein

Let's raise an army of wicked ducks and take the Dail.

martinedwards

ducks, chickens, pigeons, geese, turkeys......

skinned pigs too, but they don't count as plucking.......

interesting skills?

we had a guy who could kill two chickens simultaneously.....

he held a head in each hand and then cracked them like whips......

where as small birds can be killed by just twisting thier skulls to break thier necks, geese are an absoulte bugger to kill.

my mum used to have to lay the neck over a brush shaft and the stand on it!!

I suspect that the animal rights people would disapprove!

Obliq

martinedwards wrote: »

he held a head in each hand and then cracked them like whips......

Done that! Not with two though, but it's just as quick as any other method.

my mum used to have to lay the neck over a brush shaft and the stand on it!!

I suspect that the animal rights people would disapprove!

I suspect that if you asked any animal rights folk if it was better that the animal had a nice life, closer to the way they would naturally, they'd be happier with that than the deaths of battery farmed creatures with crappy lives. Of course, if they're vegetarians, it's never going to go down well......

kneemos

martinedwards wrote: »

ducks, chickens, pigeons, geese, turkeys......

skinned pigs too, but they don't count as plucking.......

interesting skills?

we had a guy who could kill two chickens simultaneously.....

he held a head in each hand and then cracked them like whips......

where as small birds can be killed by just twisting thier skulls to break thier necks, geese are an absoulte bugger to kill.

my mum used to have to lay the neck over a brush shaft and the stand on it!!

I suspect that the animal rights people would disapprove!

Was you're mother an asassin in her spare time?

Rasheed

Granny taught me to make the soda bread and apple tarts.

Grandad/ daddy taught me how to pull lambs and calfs and casterate bulls. All relevant life skills I think.