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In front of private traders engaged in breeding ducks, every 2-3 months a problem arises: how to pluck a duck. True, before plucking it, the duck must be slaughtered. The slaughter of ducks is perhaps a psychological problem for people who have not had anything to do with it.
Ducks are slaughtered at the age of 2-3 months. After the ducklings have overgrown with a feather, the juvenile molt has not yet begun. A duck slaughtered during the moulting period is difficult to pluck properly. There will definitely be hemp, from which new feathers were supposed to grow. If the ducks were not slaughtered at 3 months, they are slaughtered after the end of the juvenile molt.
At 2 months, ducks usually have not yet gained subcutaneous fat and their skin is very thin. The weight of the ducklings is also small, but this is at the discretion of the owner. Plucking such a duck must be very careful. If too large a tuft of feathers is captured, they are torn off along with the skin.
In order not to cut the throat of the duck with a blunt knife, the tool is first sharpened. After catching the duck, its throat is cut near the head under the beak. As a result of cutting large blood vessels, the duck falls into shock and no longer feels pain.
How to pluck a duck correctly
The best way to quickly pluck a duck is to place it in a feathering machine. But this machine costs so much that most owners prefer to handle it by hand.
It is believed that before plucking ducks, it is necessary to stand for 4 hours. Then the feather is better separated from the skin. But we must not forget that decomposition in the heat begins very quickly. And it starts from the intestines.
After slaughter, the duck is placed in a container with boiling water. Usually, each owner of ducks has their own secrets of "soaking" a duck carcass and then plucking it. One way is to submerge the duck carcass in boiling water twice. This works well when plucking an old duck.
Since usually the next year more fertile young ducks are left for the tribe, the "old" ducks have to be slaughtered annually.
Another way to scald the duck is in hot water with a couple of drops of detergent. It is believed that in this case fat is washed off from duck feathers and it becomes much easier to pluck a duck at home.
There is also a dry method for plucking a duck carcass. Everything is the same, only without soaking in water. Disadvantages of this method:
- in fact, feathers from a duck carcass are torn out much harder, especially feathers from the wings and tail feathers;
- dry feathers scatter everywhere, sticking to hands and clothing.
The advantage of the dry method is in better singling of the plucked duck carcass.
But the principles of plucking are the same, so dry cleaners can skip the step of scalding the duck carcass.
So, the duck carcass is scalded. With or without added detergent. Plucking ducks is carried out starting with large flight and tail feathers.
After that, feathers begin to pluck from the carcass in the direction of growth, since otherwise the skin of a young duck can be damaged. Old ducks sometimes have to pluck the feathers in the opposite direction, so they are more easily torn out. The video shows the process of plucking a duck very well.
Since it will not be possible to pluck a duck completely cleanly either manually or with the help of a machine, after plucking the duck carcass must be singed. The duck is singed either with a blowtorch or on a gas torch.In the latter case, you will have to hold the duck carcass by its paws and wings. When singing with a blowtorch, the duck can simply be hung from something.
A feather that has absorbed water burns out later than the duck skin begins to bubble. To prevent this from happening, the duck must be dried before singing. After singing, the duck carcass is cleaned or washed off and proceeds to the next stage.
Duck evisceration
Objective: get rid of the intestines without damaging it. When gutting a duck, you need to be careful not to accidentally cut through the intestines.
During this time, the intestines of the ducks are almost completely freed from the contents.
The most convenient scheme for gutting a duck is when the entire duck intestine remains intact. Better not to cut it out in parts. The contents of the intestines can enter the abdominal cavity of the duck carcass and spoil the meat.
How to cut a duck correctly:
- with a knife, an incision is made in the flexor tendons between the metatarsal and thigh and the duck paw is bent in the opposite direction to the natural one;
- the duck's paw breaks at the joint. The remaining tendons are cut with a knife. They do the same with the second paw;
- lay the duck on its back, with its neck towards itself;
- pull the skin on the neck with a hand from below;
- a sharp knife is carried along the neck of the duck along, cutting the skin. The fingers will be protected by the neck, but it is better that the knife does not slip;
- pick up the cut skin and rip the skin away from the neck:
- the esophagus and trachea are torn off along with the skin. They are torn from the skin to the maximum possible depth inside the duck. From this side everything;
- turn the duck with its tail towards itself and carefully, with the sharpened tip of a knife, make an incision in the skin from the keel towards the anus, making sure not to touch the intestines;
- stick your fingers into the hole formed and tear off the incision with your fingers;
- the duck has thin bones closer to the tail. Spread the skin between the tail and the bone with two fingers and make a transverse incision. When cut from both sides, the anus will be almost separated from the duck's tail;
- capture the anus with the intestine and cut it in the direction "from the duck" - from the bottom up;
- stick their hand inside the duck carcass, tearing the films connecting the giblets with the body of the duck;
- reach for the esophagus and grab it with the middle finger, pinching it between two adjacent ones;
- with a raking movement, the gastrointestinal tract is pulled out of the duck together with the liver.
The main work is done. The intestines are intact and the contents have not stained the duck carcass.
The duck carcass still contains the heart, lungs and trachea. Take out the trachea and heart. The lungs are attached to the ribs and are removed at will. The heart is washed from the blood and left to itself, the trachea is given to the four-legged starving people, if they are in the house.
Now we need to deal with the stomach and liver. The liver must be carefully separated from the intestines so as not to damage the gallbladder.
The duck stomach is cut from the intestines and cut open to clean out the contents. The film also needs to be removed. Interestingly, the gastric film can be removed very easily, or it can "hold on to the last" and this circumstance does not depend on the age of the duck, nor on the diet, nor on the conditions of keeping the ducklings. But you need to remove the film, it gives bitterness during cooking.
After having dealt with the entrails, they return to the duck carcass. It is also necessary to cut out the sebaceous gland on the duck's tail, since this specific fat will ruin the whole dish with a smell.
There is no meat, only fat. By carefully cutting the soft tissue around the tail up to the spine, the tail can be easily torn off in a circular motion.
After the duck is gutted, we decide whether it is necessary to skin it.
How to skin a duck
First of all, it is worth deciding whether to do this. If you need to get a fatty dish, you cannot skin the duck. If the goal is to reduce the amount of fat in food, flaying the duck is a must.
All fat in a duck is concentrated under the skin. By removing the skin from the duck, lean meat is obtained.
The skin on the duck's neck is rough and tastes just for everyone. When skinning, you can cut it off along with the skin on the back. Remove the skin on the back, as far as it can be removed. It is usually removed from about the lower back. Starting from the lower back, there is only fat between the skin and bones, so here the skin will have to be cut. We removed the skin from the duck's back to the maximum. Now the chest.
We make an incision on the chest in the middle line, grab the skin and remove it, helping ourselves to cut the films with a knife. The skin is removed in this place very easily. Further, as far as possible, remove the skin from the sides and legs. The skin of duck wings is very difficult to remove, but there is almost no fat under it. You can keep the wings. Skinned duck is more convenient to boil than to fry.
Cutting duck into portions
After the duck has been gutted and possibly skinned, it must be cut into portions. It is better to start butchering the duck with the legs. Then it will be easier to see where to cut the sirloin meat later. If there is skin, it is cut at the junction of the leg and torso. After that, the duck leg is turned out of the hip joint and the remaining tendons and skin are trimmed.
The loins are cut along the keel bone and the thymus bone (in a duck it is semicircular) and the meat is separated from the skeleton. Trim the muscles near the wing. The fillet is also ready.
The wings, like the legs, are cut at the joint. These chunks will make up the portions for the roast.
Usually housewives decide for themselves how to cut the duck. Sometimes fillet and wing act as a portioned piece at the same time. Someone cuts the duck into two halves. And someone, when cutting into portions, cuts off the wings for soup.
Everything that remains after cutting the duck goes into the category of a soup set. Later, it will be possible to cook soup from the duck leftovers.
Conclusion
The ability to pluck and gut ducks is very useful for those who want to get a couple of kilograms of very tasty and healthy meat. At the same time, it is not even necessary to be able to cut duck carcasses into portioned pieces. A whole grilled duck is delicious too.
