How To Be The Best Plucking Plucker To Pluck A Duck

There is little doubt that one of the most widely hunted game fowl is the duck. Along with that comes cleaning and preparing your bird for your hunting feast day... which there has been a lot of fuss made about.

So, to put this issue at rest learn these valuable and insightful tips on how you can be the best plucking plucker to ever pluck a duck. As you'll see, it's really not that hard.

Perhaps the easiest way to prepare a duck is to remove the breast meat. This is done by first plucking the feathers away from the center of the breast, in a line that follows the breastbone. Afterwards, use a sharp knife to cut a deep incision on each side of the bone.

Now simply peel the breasts back from the bone, and separate the meat from the skin. You can easily do this by fleshing with a knife, or use sheer muscle power if you desire. The filets you have resulting from this can be baked, fried, or stewed according to your taste.

You should note that even though breast meat removal is simple it is best done on small ducks and any other birds you get that may be of doubtful flavor. This way, not only have you extracted the best tasting meat, but also because it's skinless and boneless it will not pick up any of the bird's oils or fats.

However, larger birds like puddle ducks and canvasbacks are known for their top taste. Therefore, plucking and roasting the entire duck is the way to bring out their best flavor.

Though there are about as many ways to pluck a duck as there are duck puckers, the two most popular ways of plucking are dry plucking and scalding.

To dry pluck a duck, you simply remove all the feathers you can by hand, cut the wings off at the first joint, remove the head where it joins the body, and cut the feet off at the first joint. For those pinfeathers you miss, simply fire up your trusty propane torch and scorch them off.

If you want to go the scalding route, heat a large bucket of water to about 200 degrees (just below boiling), and add a dash of dish detergent (to help the water to cut through the feather oils). Immerse your duck in the water, and hold it there for about half a minute with a stick or large ladle. Your duck is ready to pluck when you can remove wet feathers by the chunk.

Now, there is one other method that you need to be made aware of, and it involves dunking your duck in paraffin. It's not cheap, but boy is it easy. After you do a dry pluck or scald... dip your dinner duck in melted paraffin. When the wax hardens, all of the remaining feathers can be removed by peeling your bird as easy as a banana.

Once your duck is plucked clean, it's all downhill from there. Simply make an incision in the anal area, reach into the body cavity and pull out everything that's in there. If you like, save the heart, liver and gizzard for some good old fashion gravy giblets or stuffing.

So there you have it... "How to be the best plucking plucker to pluck a duck." Now go enjoy your bird!

This free article by Terry Davis and many more available for your use by at http://needextracashideas.com