7 December 2007
Free Mallards
Posted by Richard under: Smallholding; Wild food .
A neighbour very kindly dropped of a brace of mallard the other evening, which we hung in the toolshed until last night.
A few weeks ago, they gave us a brace of partridge. - which became part of a very tasty game pie with a couple of phesant from the butcher. Partridge, being small grassland birds, have relatively thin feathers and are therefore quite quick and easy birds to pluck and draw. Mallards are a bit more work as their feathers are thicker and there is a substantial layer of down.
The drake looked at his best, with his irridescent green head, it almost seemed a shame to pluck him. It took about an hour to pluck each bird, but you are left with a very fuzzy down-covered beast. The question was ‘how best to remove the down?’.
After a bit of research, we opted for waxing - a process that is not entirely dissimilar in concept to standard dipilatory treatments. We warmed a large pan of water on the stove and added a thin layer of melted wax - which floated on top. Next to the stove we placed a large bowl of iced water. Each bird was first dipped in the warm water/wax combination and then submerged into the iced water. The layer of wax clung to the remaining feathers and set hard in the cold water. It was then a (relatively) easy task of peeling/scraping off the layer of wax that contains the down - during this process, if the wax gets warm stick the birds in the fridge/freezer for a few minutes. Once the birds were wax and down free, it was on to the final stage.
Removing the giblets (drawing) isn’t a particularly pleasant job - but it is fairly quick, off with the head and neck, off with the feet, a quick careful cut around the vent and upto the base of the breastbone - and coax out the intestines, innards, giblets, crop, etc into a waiting container. However, with ducks you also need to remember to squeeze the greasy oil from the gland at the base of the tail. A good rinse out under a fastflowing cold tap and a pat dry with kitchen towel and it is good to go.
We now have two plucked and prepared mallards sitting in the freezer ready for a seasonal feast at some point in the next few weeks.
3 Comments so far...
Cottage Smallholder Says:
11 December 2007 at 11:16 pm.
Plucking and drawing speeds up over time. Our gardener, John, can do the operation in ten minutes. It still takes me about 45 minutes a bird.
The waxing is a good idea. Although if you hold the fowl in the top of a dustbin liner and pluck like a wild thing the down goes straight into the bag and it only takes a few minutes as the feathers are only just anchored in the skin.
Envy you your wild duck. They are delicious.
Rebecca Says:
18 December 2007 at 3:55 pm.
Sounds delicious. We have it down to about 10 mins a pluck, 10 mins a gut now! For plucking we bring a large pot to the boil, dip each bird in for 10 seconds, when it comes out hang it up (we hang from an apple tree), and the feathers/down just literally wipe off.
sam Says:
19 December 2007 at 2:24 pm.
They do sell them ready plucked in Tescos you know !!!!!!
sounds yummy, yummy, yummy