With the onset of cold weather, the time comes for slaughtering poultry in villages, including geese. The owners are faced with the question of how to properly pluck a goose so that both the meat is tasty and the fluff with feathers can be used on the farm for good. Goose meat has long been considered a delicacy, feathers and feathers of geese are valuable material in the manufacture of light, soft pillows and feather beds. From large feathers, the craftswomen make very original artificial flowers.
Goose plucking is a very time-consuming job, for this you need to gain skills and patience. There is one caveat before slaughter, which must always be remembered by those who keep this poultry. Experienced owners know how to quickly pluck a goose, as they slaughter a bird before molting, the exact time of which is determined in different ways.
When do you need to slaughter a goose for meat?
Some geese for meat mature in 310 days, others will need 270 days, early ripening takes 8 months.
The beginning of the natural molting process is noticed by the fact that the feathers from the goose can be easily removed by pulling without stubbornness and without blood. In this case, geese on a pasture begin to actively lose their feathers.
You can touch the body of a bird under the wings. If during the hand holding along the body in the opposite direction of the feather growth the presence of hemp (lumps) is not detected, then the poultry is ready for slaughter. If fingers find stumps when feeling, then the goose should be left until the next molt, because when plucking, these stumps torture anyone, even an experienced person, and the goose carcass will take on a non-salable appearance.
How to pinch a goose after slaughter? You need to know: geese are plucked after slaughter when blood flows from them. First you need to prepare a suitable container for folding down and feathers, for this a cardboard box for household appliances or a tall box will fit. If you need to leave large feathers for some needs, you will need a container for them, because they can also be useful on the farm.
There are several ways to pluck geese. Now let's try to figure out how to pluck a goose. Among all the methods, the most common since ancient times is the dry method of removing feathers and fluff.
Plucking poultry dry
How to quickly pluck a goose in a dry way? First, large feathers are pulled out from the tail of the carcass, then from the wings, from the armpits. Feathers from the armpits are usually thrown away, and from other large feathers, housewives usually make brushes for smearing baking. Soft, fluffy fluff is used to make pillows, blankets or jackets. Feathers should be pulled with a sharp movement, grabbing a bit so that the skin does not tear. The goose should be kept on its knees with its tail to the container and plucked down in the direction of its growth. The sequence of plucking a goose carcass is different for everyone: usually they start from the side of the chest, then go to the back, tail and neck. Feathers and down on the elbow and neck remain. In order to complete the plucking, in turn, these parts are dipped in boiling water and held for 1-2 minutes. After which the fluff leaves very easily.
Cold way of plucking geese
With this method, the goose is cooled for 3-4 hours, then the fat deposits under the skin are compressed. When warm, the skin sometimes tears when plucked in a dry manner, and the appearance of the carcass deteriorates.
During this time, fusible subcutaneous fat freezes, and the feathers are pulled out much easier, the goose’s skin is almost not injured. Many hunters know how to pinch a goose in the field, and the cold method is more acceptable for them.
Pinching a domestic goose with scalding
This method differs from the dry one in that the goose fluff is easily plucked and does not fly around the room. After scalding, the feathers and fluff become clean, this is important when it is planned to use them for pillows and feather beds. Before you start, you need to prepare hot water with a temperature of 80-90 degrees and make sure that it does not cool down if you need to clean more than one goose. How to pinch a domestic goose in this way?
The finished goose should be taken by the legs and lowered in boiling water for several minutes. Here you have to follow safety precautions so as not to get burned with hot water or steam from boiling water. The scalded goose is thrown back onto a large tray and gently plucked, removing the stumps.
Pinching a goose with an iron
Another way of plucking a goose was invented - this is processing the carcass with a hot iron. Experienced housewives know how to best pinch a goose with a hot iron. To do this, take a cotton rag, folded in several layers, soak it and apply it gradually to different parts of the carcass, making movements, as when ironing clothes. The rag is soaked several times as necessary and shifted until the whole goose carcass is ironed. Feathers and fluff are obtained with this method clean, the fluff does not fly around the room and does not sit on clothes that are difficult to clean from adhering fluff.
Is it possible to pinch a goose with power tools?
With the methods of plucking poultry described above, a lot of effort and time is spent if a person does not have certain skills. Advanced people did not puzzle for a long time over the question of how to pinch a goose, and came up with a way to perform this procedure, resorting to power tools in the form of a drill or screwdriver, which are now found in almost every household. Specialized stores sell a special nozzle for plucking poultry and game, which simplifies the process of disposal of feathers at home. At the same time, fluff and feathers are removed from the neck and trunk, elbows and paws quickly, without effort. But there is a drawback of this method: soft fluffs and a feather are removed together indiscriminately, then you have to do their sorting manually.
The advantage is that you do not have to bother with cooking boiling water, iron, especially since these methods are very time-consuming and unsafe. So the problem of how to easily pluck a goose can be solved rationally.
Singeing goose carcass hairs and hemp
So we figured out the well-known ways of plucking a goose.
With any method of plucking after removing the feathers, the goose carcass is scorched over the fire of a gas stove, during which all the small sticking out coarse fluffs and hairs are removed. If there is no gas stove, you can do this with a gas burner, a soldering iron. At worst, if there are no such tools at hand, you can singe a carcass under the fire of a splinter, paper or a bundle of straw. But after them traces of soot may remain on the moist skin of the goose. Then it is recommended to take bran or flour and rub the skin of the goose with them. After this, a clean, dry rag should remove the remaining flour and bran. The meat from this procedure will acquire a piquant taste. When singeing, it is necessary to straighten the skin to remove wrinkles on it, to pay special attention to the places “under the armpits” and on the elbow bends - stretching them, keeping a gas or alcohol burner over the fire . Singeing must be carried out carefully so as not to damage the skin and not melt the fat under the skin of the bird.
Well, with the help of these tips you can easily learn the rules of how to pinch a goose, and then successfully apply them in practice.