I heard someone say that instead of cutting off the chicken's head and scalding and plucking you can just wring it's neck and skin the whole thing. Never done it but it makes sense to me and would save time skinning it later(for people that don't like skin on their BBQ chicken).Anyone out there ever done this? Kathy in KY

-- kathy baker (kbaker@duo-county.com), August 23, 2000

Answers

Kathy,

We skinned our birds for years but we cut their heads off first. If you know how to skin a rabbit, you can skin a bird! Once you get the hang of it, it goes pretty fast and you don't have the stink from dipping in boiling water or the mess of plucking. If you need more help - just give a holler.

-- Pat (pmikul@pcpros.net), August 23, 2000.

Don't cut the head off. Learn (and I can help you here if you need it) to just cut the juglar and let the bird bleed. Secondly, skinning is easy and quick, but plucking, done correctly, is not that difficult. And the final product, as in the eating, is much better with the skin left on. Others may disagree, but that's my opinion. GL!

-- Brad (Homefixer@SacoRiver.net), August 23, 2000.

Hi Kathy,

We always skin our chickens. The first time we butchered we scalded and plucked - very time consuming. Then we read an article in Countryside about how to skin. Wish I knew which one it was off the top of my head. Made a copy of it and covered it in clear contact paper and brought it out with us so we could refer to it. There was also an article (maybe same issue - can't remember) on how to kill them by pulling their heads off (you pin the chickens head under a broomstick or pipe and pull up on the feet). We tried that too and it works dandy - much better than the axe and chopping block thing. Never tried cutting the jugular. Anyway, skinning is easy and quick. I think 2 of us did 8 or 9 birds in an hour. Its nice not having the skin on when you stew the birds. And if you roast in a covered pan, they don't turn out too bad. Figure it's a little healthier as well. If I can track down which issue the instructions were in I'll post again.

Amy

-- Amy (mstydale@aeroinc.net), August 23, 2000.

We skinned the last batch we did, and it turned out well. We don't need all that grease, anyway, and it certainly was faster!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), August 24, 2000.

From start to finish less then 10 minutes to butcher and pluck a chicken (if the kids are not helping). Sure skinning is easy and skinless chicken is far better for you. I do have a however to this...

If freezing the chickens the meat tends to get freezer burn if left in for any length of time.

I do not scald the birds, I start with the hardest feathers first the large wing feathers, then go to the large tail feathers as these parts cool down the quickest. The rest is easy.

-- Ima Gardener (ima@gardener.com), August 25, 2000.

Always have skinned rabbits and chickens, then pressure can them. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), August 25, 2000.