What is the best way to pluck a chicken?

Answer 1

First, you need to be sure that you WANT to pluck a chicken. That is, you could simply skin it and be done with the whole process in a few minutes whereas plucking takes considerably longer and will leave your hands sore.

To Skin: Tie the chicken by its feet and hang upside down from a hook (or whatever you happen to have) With a sharp knife slice a shallow cut, just enough to cut the skin, around the joint of the leg and the feet. Cut off the head and be sure the blood has drained. Now grab the skin from the legs and pull downwards, cutting only as needed to get the skin loose from the flesh of the chicken. You may find it is simply easier to cut off the wing tips rather than try to skin them, as they prove particularly difficult and are hardly enough meat to be worth it in my opinion.

After having pulled off all the skin, it is time to remove the chicken pieces you want for cooking... or if it pleases you to leave it whole, reach in the chicken's neck and gently loosen the innards of the chicken and then remove them from the anus (not for the squeamish!) being particularly careful not to in any way puncture the organs (nasty mess really). If you simply want chicken pieces, first take the chicken down and lay on a cutting board. Cut the yellow part of the legs off. Gently rotate the thighs outwards and you should hear a pop, that is the thigh coming loose from its socket, now take your knife and slice as close to the round thigh end as possible. This will have removed the thighs and drumsticks. For the breast, lay your knife at an angle resting against the breast bone and cut the breast from the bone following the natural shape of the ribs. Finally, bend the wings upwards and cut off from the body. Ta da! A completely butchered chicken!

To Pluck:

Cut off the chicken's head and make sure the blood has drained. Take the chicken by the feet and dunk for about 5 seconds into scalding hot water. This will make the feathers easier to remove. You should wear rubber gloves for this as it can really make your hands sore. Now simply begin plucking the feathers off the chicken (you may find it easiest to hang the chicken from a hook by its feet), beginning with the (most difficult) tail feathers. One must be careful to not be too rough with the plucking or you will rip the skin. Pluck off the biggest feathers first and then move to the smaller ones, and if you are tired and or lazy, singe off the tiny pin feathers with a flame of some sort. It is necessary to work quickly, as the chicken cools, it will become increasingly difficult to pluck. Now you can just clean the innards of the chicken as was described in the previous paragraph. Happy Plucking!