Anne Willan

Plucking a Bird

Appears in
top 1000La Varenne Pratique
La Varenne Pratique

By Anne Willan

Published 1989

  • About
To make plucking easier, first dip your hands in water. To avoid the labor of home plucking, the bird can be skinned with the feathers, though it will lose juice during cooking. Without its skin, the meat can be stewed or braised, but not roasted.
  1. Start plucking feathers from the breast and work toward the neck. Tug the feathers, firmly but not sharply in the direction they grow so that the skin is not broken. Note If the feathers are hard to remove, immerse the bird for 30 seconds in boiling water, off the heat. Cook the bird as soon as it has been plucked.

  2. Turn the bird round and start plucking away from you, toward the tail feathers.

  3. Turn the bird breast down, and remove the feathers from the back. Stretch out the wings and pluck the wing feathers.

  4. Cut through the wing pinions to remove the quills.

  5. Finally, tug out the tail feathers and pull out pin feathers along the backbone with tweezers.