Effective Ways to Remove Duck Hair and Eliminate Odor

Some essential tips to help you clean duck feathers quickly and thoroughly.

How to choose delicious and easy-to-pluck ducks

One of the secrets to cleaning duck feathers quickly lies in choosing the right duck. If you know how to choose delicious duck meat correctly, the process of cleaning duck feathers will become easier and faster.

Choose mature and plump ducks with a round chest and thick neck and belly skin, enough feathers (the point where the two wings meet just enough to cross each other). These ducks can quickly be plucked without taking much time.

Avoid choosing young ducks because the meat will be tough and it will take a lot of time to pluck the down. Young ducks have large and soft beaks. As for older ducks, if you observe carefully, you will see that they have small and hard beaks. In addition, young ducks usually have a stronger odor compared to mature ducks. Therefore, you should choose to buy mature ducks to avoid the strong smell.

Ducks that have laid many eggs are also quite fragrant. These ducks will have a saggy lower belly. In contrast to chickens, if you eat duck meat, you should choose male ducks because male ducks taste better than female ducks.

For ready-to-use ducks, choose freshly slaughtered ones that are firm to the touch.

Effective steps to pluck duck feathers quickly and eliminate odor

How to identify water-injected ducks: Both sides of the thighs and lower back are shiny and the meat is thick. You can turn the duck over and press its thighs and lower back with your hands. If the meat feels bouncy and soft, then it is a water-injected duck.

Quick steps to clean duck feathers

After removing the innards, immerse the duck in cold water so that the water absorbs evenly throughout the body and the duck’s skin. Then, take the duck out and sprinkle a little vinegar or white wine on its body about 10 minutes before immersing it in warm water. This will make plucking the feathers easier.

Usually, people immerse the duck in boiling water at 100ºC. However, in reality, when we immerse the duck in boiling water that is already hot, the duck’s pores will shrink, making it difficult to pluck the feathers. Therefore, when plucking a duck, you only need to use moderately hot water, around 40ºC.

Immerse the duck in the water for a few minutes, pluck a few strands of feathers on the wings to see if they come out easily. Then, take the duck out and proceed to pluck the feathers. When plucking, remember to stretch your hand close to the skin and pluck in the direction of hair growth to clean all the down feathers.

After cleaning the feathers, you should rub salt over the duck and rinse it with plenty of water to make it cleaner.

Before processing, soak the entire duck in cold water for about 20 minutes to make the duck meat whiter and fresher, making the dish more appetizing.

Tip to eliminate the smell of duck meat

Duck meat often has a strong smell. Therefore, during cooking, if you don’t know how to eliminate the odor, the duck dish will lose its appeal. With the following ingredients, eliminating the odor will become easier.

Tip to eliminate the smell of duck meat

Use ginger

To prevent the duck from being smelly, before boiling it, squeeze it with a little salt, pepper, and crushed ginger, and even a little white wine. Let it sit for about 30 minutes, then rinse it thoroughly and drain it before boiling.

Put a piece of crushed ginger in the pot when boiling the duck. This way, the duck will not have a fishy smell, and your duck dish will always be delicious and appealing.

Use vinegar

Mix salt and vinegar together in just the right amount. After the duck is properly processed and cleaned, rub the mixture thoroughly on both the inside and outside of the duck several times. This way, you won’t smell the duck when eating.

Use lime

If you don’t have vinegar available, you can directly rub lime on the duck, and the duck will no longer have an odor. Alternatively, if you don’t have vinegar, when boiling the duck, you can crush a few stalks of ginger and put them in the pot with the duck to get rid of the duck’s odor.

Remove the duck oil gland when cooking

The culprit that causes the fishy odor in duck and goose meat is the oil gland located near the anus, so when cooking, you must remove the oil gland. Whether you boil the duck with salt or stir-fry it, the duck and goose meat will taste better.

Some other useful tips for delicious duck meat

One noticeable thing is that after plucking, duck meat will easily turn dark without proper preservation. Therefore, when dealing with ducks, you should immerse the entire duck in cold water for about 20 minutes to make the duck meat whiter and fresher, making the dish more appetizing.

When boiling, to make the meat tender, before boiling, soak the duck in a pot of cold water mixed with a little vinegar for about 1 hour. Then, simmer it over low heat. This way, the duck meat will become tender and much more delicious.

Source: VTC.vn