Processing Quail

[GaryD]

Hi,

Here's how we process Japanese Quail:

1. Grasp the quail in one hand and, using the kitchen snips, cut the head off.
2. Drop the dead bird into a buck to contain the blood spatter. It will struggle violently but don't be concerned the bird is very dead. The struggling is post mortem spasm.
3. Set up a large bucket of hot water to scald the birds.......the water should be 148 degrees F......this loosens the feathers and makes them easy to remove.
4. Pick up three birds (by one leg each) and slowly agitate them up and down in the water in the scalding tank.
5. When the hot water has done its work, the flight feathers will come away easily. This should take 20 - 30 seconds.
6. Use the thumb and forefinger to quickly remove the feathers from the carcase. Dunk the bird into fresh water to remove loose feathers which adhere to the carcase.
7. As each bird is de-feathered, drop it into a bucket of ice slurry.
8. When all of the birds have been de-feathered, it is time to eviscerate (gut) them.
9. Take the bird in one hand and the kitchen snips in the other hand.
10. Snip the neck off level with the shoulders. Move the hand to allow access to the legs - snip of both legs at the knee joint.
11. Twist the bird around and snip the vent off. Place the snips on the bench.
12. Use the thumb to draw back the breast skin and using your other thumb remove the fat and the crop from the neck area.
13. Push your forefinger into the vent incision and use your finger to drag the gizzard and the guts from the carcase.
14. Insert your forefinger and draw the heart, kidneys and any other organs from the body cavity.
15. Flush the cavity with fresh cold water and drop the dressed carcase into a fresh bucket of ice slurry.
16. Drain the birds and divide them into meals. Place into freezer bags and freeze

Gary

[Pugo]

Now, You are the first person that seems to know how to dress a quail.. Everyone else I here from wants to skin the bird like it is a rabbit or something.. Now for my favorite way I know to cook a quail. Chinese style bring the Looing Sauce to a boil and put in the quails that are cut in half. bring it back to a simmer then cook for 4 minutes. Remove quails from the sauce, drain them and pat dry with paper towels. Deep-fry in oil at 375 degrees until golden, about 3 minutes. Now this is the best way to make a very tasty quail in my book.

[Bindi Weed]

One of the great appeals of poultry is the beautiful skin but one of the draw backs of poultry is the plucking which is tiresome and I can fully understand people resorting to skinning their birds rather than have to deal with it.

BUT....

In regards to commercially made plucking machines they seem to be so expensive so I had an idea of creating my own reasonably cheaply using new, uncontaminated parts.

Bunnings sells new Ozito cement mixers for $179. Drill and attach 20 odd rubber plucking fingers inside the bowel and you have an electric plucker that's so much cheaper than the advertised purpose built pluckers you see on some sites.

Obviously there needs to be some refining of the idea but that's the basic plan.

[GaryD]

Hi Bindi,

One of the great appeals of poultry is the beautiful skin but one of the draw backs of poultry is the plucking which is tiresome and I can fully understand people resorting to skinning their birds rather than have to deal with it.

If you scald the birds prior to plucking, it's probably just as quick to pluck them as it is to skin them.

In regards to commercially made plucking machines they seem to be so expensive so I had an idea of creating my own reasonably cheaply using new, uncontaminated parts.

There are DIY alternatives to buying a small electric plucking machines but you need to be careful. For example, the removal of feathers requires that the birds tumble in the bowl of the machine as it spins. A cement mixer is probably not going to spin fast enough to accommodate this "tumbling" effect.

The other thing is that, as part of the plucking process, all of the feathers are flushed from the bowl. Once again, this is not likely to be an easy thing to do with a cement mixer.

If you google "DIY chicken plucker" you'll get some good leads on how to go about it.

Gary