How to Skin a Duck

"Hunt, Gather, Cook" author Hank Shaw demonstrates how to skin a wild duck. Normally we prefer to pluck ducks and cook them skin-on, but removing skin and fat eliminates the "off" flavor characteristic of many diver ducks and sea ducks, as well as coots. Warning to the squeamish: This video includes the sights - and sounds - of blood and guts; if you can't handle that, just hit your back button now.

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[Alex H]

wow that actually may be the least efficient way to skin a duck ive ever seen !

[Holly Heyser]

What do you do differently, Alex?

[Alex H]

Forget plucking start by cutting the wings off as close as possible on either side of the chest. Then similar to your approach using the feathers to your advantage tear the skin right off the chest starting from the center moving out towards the wings. Pull it back as far as you can. Then stick your middle finger or thumb behind the chest and while holding the duck by the neck with your other hand pull downwards the whole breasts should tear right out. leaving all the guts n junk in there.

[Holly Heyser]

Ah, well a lot of what you call "guts n junk" is actually good food (gizzard, heart, liver), as are legs and wings (though wings are the most work for the least meat). I'd rather spend more time to avoid wasting meat.

[Guy Flocks]

exactly. when we were kids we were given the small game to dress and the gizzards were always a treat :)

[Holly Heyser]

I LOVE gizzards! We (Hank and I) have a duck cookbook coming out Oct. 1 that has a lot of recipes that use gizzards. Though it's not available yet, you can pre-order or get info about it on Amazon - title is "Duck, Duck, Goose" by Hank Shaw (I'm the photographer).

[Holly Heyser]

MutedXylophone, no one thinks of eating her pets. And lots of people with pets still eat meat. I hunt for my meat, which requires me to process the animals I kill, and this is one method of processing. In fact, I just finished this exact process tonight - duck season opened here on Saturday.

I don't hate you for commenting; you've done nothing to justify that. However, I do think it's silly to watch something you know is going to be upsetting just so you can leave a comment about being upset.

[TheMortal1990]

بطة

[Guy Flocks]

weirdo. dont watch it. for about 500,000 years human beings ate meat they hunted themselves and continue to do so. its 1000 times more ethical to do that than to rely on the torture factories called the "meat industry".

[Fierag]

Agreed. that duck gives its life for us to enjoy, least i can do is honor it by using every part, If you can try saving the bones and you can make very rich stock with it. Duck fat is healthy and has lower monounsaturated fat then olive oil. Thanks for the video.

[Gregory Simpson]

Damn so long

daffy duck

[Terry Forsyth]

we have been natural meat eaters and hunters for millions of years. i dont think the invention of supermarkets is gonna change our natural habits.