# aging fowl



## hatuquack (Nov 15, 2011)

Does anyone age ducks, I do and they come out tasting like a steak. Just hang them by the neck for 7-9 days then clean them. Just like hanging a deer except I hang my deer,if its cold enough, for a longer time.


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## Bears Butt (Sep 12, 2007)

Do you draw out the guts before hanging them?


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## hatuquack (Nov 15, 2011)

No, you just hang um high with feathers and everything. I use my wife's yarn to tie them up. LOL


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## deadduckflying (Oct 15, 2010)

Does it matter which way? Head up or down? I've thought about doing that but wasn't sure how to go about it. Do you clean the whole bird or just breast it out?


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## hatuquack (Nov 15, 2011)

You can hang them either way, however, my thought process says by the neck, in case something inside goes rotten. Never had it go rotten but just in case. I normally just breast them out and soak them in salt water. I've done a whole one too. I just haven't got the hang of cooking them whole, it always comes out a little dry.


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## hatuquack (Nov 15, 2011)

Oh, by the way, where is Goob when you need some backup? LOL


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

hatuquack said:


> Oh, by the way, where is Goob when you need some backup? LOL


Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha We covered this subject a few years back. It's a good one.

A buddy of mine and I tried this a long time ago, 1982 to be exact. It was cool November weather and we hung some mallards by the neck, guts and all up an old camper that had the windows and doors busted out. When the birds' bellys bulged we dressed them out, plucked them. If they had any holes in the intestines, they were awlful. The others were tender, but gamey. That was the only time I did it. I remember my grandfather and grandmother arguing over hanging pen-raised ducks; naturally grampa wanted to hang em guts and all.

I was raised near the Mississippi River. The old timers that were involved in waterfowl market hunting, and even the younger guys like my father that grew up during the Great Depression, living off the land at times, had gobs of cool stories about aging ducks. My dad's uncle, a Belgium man, raised birds. He would ring the necks of ducks and geese and then hang them for quite awhile before plucking and eating. (Note that few birds were breasted back there in those days).

It was common back home to throw a limit of doves in the fridge for a week before dressing them. I dry pluck most of my game birds, including doves, and have found that the best time to pluck them is as soon as they die or pluck and dress them at least 48 hours later after the rigamortis goes away. It's the same with any animal, if the muscles are in rigamortis when they are processed they won't be as tender as processed several days later.

I don't know, all depends. I've found game, big and small, days after shooting and it was spoiled, and then some was OK.

It's common for Asians to hang fowl, guts in all, in the market place.

Crazy Europeans savor the small intestines of snipe, contents and all, cooked and served on toast, something I always was curious about.

I suggest to play it safe and cool the animal as soon as possible. I find that soaking in milk or lightly salted water coldwater with splash of vinegar helps break down those tough muscle fibers. Half & Half, cream, or buttermilk really speeds up the aging or tenderizing of game meat. Try to avoid too much salt, especially when the game is in the rigamortis stage; it will just make it tougher.

Maybe I'll try it again. The way I've been shooting this year, few of my ducks are shot up too bad.


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## hatuquack (Nov 15, 2011)

Thanks Goob However, from what I read you didn't back me up. Lol. I grew up in pheasant country in Iowa and we always aged them. Ducks were aged a alittle more. Deer more so. I'd like to meet you sometime to discuss the pros and cons. I live in morgan county which isn't that far from Evingston. Mushrooms rule!!!


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

hatuquack said:


> Thanks Goob However, from what I read you didn't back me up. Lol. I grew up in pheasant country in Iowa and we always aged them. Ducks were aged a alittle more. Deer more so. I'd like to meet you sometime to discuss the pros and cons. I live in morgan county which isn't that far from Evingston. Mushrooms rule!!!


What part of Iowa? I worked for a gas pipeline company with lines that went from Muscatine to Council Bluffs. I liked Louisa County for pheasants and the pools above Burlington or Clinton for waterfowl. I lived across the Big River from Bettendorf.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Aging meat makes sense ONLY if it's not contaminated. Most upland game is shot going away, so pellets often traverse the gut cavity. I typically find that thighs are discolored with guts, and those areas smell bad. I vigorous rinse those spots under cold, running water until they are clean, then soak the breasts and legs for a day or two in plain water. This yields the best table quality.

After reading a recent thread, I plucked instead of breasting a greenhead I shot on Wednesday. I cleaned and rinsed the gut cavity thoroughly, and put it in the refrigerator until I stuffed and roasted it last night. It was seriously the best duck I have ever had. It probably helped that the shot was directly overhead, so all pellets went through breast then into the body cavity, not vice versa.

In short, I won't age meat taken with a shotgun. Aging contaminated meat will only foster bacterial growth and so spoilage. Now, if you just break a wing on a bird, so wring it's neck, I suppose aging is okay. But all beef is aged after the guts are removed and the cavity thoroughly washed. It's best to treat game the same way. Unless, of course, you like sh*tty tasting meat.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

I get around the problem of aging birds with shot-up guts by rough-plucking my ducks, then making a small cut just below the breastbone above the gizzard and cutting up the ribs on both sides of the duck till the wing joints. Cut through the wing joints and a bit of skin at the neck and you can lift the whole breastbone out, skin and all. I then take the legs and age all of the meat on a rack in the refrigerator, lightly covered with saran wrap, for anywhere between 7 and 12 days. Then I usually skin the breasts and sear them medium rare, slice them up and you can fool people into thinking that they're eating roast beef. I only do this with puddlers by the way, divers I usually brine except for ringnecks who seem to be a bit milder than most other divers.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

Sounds like a lot of work, Pumpgunner. I just breast many of my birds, rinse them, and fry them up. I have really good results by rinsing any contamination our of the meat. There's a syaing in medicine regarding wound care, "The solution to pollution is dilution." Works on ducks, too.


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## hatuquack (Nov 15, 2011)

I was raised in Council Bluffs. We went pheasant hunting north of there around Audubon, Harlan, Manning, and Gray. We drove alot when the gas was cheap. One of our hunting blinds was a 1954 plymouth coupe with cardboard in front of the radiator to make the heater work. One time it was sooooooo cold that a brand new double barreled 410 we had in the trunk broke in half when I tried to load it. lol


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## hatuquack (Nov 15, 2011)

Paddler, I've done this for alot of years, it doesn't taste Sh**ty. I've cleaned birds right away, put them in salt water to draw out the nasty, however, they are more tough and don't taste as good. My old buddy used to say "different strokes for different folks".


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## hatuquack (Nov 15, 2011)

Goob talked about Europeans. I must be European...


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Paddler, it's not much work at all, each bird doesn't take me more than a minute or two to do. I can do a limit in about 20 minutes if I'm in a hurry. Game shears make quick work of the job.


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## paddler (Jul 17, 2009)

So, what is the advantage of your method over just breasting them? I just peel the skin back and fillet off the breasts. I don't do anything with the legs, anyway, so it's quick and easy to get boneless breasts off.


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## wyogoob (Sep 7, 2007)

hatuquack said:


> I was raised in Council Bluffs. We went pheasant hunting north of there around Audubon, Harlan, Manning, and Gray. We drove alot when the gas was cheap. One of our hunting blinds was a 1954 plymouth coupe with cardboard in front of the radiator to make the heater work. One time it was sooooooo cold that a brand new double barreled 410 we had in the trunk broke in half when I tried to load it. lol


Cool. I worked a little south of there in Emerson and then between Emerson and the River sometimes. Some of the guys I worked with lived in Red Oak. There were a lot of pheasants, waterfowl, and big whitetails there.


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## Pumpgunner (Jan 12, 2010)

Paddler-the advantage to me is that I can keep the skin on for aging, in my experience when you dry age ducks with the skin off it's hard to keep the meat from drying out. My way the meat is protected by the bone on one side and the skin on the other. Depending on what I'm doing with the meat I will sometimes just peel and breast also. I save my duck legs up until I have a big pile and then I make a big pot of barbeque duck legs, the meat makes good sandwiches. A bit of work to get all the meat off the legs but I only do it once or twice a year and a few cold beers and a football game on the TV makes it a pretty enjoyable job!


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