Very Imp. Please Read

Sounds like maybe a new guy, or could be he has never hunted birds before. A lot of the CO's these days are not from hunting/sportsman families.

When he stated he wouldn't eat them, I would have said that was good, cause I would not be giving him any.

I often hang ducks and pheasants for a day or two if it is not to warm.

Enjoy dinner.

Ian
 
Take two mallards and clean one right away and then freeze the breasts. Age the other for a week in the fridge and then do the same. Cook them both at the same time, taste and then get back to me. Until then all you nay sayers are arguing from a position of ignorance.
 
sjemac said:
Take two mallards and clean one right away and then freeze the breasts. Age the other for a week in the fridge and then do the same. Cook them both at the same time, taste and then get back to me. Until then all you nay sayers are arguing from a position of ignorance.
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I dont' shoot enough waterfowl to do this experiment, but common sense woudl indicate the one that is aged woudl be better quality eating.

In a cool enviroment, a gutted animal shouldn't be any more susceptible to bacteria growth than an ungutted one. Possibly less, since there IS bacteria present in the intestines

From previous posts it's clear you have a good knowledge and interest in cooking/food- have you tried gutting one and leaving the other guts in and aging and comparing?
 
Gatehouse said:
I dont' shoot enough waterfowl to do this experiment, but common sense woudl indicate the one that is aged woudl be better quality eating.

In a cool enviroment, a gutted animal shouldn't be any more susceptible to bacteria growth than an ungutted one. Possibly less, since there IS bacteria present in the intestines

From previous posts it's clear you have a good knowledge and interest in cooking/food- have you tried gutting one and leaving the other guts in and aging and comparing?
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Yes , Gatehouse, I tried both aging without guts and with. Unlike beef and big game, the small size of birds makes them more susceptible to drying out while aging. Guts in keeps the moisture in during the several days it take the enzymes to transform the meat. Because of the larger surface area to mass ratio, birds can be cooled with guts in -- unlike big game. Guts out or even worse, skinned breasts dry out too much.

As for bacteria, below 45 F, bacteria has no to extremely slow growth so it doesn't come into play unless it is with birds that were really hammered (allowing intestinal contents to flow all through the body before cooling). If you look at the bird and stuff other than blood is coming from its wounds, its not a contender for aging.
 
sjemac said:
Yes , Gatehouse, I tried both aging without guts and with. Unlike beef and big game, the small size of birds makes them more susceptible to drying out while aging. Guts in keeps the moisture in during the several days it take the enzymes to transform the meat. Because of the larger surface area to mass ratio, birds can be cooled with guts in -- unlike big game. Guts out or even worse, skinned breasts dry out too much.

As for bacteria, below 45 F, bacteria has no to extremely slow growth so it doesn't come into play unless it is with birds that were really hammered (allowing intestinal contents to flow all through the body before cooling). If you look at the bird and stuff other than blood is coming from its wounds, its not a contender for aging.
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Well, this does make sense- Cooling time with a small creature would certainly be shorter than with a moose. I've come back to moose the next day in cold weather, peeled back some skin around the head and found it still quite warm in there.

I can see if birds were not hit in the intestinal area, there wouldn't be much chance of contamination.

Interesting- Like I said, I don't shoot enough waterfowl to really look at it properly. I would guess that I shoot half a dozen geese/ducks about every 2-3 years.
 
I new an oldtimer that used to hang his ducks on a clothes line unil they dropped - Guts and all then cleaned and plucked after dipping in Hot Water.
Best duck meat I ever ate.
 
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