To the foot eaters - are feathered feet salvageable?

[K0k0shka]

I'm considering trying some Brahmas for meat. In our family we eat the whole chicken though, including and especially the feet (they are my daughter's favorite). I don't like feather-footed breeds and have never had one, but I want to try Brahmas because they get big and meaty. Has anybody eaten the feet of a feather-footed breed? Do they pluck and peel well? Is there any damage to the skin from the plucking, or from the feathers themselves being there? The feet are so skinny that they barely hold together when the skin is intact, I'm worried that with the giant pores from the feathers, the feet would fall apart when I try to pluck or peel (or cook!) them. I would love to hear about your experience.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

Good Question!

 

[FunClucks]

Following

 

[Mountain Roost]

I have not peeled feathered feet before. I would think that when you peel the feet after scald you wouldn't see where the feathers attached in the same manner that you don't see the feather pores on the meat part of the bird, but just the skin.

Interested to see if anyone has done the feathered feet.

 

[FoodFreedomNow]

Most of my cockerels that are processed for meat have feathered feet, thanks to Marans lineage. The feathers can be plucked out like other (body) feathers after scalding. The foot feathering itself did not cause any damage, but I've tried some methods of preparing the feet that have poor results, involving ridiculously labor-intensive peeling.

Don't let feathered feet stop you from enjoying that cartilaginous goodness!

 

[K0k0shka]

UPDATE: The opportunity presented itself for me to process a feather-footed cockerel last night, so I thought I'd update the thread for anybody who was curious. He was a young but huge Copper Marans / Brahma cross (>5 lbs dressed), so not a whole lot of feathers on the feet, but enough to satisfy my curiosity. What I found was that the pores weren't as large as I expected, but they did make peeling more complicated - though, again, not in the way that I expected. The rows of pores that had feathers were raised, like a little mountain ridge, and that ridge did not want to peel at all. The outer skin on the ridge was super thin and stubbornly stuck on, I scratched and tried but it wouldn't come off at all. The rest of the foot peeled just fine. The ridges felt soft enough even with the thin band of outer skin still on, so I left them like that. I haven't cooked the feet yet, so I don't know how that would affect the eating experience. I will update again once we eat the feet, too.

 

[FunClucks]

UPDATE: The opportunity presented itself for me to process a feather-footed cockerel last night, so I thought I'd update the thread for anybody who was curious. He was a young but huge Copper Marans / Brahma cross (>5 lbs dressed), so not a whole lot of feathers on the feet, but enough to satisfy my curiosity. What I found was that the pores weren't as large as I expected, but they did make peeling more complicated - though, again, not in the way that I expected. The rows of pores that had feathers were raised, like a little mountain ridge, and that ridge did not want to peel at all. The outer skin on the ridge was super thin and stubbornly stuck on, I scratched and tried but it wouldn't come off at all. The rest of the foot peeled just fine. The ridges felt soft enough even with the thin band of outer skin still on, so I left them like that. I haven't cooked the feet yet, so I don't know how that would affect the eating experience. I will update again once we eat the feet, too.

Thank you for sharing! Super helpful info. Definitely update!

I skin most of my birds, and there's one row of feathers on the middle portion of the wing (There's the wingtip and shoulder, and then the middle portion of the wing between them, I forget what it's called) that is practically bonded to the bone, so instead of trying to pluck those feathers, I use my sharp skinning knife to cut them off the bone, including the pores as well. If I was encountering these feet you describe, and the feather pores were worrying me, I'd probably cut them off. These feet feather pores sound very similar to the ones you find on the wings that are attached to the wing bone.
Was it harder to pluck these feet than body or regular wing feathers? Do you know that row of feathers on the middle section of wing that I'm talking about? I think once things are scalded, the wing feathers come out fine, so the feet feathers probably do also... I can't imagine eating feet without scalding and peeling them first (super ick!)

 

[K0k0shka]

Thank you for sharing! Super helpful info. Definitely update!

I skin most of my birds, and there's one row of feathers on the middle portion of the wing (There's the wingtip and shoulder, and then the middle portion of the wing between them, I forget what it's called) that is practically bonded to the bone, so instead of trying to pluck those feathers, I use my sharp skinning knife to cut them off the bone, including the pores as well. If I was encountering these feet you describe, and the feather pores were worrying me, I'd probably cut them off. These feet feather pores sound very similar to the ones you find on the wings that are attached to the wing bone.
Was it harder to pluck these feet than body or regular wing feathers? Do you know that row of feathers on the middle section of wing that I'm talking about? I think once things are scalded, the wing feathers come out fine, so the feet feathers probably do also... I can't imagine eating feet without scalding and peeling them first (super ick!)

It was very easy to pluck the feet, no problems at all. I wouldn't cut the pores off though, as that would compromise the integrity of the foot. I put the feet in chicken soup and it's already hard enough to keep them in one piece while the rest cooks - they tend to overcook easily and fall apart, so if the skin was already cut, the foot would fall apart even faster. I should really take the extra step and add the feet later than the rest of the soup ingredients, so they don't overcook, but I either forget or am in a hurry and just want to chuck everything in the pot and walk away.

I'm trying to picture the wing feathers you're talking about... Would that be on the equivalent of the forearm? The one with the two bones? I hate plucking wings in general. No matter how easily everything else plucks, the wings are always hard and tend to rip, because they have the unfortunate combination of the feathers being very large and tough with thick shafts, but the wing itself being the flimsiest part of the body... With older birds the wing holds together better, but the young ones under a year old have tender skin and the wing always rips to some extent. I wouldn't skin a chicken though - crispy golden brown delicious chicken skin is the tastiest part of the whole animal!

Eating feet without peeling - not only yuck, but I don't think you'd even be able to chew through the scales! They seem pretty tough, especially the big ones on the front.

 

[FunClucks]

It was very easy to pluck the feet, no problems at all. I wouldn't cut the pores off though, as that would compromise the integrity of the foot. I put the feet in chicken soup and it's already hard enough to keep them in one piece while the rest cooks - they tend to overcook easily and fall apart, so if the skin was already cut, the foot would fall apart even faster. I should really take the extra step and add the feet later than the rest of the soup ingredients, so they don't overcook, but I either forget or am in a hurry and just want to chuck everything in the pot and walk away.

I'm trying to picture the wing feathers you're talking about... Would that be on the equivalent of the forearm? The one with the two bones? I hate plucking wings in general. No matter how easily everything else plucks, the wings are always hard and tend to rip, because they have the unfortunate combination of the feathers being very large and tough with thick shafts, but the wing itself being the flimsiest part of the body... With older birds the wing holds together better, but the young ones under a year old have tender skin and the wing always rips to some extent. I wouldn't skin a chicken though - crispy golden brown delicious chicken skin is the tastiest part of the whole animal!

Eating feet without peeling - not only yuck, but I don't think you'd even be able to chew through the scales! They seem pretty tough, especially the big ones on the front.

Good thoughts about keeping the feet together in soup. I'll bear that in mind. Easy to pluck is best!

Yes, its the part of the wing with two small bones, and meat between the two. Probably forearm is a good description. I'm sure the feathers come out fine if scalded, but for skinning it's the only place I have to cut the skin off with a knife, the rest I just make an opening and pull it off.

It would be nice if I could leave the skin on, but for my last batch, with 21 CX to do, only myself to do it by hand in icy cold weather outdoors, working 40 hrs a week, and managing multiple small children whenever I'm home, taking 0.5 an hour off my processing time (because not scalding) per chicken was a real time saver for me. I did about 5-7 roasts and then the chickens were super large, so I skinned and parted out the rest. It made sense for me at the time. Took me from 5 to 9 weeks to get through all those CX.

 

[K0k0shka]

Good thoughts about keeping the feet together in soup. I'll bear that in mind. Easy to pluck is best!

Yes, its the part of the wing with two small bones, and meat between the two. Probably forearm is a good description. I'm sure the feathers come out fine if scalded, but for skinning it's the only place I have to cut the skin off with a knife, the rest I just make an opening and pull it off.

It would be nice if I could leave the skin on, but for my last batch, with 21 CX to do, only myself to do it by hand in icy cold weather outdoors, working 40 hrs a week, and managing multiple small children whenever I'm home, taking 0.5 an hour off my processing time (because not scalding) per chicken was a real time saver for me. I did about 5-7 roasts and then the chickens were super large, so I skinned and parted out the rest. It made sense for me at the time. Took me from 5 to 9 weeks to get through all those CX.

My goodness, that's quite the production you had there! Makes sense why you'd want to shave off time wherever you can. I only do a handful per year, so it's worth it to take the extra time and save the skin. Though the timing isn't always optimal for me either. If I have males, I have to do them all together in one go as soon as the first one crows, because the neighbors hate me and I can't risk another starting to crow after him. This year I had all females, but thought I'd be nice and offer them a chance to live, so I traded them for roosters with somebody who was getting rid of his. But, again, I can't have roosters crowing here so I had to process them all in one go. So last night that took me 7 hours to do 4 large roosters... mostly because I was tired and inefficient, and napped while each new round of scald water was coming to a boil... A couple of years ago I did 6 in one night, that sucked too. But they were so tasty, skin and all!