hair on chickens | Imamother

amother

Wed, Dec 14 2011, 5:13 pm

when I see hair on my raw chickens I remove the skin, but sometimes I want to keep the skin off, how do I remove the hair??????????? do upluck the chickens??

sky

Wed, Dec 14 2011, 5:19 pm

Use a knife. Stick under the feather (not hair) and pull it out. If there is an area with a lot I just cut off that part of the skin and leave the rest. Or you can always try tweezers LOL

If you are broiling or grilling the chicken pieces it burns off and nobody knows it wasn't cleaned well.

shnitzel

Wed, Dec 14 2011, 5:22 pm

What about with wings?

Does anyone think buying a special pair of chicken tweezers insane? I haven't tovelled my eyebrow tweezers. I tried pulling the feathers out of the wings and it was impossible.

amother

Wed, Dec 14 2011, 5:31 pm

Why is kosher chicken so hairy? Non-kosher chicken never looks like it's got a coat on.

ra_mom

Wed, Dec 14 2011, 5:33 pm

What sky said.

shnitzel, I asked my friend the same thing. And she said I was insane. So I didn't get the "kitchen" tweezers.

OP, it makes a difference where you are buying your chickens. If you're in Brooklyn I can tell you which places sell the cleanest chickens.

ra_mom

Wed, Dec 14 2011, 6:02 pm

amother wrote:

where in brooklyn?

#1 Shauly's Meal Mart on 20th and 60th.
#2 Chef Ah on 13th and 48th.

seeker

Wed, Dec 14 2011, 6:11 pm

Kosher chickens are hairier (read: more feathery) because they can't be heated before they're kashered, so the feathers are just beaten off which leaves most of the ends in the skin. For nonkosher chickens they remove them under some kind of heat (hot water?) which makes the feathers fall out more effectively.

Dini20

Wed, Dec 14 2011, 6:12 pm

I use a strawberry huller. But you have to make sure the ends meet nicely because otherwise it won't grab the feather. I bought one a long time ago which is great & others more recently that weren't great. If you pour boiling water over the chicken the feathers come out very easily when plucked.

shoemaker

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 5:02 am

let it boil for 10-15 in water, the hair comes of very easy.

sarahd

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 6:29 am

I put each chicken piece in boiling water for about 30 seconds and then pluck the feathers with a knife (preferably not serrated). I used to have chicken tweezers (not toiveled; you only have to toivel stuff that will touch ready-to-eat food) but it took too long.

seeker

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 8:10 am

Yup, that's what they do to the non-kosher chickens then. Ours are tossed in a machine that's supposed to swat the feathers off but only does a very superficial job.

tweek

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 8:17 am

I have bought a few tweezers in dollar stores and use them on chicken! They work wonders!

MiracleMama

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 8:50 am

I hate going at my chickens with tweezers. If I am making just for my family I leave the feathers alone cause nobody eats the skin anyhow, I just leave it on for cooking to keep chicken juicy. But if I am having guests then hairy chicken is embarrassing so I spend time standing there with the tweezers. Wings I don't even bother. Too much work for so little meat. I don't serve them.

Last time I was standing in my kitchen tweezing my chickens I was wondering if I should try an epilady on them, lol!

chocolate chips

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 8:55 am

I do it whilst running the chicken under hot water. I take a knife and hold it towards me and pull the hair.

Truth is I don't make such a big deal of it because dh and I both don't eat the skin so I pluck off the huge noticeable ones. When I have guests I work harder, it takes time but too bad.

Btw our old cleaner told us she pays almost triple the price to buy kosher chicken as oppose to non-kosher because she found it cleaner!! (this is in UK)

Chicken tweezers?? LOL

ray family

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 9:03 am

I have "chicken tweezers"- used exclusively on chicken!

shnitzel

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 10:04 am

Manhattan chickens are featherless but the wings are at least triple the price. I stock up on Brooklyn chickens which are very hairy but cheap.

I will definitely try boiling them in water!

sky

Thu, Dec 15 2011, 3:27 pm

So funny! I had mentioned the tweezers as a joke. Its good to know that it can be used. And I'll try the boiling water trick the next time I clean a lot of chicken. Thanks.