Frozen birds

C

cowdog

Member
So I went hunting the other day and got a bunch of birds that froze solid before I got them cleaned. How would you think I should handle them now? I was thinkin a slow thaw then clean and freeze em all again
 
Thawing the meat and freezing it again will break down the muscle fibers more than normal and affect the texture. After thawing the second time the meat will be a bit mushy and might be best used for soup, chili etc.

One option is to thaw clean and eat within a couple days. Another option if not completely frozen solid would be to fillet the breast meat & thigh meat off the bone and transfer straight to the freezer. Serrated knife maybe best for this.

Good news is I don't think they will taste any different. In this situation whatever you do I'd probably soak in salt water for a day before eating just to make sure any surface bacteria that may have developed is done in.

DB
 
First off, you drink a twelve pack of your favorite beer. Then you put birds in pot and cover with water, boil until fully cooked. You will need Ketchup..lots of Ketchup and a good hot sauce. Salt and pepper to taste.More beer, lots of beer. Start eating immediately..spit bones, guts, head and feathers into waste paper basket. Save a wing, head or foot if you plan to travel with them. There problem solved. LOL :thumbsup::cheers:

Really, I would just through them in the kitchen sink until thawed and clean as normal. There should be no problem
 
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I guess with the weather being a scold as it is this can be quite the problem. Althought this will not hrlp you now what I do to prevent having to do this is I skin them shortly after I kill them. Usually before I go to the next field. The method I use only takes a minute and that is
I lay the bird on the ground between my feet with the head pointing behind me, I stretch the legs out and I than put a goot on each wing, than I bend down and reach down and grab a leg in each hand I than stand up pulling on the two legs resulting in the two breast being pulled away from everything else and the wings still being attached to them to make everything still legal. I than cut one wing off and than pull the feathers off of the legs and use my scissors and cut them off at the joint where it meets the body. I than rinse it off , put it in a bag and than put it in the ice box. It really only takes about 3 minutes a bird from start to finish.
Even though it does not help now, this might help in the future.
For now, what onpoint said:cheers:
 
I've thawed and cleaned frozen pheasants quite a few times. It doesn't seem to hurt the quality a lot. I agree that it's best to eat them then and not refreeze. But they would still be quite edible.
 
I usually do the stand on the wings cleaning method but was trying to collect some birds for a photo op................... Thanks for the replys ill start thawing them and see what happens
 
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