Preparing for Christmas Day

A friend gave us a goose and a duck (Muscovy which are huge!). We picked them up today, and killed and prepared them so that they could hang for a while. The goose we will eat on Christmas Day and the duck will go in the freezer - perhaps we will eat it next week.

Doug klonked them on the head and then I slit their throat to bleed them out. Slight incident when the duck made a break for it, but the dog helped catch him again.

I was tempted for a minute to keep the goose as it was a female and goose eggs would be amazing - plus she was a beautiful animal. But practicality ruled. We don't have the time for more animals, where would she live etc. Maybe in the future we can have geese. They have really stinky slimy poo though...

Goose before plucking

Goose during plucking. The feathers weren't too hard to pull out but the whole thing was quite an effort because of the amount of down. It was like being in a snow storm and took forever to pull them all out.

Finished and gutted. Now going to hang for a couple of days

The duck. He is a muscovy duck which are huge and the only type of duck not related to the mallard apparently.

We had a nightmare plucking the wings, so in the end I just skinned them. I think I will chop them off and make stock before I roast it as they will tend to burn and dry out without skin on. The stock will be useful for making gravy to eat it with.

Mmmmm yum.