Daf Yomi

Feather Plucking 101

“The Blood Will Easily Flow Out”

(Chulin 93b)

The Torah (Vayikra 17:10-12), while allowing the consumption of meat, is specific in the accompanying prohibition, “You may not consume blood…” Several dafim of our sugya are devoted to methods of extracting blood from meat. Since salt has the property of easily drawing out the blood, all meat that is to be consumed must be salted to remove that forbidden blood. After the salt has drawn out the blood and the meat has been rinsed, then and only then may the meat be cooked (in a pot).

Our sugya notes an exception where the meat was placed on a spit directly over the fire. In such a case, the flames of the fire (which act in a similar manner to salt) will cause the blood to flow easily. Therefore, when using any other method of cooking in a pot other than broiling – such as boiling in water, frying in oil, or searing – in all these cases the blood will not be extracted without the meat first being thoroughly salted. It is therefore absolutely required by halacha to salt meat before cooking, and the rules for beef also apply to fowl (see Shulchan Aruch, Yorah Deah 69).

Plucking Feathers Is Not Easy

Not too long ago, people would buy a chicken, bring it to a shochet who would also examine it, and then bring it to pluckers, people situated here and there in the marketplace who would artfully remove the feathers. Plucking is not a simple matter. Each feather sprouts from and fills its own membrane-lined cavity, and plucking the feathers must be done forcefully, but with skill so that the meat and skin are not removed with it.

Fowl Soaked in Boiling Water

One method of plucking feathers is to first soak the chicken in boiling water. The feather-cavities expand from the heat, the connection between the feather and the membrane becomes softer, and then the plucking becomes much easier. However, to do so is forbidden because soaking the chicken in boiling water locks the blood in. Indeed, Minhagei Maharil mentions (Hilchos Isur Veheter MiSha’arei Dura, os 10) that soaking fowl in boiling water was not allowed “even for a wedding or a bris where numerous fowl are prepared… but many women are employed to pluck the feathers or the chickens are put in cold water which helps to remove the feathers.”

Soaking the Chicken in Very Cold Water

The Maharil cites putting fowl in cold water as an alternative solution practiced in various communities. This possibility was investigated in recent times and it turned out that the lower the water’s temperature, the easier the plucking becomes. The most useful temperature is between zero and eight degrees Celsius (32 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit), and the result offers the same benefit as soaking the fowl in boiling water.

However, a suspicion arose that soaking in cold water would also cause the meat to retain the blood, possibly preventing the extraction of the blood during the salting process that follows. This suspicion is based on the Meiri’s statement (Chulin 113a) that when the meat is rinsed before salting, it shouldn’t be left in water too long because the water’s coolness makes the blood adhere to the meat (see Beis Yosef, Yorah Deah, beginning of 69, and the Taz, ibid, 36, s.k. 5). Therefore, the custom developed to soak fowl in water whose temperature is no less than 6-7 degrees Celsius, based on the BeisYosef(ibid.) that only in cold countries, in deep winter, there is a suspicion that the cold water will keep the blood in.

Because of the problems of soaking fowl in water, the use of various chemicals were explored which have the properties necessary to make plucking easier while not causing the flesh to retain the blood. A substance called FSD was discovered which melts the fats at the base of the feather, thus allowing for easy plucking. It was also confirmed through thorough investigation that FSD does not cause the flesh to retain the blood.

Plucking Feathers Easily

The following are plucking “secrets” known to professionals: (1) Plucking a chicken that was beheaded after slaughtering is easier; the reason is unclear. (2) Feathers of roosters (males) are removed more easily than those of hens. (3) Plucking fattened fowl is easier. (4) Fowl raised in natural surroundings are plucked more easily than those raised artificially.

In brief, anyone interested in plucking feathers himself had better choose a fat, farm-raised, beheaded rooster (see Mazon Kasher min HaChai 4:1 for the reasons and see ibid. for an elaboration on the topic).