[Sca-cooks] Jewish chicken plucking

[Stefan li Rous]

> Just to throw a spanner in the works :-)  Among Orthodox Jews, you do not scald the bird; you pluck it dry. I have never done this, but my own dear mother described it to me (uck) including the disgusting feeling of the little chicken fleas that would get onto you as you plucked.  These dry-plucked feathers would of course be used for stuffing things--waste not, want not.
>
> Devra (who's relieved she doesn't have to pluck it)

Hmmm. Can one of the Judaism experts here explain to me the reasoning
behind this? Or where this comes from?

The main thing that occurs to me is that in a desert enviornment it
might be considered a waste to use scarce water for this. I don't
imagine the water after it is used for this can be used for much.

Do the Moslems also have this prohibition on using water to pluck
a bird? They seem to share many of those restrictions that seem to
be due to the enviornment, such as not eating pork.

--
THLord Stefan li Rous    Barony of Bryn Gwlad    Kingdom of Ansteorra
   Mark S. Harris            Austin, Texas          stefan at texas.net
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