Recipies: Wild Birds and Animals
Wild pigeon, a largely underestimated (and so relatively cheap)
bird. It must be cooked very fast or very long. This and the next recipe explore
both approaches.
Pigeon breasts with fig balsamic vinegar.
4 tbsp olive oil
12-16 pigeon breasts
4 tbsp fig balsamic vinegar (or apple or straight balsamic vinegar)
Saft and pepper
Heat the oil in a frying pan. When smoking add the breasts. Leave for three
minutes, then turn and fry for three minutes more. Remove from pan, season
and keep warm. Add the vinegar, scraping up any residue at the bottom of the
pan, and reduce. Pour over the breasts when you serve
Potted pigeon
3 tbsp olive oil 4 pigeons
1 onion
1 carrot
1 stick celery
115g smoked bacon
1 clove garlic
4 juniper berries
1 bunch thyme, parsley and bayleaf
200ml sweet cider
170g butter
Ground mace
Salt and pepper
Heat the oil in a casserole and brown the birds all over. Add everything except
the butter, mace, salt and pepper. Braise slowly for 90 minutes. Strain the
juices into a clean pot, and reduce to about four tablespoons' worth. Meanwhile,
remove all the flesh from the carcasses and cut into strips. Season. Pack
the meat tightly into whatever container you want to serve the dish from.
Pour over the reduced juices and leave to cool
Melt the butter, season with mace, pour over the pigeon and refrigerate for
at least 12 hours. Very good with toast and salad as a light lunch or first
course.
Here is a translation of an Escoffier recipe by Elizabeth David
Stewed Pigeons
'Two or three young pigeons, dressed and drawn but not trussed, are to be
lightly browned in butter and transferred to a terrine or other small pot.
Into the butter in which the pigeons have been browned, pour a little glass
of cognac and one of white wine; let this boil a few seconds and pour it over
the pigeons. Surround the birds with a few little onions and mushrooms, also
previously cooked in butter. Season with salt and pepper, add a few spoonfuls
of good veal stock, cover the pigeons with little pieces of lean bacon first
cooked in butter until the fat has run ; seal the pot hermetically and cook
in a gentle oven for 50 minutes [longer for older pigeons]'.
Sparrow Pie
Pluck and draw the birds and stuff them with some veal forcemeat. Line the
bottom and sides of a pie-dish with thin slices of steak. Put in the birds,
cut in halves. Season with salt and pepper and intersperse with sections or
slices of hardboiled eggs. Half-fill the dish with stock, cover with shortcrust
pastry and bake in a moderately hot oven for about 12 hours, depending on
the size.
Roast Bird
Small birds such as snipe and woodcock should only be pluckednot drawn-and
cooked with their innards in. Larger birds, after plucking, should have their
heads, feet and innards removed. Stand the bird on a piece of toast to catch
the juice while it is cooking, cover the breast with bacon, dot with butter
and roast in a fairly hot oven. 20 minutes is enough for snipe, about 40 minutes
for grouse, and 1 hour for pheasant. Serve on the toast with a gravy made
from the juices in the pan. The traditional accompaniments for pheasant are
bread sauce and fried breadcrumbs.
Wild Duck with Black Cherries
For 6 people take 3 duck and put in a roasting dish with enough chicken stock
and wine to cover the bottom. Sprinkle the birds generously with lemon
rind and about 100g (4oz) butter. Place in a hot oven 220-230°C 425-450°
F) gas mark 7-8, for 15 minutes, then turn on their sides and cook for a
further 15 minutes. Repeat :his process twice more. Add the segments of
4 oranges peeled and skinned, and a large tin of black cherries. Turn the
duck right side up and cook for another 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 170-190°C
325-375°F) gas mark 3-5 and leave for about another 20 minutes. If the
breasts are still not cooked, increase the heat for a further 10 minutes.
Minimum total cooking time: 1½ hours.' Suki Kinloch.
Salted Goose
A goose,
2oz [50g] saltpetre,
7oz [200g] sugar,
3lb [1.3kg] salt.
Boil up 5 quarts [5.5l] of water with the saltpetre, sugar and salt, and pour
hot over the goose, which has been cleaned and trussed. Leave the goose lying
in this decoction for three days, then boil slowly until tender. The goose
should be served cold with a horse-radish sauce.' The Tenth Muse,
Sir Harry Luke, 1954.
Jugged Hare
Put a jointed hare in a large bowl and pour over 1 glass of wine vinegar,
2 glass olive oil, salt and pepper, a bunch of thyme and a sliced onion.
Leave for 12 hours turning at intervals. Chop an onion and put with 25g
(1 oz) pork fat and 50g (2oz) butter in a pan. Add the pieces of hare and
cook together for about 20 minutes, turning occasionally. Sprinkle with
flour and add the marinade mixture, 275ml (12-pt) beef stock and enough
red wine to cover. Allow to simmer for 12 hours. Optional additions are
a glass of port and a glass of the hare's blood.
Lapin Chasseur
Joint a rabbit and saute pieces in 25g (1 oz) butter and 75g (3oz) diced pork
until brown, together with some small shallots or chopped onions. Add some
thyme, bayleaf and about 12 glasses white wine. Simmer for about 1 hour until
tender. Add about 100g (4oz) mushrooms which have been fried in a little butter.
Finally, mix in 1 small cup cream and/or the yolk of an egg. Sprinkle with
chopped parsley and serve.
Rabbit Stew
Joint a rabbit and soak for 12 hours in a marinade of 1 part vinegar, 2 parts
cider, some bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, fennel, salt and pepper. Drain the
rabbit, dry, smother with butter and onion and brown. Place in a casserole
with 100g (¼lb) sliced, dried apricots (which have been soaked previously).
Add 2 tablespoons flour to the butter in which the rabbit has been fried and
mix with a little water, then pour over the rabbit with the marinade and more
water or stock if required. Simmer until tender and before serving add 1 tablespoon
redcurrantjelly if liked.
Sauteed Squirrel
Wash, wipe and quarter 2 squirrels. Rub with salt and pepper, slowly fry
an onion and a crushed clove of garlicin some butter until golden. Add squirrel
and 1 tablespoon chopped ham, sprinkle with flour and fry until brown. Then
add 1½ cups red wine, thyme, a bayleaf, 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind,
cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Simmer until tender.
Escargots Petits Gris au Vin Rouge
Cover the snails with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes. Then
plunge them in cold water, remove from their shells, wash well and drain.
Meanwhile put in an earthenware pan some diced streaky bacon, button
onions, crushed garlic and good red wine. Add the snails, salt and pepper
and a bouquet garni. Bring to the boil and cook in the oven very slowly for
2 hours. When cooked, a finishing-touch is to add a knob of butter kneaded
into flour, and a liqueur-glass of brandy.
Venison in Red Wine
Tie a shoulder or flank of venison in a sausage and put to marinade for 24
hours in 8 tablespoons red wine and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Remove meat, wipe
it dry and roll in flour. Pack tightly in an oval dish and cover with a layer
of sliced onions and one of bacon fat. Pour over the marinade, season with
salt and pepper, cover closely and cook at electricity 115 °C (310 °F)
gas mark 2 for 4-42 hours. Serve with redcurrant or rowan jelly.
Fruit Sauce for Game
1 lb [450g] red plums or damsons,
½lb [225g] sugar,
1in [2.5cm] cinnamon
stick,
2 cloves,
2 tablespoons redcurrent jelly,
1 glass port wine,
1½
oz [35g] butter.
'Choose ripe plums and wash or wipe them carefully. Put them into a lined
or earthenware saucepan with the sugar, cloves, and cinnamon, but without
any water, and stew them slowly until reduced to a pulp. Then rub the fruit
through a fine sieve and return the puree to a clean saucepan. Add the redcurrent
jelly and port wine, bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes. Then
draw the saucepan to the side of the fire and add the butter in small pieces.
Do not boil again after the butter is added. The sauce may be used either
hot or cold'. Cookery for Every Household, Florence B. Jack, 1931.
