Past & Present

[Rhyd6]

We've been following Masterchef on TV and I can't help but notice how often pigeon features on the menu. Yesterday it was one of the top dishes at a michelin starred London restaurant. Today friends and I were discussing this and we all agreed that we'd be mortified if we had to dish up pigeon as a main meal. We all ate plenty during the war but now!!! I often shoot pigeon and rabbit but it all end up as food for the cats and dogs, I certainly wouldn't touch it and the thought of serving it to guests is a definite no no, but it would seem that people who go to posh restaurants are willing to pay a fortune to eat food that here we'd only give to the animals. Strange world.

R6

[gryffron]

I guess posh restaurants have to try and offer "new" things that you wouldn't eat elsewhere. I've never had pigeon in my life. Would probably try it. Had ostrich, kangaroo, zebra...

Not very long ago, mangetout was something Kenyan farmers fed to their cattle. Now it is on every supermarket shelf. They laugh that Europeans eat it.

Gryff

[stooz]

I guess it is the rareness that makes it seem posh.
I've had it. Its nothing special. Quiet rich, more red meat than white. And the buckshot is a pain to spit out....

[dionaeamuscipula]

A few years ago a man was arrested in Trafalgar Square after being caught stuffing pigeons into a bag. Turned out he was selling them on to high end restaurants. Parts of the story here.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pigeo ... 41017.html

[stooz]

A few years ago a man was arrested in Trafalgar Square after being caught stuffing pigeons into a bag. Turned out he was selling them on to high end restaurants. Parts of the story here.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/pigeo ... 41017.html

I expect to see him on dragons den or the apprentice before long

[bungeejumper]

I ate pigeon pie once, back in the 1960s, and it was rather good. Stronger than most white meat, but very tasty and a nice texture. A white sauce with plenty of pepper, and a puff pastry lid.

What puts me off the idea these days is that I've now had to deal with pigeons as urban vermin - and trust me (I'll spare you the mucky details), there are few less decorous or more squalid lifestyles out there. Some of the nastiest diseases are endemic. And if I were eating pigeon, I'd want to know exactly where it had been bred. Trafalgar Square (or any urban environment, for that matter) definitely wouldn't make it.

BJ

[wheypat]

I've noticed this before on Masterchef - there seems to be the ingredient of the year almost. So one year everyone cooked Scallops, next it was rabbit. This year Pigeon.

Otter next?

[UncleIan]

I've noticed this before on Masterchef - there seems to be the ingredient of the year almost. So one year everyone cooked Scallops, next it was rabbit. This year Pigeon.

Otter next?

BRIAN: Larks' tongues. Wrens' livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars' earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar. Tuscany fried bats.

[redsturgeon]

I've noticed this before on Masterchef - there seems to be the ingredient of the year almost. So one year everyone cooked Scallops, next it was rabbit. This year Pigeon.

Otter next?

Will that be some sort of Tarka dish?

John

[wheypat]

I've noticed this before on Masterchef - there seems to be the ingredient of the year almost. So one year everyone cooked Scallops, next it was rabbit. This year Pigeon.

Otter next?

BRIAN: Larks' tongues. Wrens' livers. Chaffinch brains. Jaguars' earlobes. Wolf nipple chips. Get 'em while they're hot. They're lovely. Dromedary pretzels, only half a denar. Tuscany fried bats.

I have eaten part of a camel. That's something you only do once. My host loved it, when he went to the loo I stuffed as much of it as I could into a serviette and stuffed it into my pockets to dispose of later . . . . .

[Rhyd6]

I'd like to see what they could do with Dwarf Bread

R6

[oldapple]

"when he went to the loo I stuffed as much of it as I could into a serviette and stuffed it into my pockets to dispose of later . . "

I'm glad I've already eaten ....

[Slarti]

We've been following Masterchef on TV and I can't help but notice how often pigeon features on the menu. Yesterday it was one of the top dishes at a michelin starred London restaurant. Today friends and I were discussing this and we all agreed that we'd be mortified if we had to dish up pigeon as a main meal. We all ate plenty during the war but now!!! I often shoot pigeon and rabbit but it all end up as food for the cats and dogs, I certainly wouldn't touch it and the thought of serving it to guests is a definite no no, but it would seem that people who go to posh restaurants are willing to pay a fortune to eat food that here we'd only give to the animals. Strange world.

R6

Strange how different people look at different foods.

Rabbit stew is one of my favourites and it a wonderfully cheap meal, though as myxomatosis is still out there, normally only farmed rabbit.

Pigeon, well that has to be Wood Pigeon to have enough meat on it to be worth while, and it varies in taste by where it has been shot, so I am reliably informed that the ones in my back garden would not taste nice, but the ones from up near Colchester where my hunter gets them from certainly are fine.

I've looked at Wood Pigeon in the butcher's window, next to the grouse & pheasant and they are much cheaper per Kg.

Slarti

[bungeejumper]

I've looked at Wood Pigeon in the butcher's window, next to the grouse & pheasant and they are much cheaper per Kg

.

That would be impressively cheap. At our local butcher, pheasants are three pounds a brace when he's got them. We tried preparing them for the pot once, but ended up covered in blood and feathers and we dumped them swiftly in favour of a more amenable pizza. Still trying to live down the disgrace of that one.

Anybody remember Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall trying to kebab slugs?

BJ

[Rhyd6]

The pigeons I shoot are wood pigeons not city dwellers but I still wouldn't fancy eating them. Next year we're going to try keeping guinea fowl, our local farm shop had a few in and they sold like hot cakes so he's after a steady supply. Near us they tried ostriches but they were nowty beggars and were more trouble than they were worth. They've also had rheas but one of them took a fancy to their daughter and wouldn't let anyone near her. I believe he roasted well though.

R6

[Slarti]

I've looked at Wood Pigeon in the butcher's window, next to the grouse & pheasant and they are much cheaper per Kg

.

That would be impressively cheap. At our local butcher, pheasants are three pounds a brace when he's got them. We tried preparing them for the pot once, but ended up covered in blood and feathers and we dumped them swiftly in favour of a more amenable pizza. Still trying to live down the disgrace of that one.

Anybody remember Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall trying to kebab slugs?

BJ

Blood and feathers?

These are plucked and drawn. Although I've done it with chickens, I have ne desire at this stage in my life to do that sort of thing.

Slarti

[sg31]

pheasants are three pounds a brace when he's got them. We tried preparing them for the pot once, but ended up covered in blood and feathers


They are £5-£6 each in the local butchers, he sells them as free range organic. Is there any other kind? The ones reared for shooting maybe.

Pheasants do have a lot of feathers, it's probably the wrong thing to do but I skin them then cook them in foil or covered in bacon.

We used to practically live on pheasants when we lived in Lincolnshire, the local shoot was glad to get rid of them because they shot so many. They are too expensive in this area. The one that runs around my garden is living a charmed life, he's such a beautiful bird I can't bring myself to kill him.

[redsturgeon]

pheasants are three pounds a brace when he's got them. We tried preparing them for the pot once, but ended up covered in blood and feathers


They are £5-£6 each in the local butchers, he sells them as free range organic. Is there any other kind? The ones reared for shooting maybe.

Pheasants do have a lot of feathers, it's probably the wrong thing to do but I skin them then cook them in foil or covered in bacon.

We used to practically live on pheasants when we lived in Lincolnshire, the local shoot was glad to get rid of them because they shot so many. They are too expensive in this area. The one that runs around my garden is living a charmed life, he's such a beautiful bird I can't bring myself to kill him.

"Up goes a guinea, bang goes sixpence, down comes half a crown," was the old saying.

John

[NomoneyNohoney]

"Up goes a guinea, bang goes sixpence, down comes half a crown," was the old saying.

John

Well, let's think about that.
You get to keep the gun, so that's not an ongoing cost, which means if you spend sixpence on the cartridge, you get a two shillings profit.
From the eleventh bird onwards you have paid off the cost of the gun, and you're purely into profit thereafter. Good business!

[redsturgeon]

"Up goes a guinea, bang goes sixpence, down comes half a crown," was the old saying.

John

Well, let's think about that.
You get to keep the gun, so that's not an ongoing cost, which means if you spend sixpence on the cartridge, you get a two shillings profit.
From the eleventh bird onwards you have paid off the cost of the gun, and you're purely into profit thereafter. Good business!

My understanding was that the guinea referred to the cost of raising the bird...I make that 19 shillings loss.

John