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sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 06 7:26 pm Post subject: Pigeon

Just tried pigeon for the first time, courtesy of Gareth's brother who picked some up at a farmers market. We just had the breast meat, and I was surprised at how dense a meat it was. Rather dark, very distict in flavour, and plenty of meat for a meal off one bird each. We had it in panfried with a pepper and cream sauce on rice, and definately recommended. Would happily eat that again!

So, if pigeons are picking at your crops, I can think of worse things than eating them

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46207
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 06 7:35 pm Post subject:
very nice in woodland pies or with a rich fruity sauce .

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 06 7:41 pm Post subject:
We thought they should be good casseroled, they struck me as being probably quite good at standing long cooking. Don't get a huge number of pigeons round here, or I might be out chatting up the local airgun enthusiasts! Certainly made a change from roadkill pheasant which is our usual poultry.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 06 7:44 pm Post subject:
I've tried it once and thought it was rather good. I don't buy them because the idea of paying �2.50 for something that's shot as a pest seems a little daft to me. I'd love somewhere to shoot my own or to know someone who I can get them a bit cheaper.

sally_in_wales
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 06 Mar 2005
Posts: 20809
Location: sunny wales

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 06 7:55 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

I've tried it once and thought it was rather good. I don't buy them because the idea of paying �2.50 for something that's shot as a pest seems a little daft to me. I'd love somewhere to shoot my own or to know someone who I can get them a bit cheaper.

That was our general consensus, in some areas they are such a pest that it should hopefully be a case of just being friendly to someone who routinely shoots them.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46207
Location: yes

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 06 8:15 pm Post subject:
plastic decoys for a start . prop up shot ones in a feeding pose . shoot them from cover . or ask around , the chap (ess) with blood and feathers on them will know where to source them . yum . young crow aint bad either , old ones are tough .

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 06 11:45 pm Post subject:

sally_in_wales wrote:

We thought they should be good casseroled...

Oooh! Oooh! The BEST way I know of casseroling them is with wood blewits (you know, those mushrooms your bloke brought home).

Finely chop the holy trinity of stock vegetables (onion, carrot and celery), and caramelise them in a pan. Season the birds (one each is good) inside and out, brown them with the stock veg. De-glaze the pan with a little wine, put plenty of wood blewits in the pan, add in stock to nearly cover. Grind up some juniper berries, salt and pepper, a bay leaf and some parsley, toss those in. Cover, cook one way up for half an hour, turn the birds over and cook for another half hour, take them out and reduce the sauce rapidly for a while.

A fantastic dish, truly wonderful.

If you can't get wood blewits, other mushrooms do; if you have to use bought ones then use oyster mushrooms. In Spring and Summer I've used St. Georges mushrooms, and that is if anything an even better casserole.

Last edited by cab on Sun Jan 29, 06 11:50 pm; edited 1 time in total

cab

Joined: 01 Nov 2004
Posts: 32429

Posted: Sun Jan 29, 06 11:47 pm Post subject:

Treacodactyl wrote:

Typically our butcher charges �1:30 for them. Bloody good deal, I think. At that price, we buy them to strip off the breasts, marinade them and barbecue them (eaten hot and bloody). One of the hilights of our big summer do. The carcasses then become a rich pigeon soup.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 06 8:10 am Post subject:
Pan-fried pigeon breast is one of my favourite game dishes - dense, dark and very flavoursome. Sadly pigeons rarely come my way these days - they aren't really a pest up here.

whitelegg1

Joined: 05 Apr 2005
Posts: 409
Location: Woodford Green

Posted: Mon Jan 30, 06 9:41 am Post subject:
Almost had pigeon yesterday.... Magpies chased them off before I could get in position behind the climbing frame... ...(Obviously in my garden, I wouldn't be sneaking round a playground with my rifle!)

Will

Joined: 30 Jun 2005
Posts: 571
Location: Grenoside, Sheffield

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 06 11:19 am Post subject:

Back to the top:

A delicious plump-breasted pigeon has taken over the birdtable and lawn, keeping most of the smaller birds off the food, which is irritating given that the blue tits were taking an interest in the birdbox. The neighbourhood cats are no help as it's bigger than most of them.

I want to get rid of it, one way or t'other. Eating it would be a bonus.

Garden is too small for safe shooting - other gardens with small children on three sides and only about 12m long - plus I don't have a gun.

Any suggestions?

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 06 11:21 am Post subject:

Bird lime?

Quote:

Boil the middle part of the holly 7 or 8 hours in water; drain it, and lay it in heaps in the ground, covered with stones, for 2 or 3 weeks, till reduced to a mucilage. Beat this in a mortar, wash it in rain-water, and knead it till free from extraneous matters. Put it into earthen pots, and in 4 or 5 days it will be fit for use. An interior kind is made by boiling linseed-oil for some hours until it becomes a viscid paste.

From here.

Shane

Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 3467
Location: Doha. Is hot.

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 06 12:02 pm Post subject:
Illegal, I believe. And non-selective. And cruel.

judith

Joined: 16 Dec 2004
Posts: 22789
Location: Montgomeryshire

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 06 12:05 pm Post subject:
It wasn't a serious suggestion.

Shane

Joined: 31 Oct 2005
Posts: 3467
Location: Doha. Is hot.

Posted: Wed Feb 08, 06 12:07 pm Post subject:
Good

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