Anybody ever eat wild Pigeon/Squab?

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I understand that squab, comercially raised and butcherd before the bird can fly, but is at adult weight, is supposed to be haute cuisine. I'm wondering what the wild bird tastes like. What is its texture. Is there a "best" way to prepare it?

I'm also wondering how difficult it would be, and legality of capturing wild pigeon and raising them for food. Also, would they grow larger with a steady meal of quality food.

I also read that pegeons mate and a great way to raise them is to let the hen lay, hatch, and tender a first set of eggs, then let her lay a 2nd batch of egg that the father will take care of. Then, as the first batch begins to mature, the mother takes care of the 2nd batch as well. This increase the yeild and still provide the "mothering" that is require by the young pidgeons to thrive.

Anybody with info, I would appreciate it. Who knows, I might even try raising some pidgeons. Good squab sells for $8 per pound or so.

Seeeeeeya; Chief longwind of the North

 

[TATTRAT]

They taste like a tasty bird. I wouldn't say it tastes like chicken, as it doesn't, it certainly isn't as rich as Duck but it is a LOT richer than chicken, I hate to say it, but it taste like squab.

It's a lot of nibbling for a little bit of bird, and though I don't go out of my way to prepare it, when requested, I will make it. I like to spatchcock the bird, season, brown slowly skin side down, flip and finish in the oven. Rest the bird, go in the pan with some shallot, pink peppercorn and de-glaze with brandy, let that come down (au sec) and finish with some butter. I like mine cooked about medium.

as for the raising of them, I dunno, I just eat 'em.

 

[Claire]

I have eaten them fairly often in Chinese restaurants, but have also cooked a lot of game birds. I'll have to search my memory banks to come up with it, but in immediate memory my failures were thinking I could cook it fairly quickly and not adding enough fat. Larding the birds really made the difference, and braising worked wonderfully well.

 

[spork]

I've also only eaten them at Chinese restaurants. Reminds me somewhat of a very lean, gamey quail. I like them in lettuce wrap, shredded and stir-fried with dice of veggies. I've never cooked one. The pigeon is a rock dove. Mourning doves are very popular game birds. I've never eaten those, but am thinking the two might be similar. Strong flyers = muscular breasts.

 

[texherp]

Yeah, dove hunting is HUGE down here. It's the first thing you can shoot in the fall. I have (mourning and white-wing) dove pretty much every year and it's really one of my favorite game meats, but I don't know how it compares to squab. We usually take the breast meat completely off the bone and then wrap it in bacon, marinade it in Italian dressing and grill it. Man it's good!

 

[buckytom]

i've had squab a few times and have seen it prepared before, but i'm not sure if it was wild or farmed. i wouldn't doubt if it was farmed.

like tatt said, it's definitely not like chicken. frogs taste more like chickem than does squab. if pork is the other white meat, squab is the other red meat. it's like ostrich, but even darker red.

the breast is pretty much the useable meat on them, unless you like to pick at the legs and such. in that way, it's like eating a quail with big breasts.

the breast is a large piece of dark red, lean meat. it should be cooked accordingly: high heat, short time, and unlike chicken it should be cooked medium rare to medium at the most.

hth, oh wise one of the perpetual wind.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

I shoot two big fat wood pigeons that were pulling up my onion and garlic sets 4 wks ago. I hung them for 4 days then cleaned and plucked the varmints. They are classed as vermin here so the local farm gives them to me as his wife will not dress or eat them.
The two I shot were old so I just fry speck then remove from the pan, the brown the birds remove from pan, then fry onions garlic, put back the bacon and birds add a 50/50 stock of red wines and chicken put lid on and braise till tender, remove birds add a shot of port and a spoon of red currant jelly, boil till the stock has reduced thicken with butter, pour over birds and serve with bread sauce and game chips.

 

[buckytom]

lol, coque du bolas, as it were.

umm, i'm not good with french. coque au bolas might be better.

i'm sure it would matter if bolas were around some old birds in france...

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

I concur Tom, on my first tour that included France I thought Coq Au Vin was an invitation to have nooky in the tour eqiup van.

 

[sparrowgrass]

Bolas!!

Pigeons are not protected in the US--they are not covered under the migratory bird act, so you should be ok to trap or kill them. It would probably be easier to buy a couple of paird of tame pigeons and raise them in an enclosure.

Pigeons and mourning doves are not the same species--mourning doves are hunted in many places, and game laws apply.

When my son was first starting to hunt, he was told that if he shot it, he had to eat it. He nailed a pigeon on the neighbor's farm--I boiled that sucker all day and it never got tender enough to stick a fork in. Must have been the oldest pigeon in the world.

 

[CraigC]

I'm sure that some folks have tried it, thinking it was something else. There used to be a chain here called Lum's. They created a menu item called "Wienerwald Chicken". I don't think it was a coincidence that the local pigeon population started to decline.

Craig

 

[CharlieD]

I've had pigeons a lot as a child. My grandma used to make them. Remeber liking it a lot, but then I liked everything she made.
That was a long time ago.

 

[Timothy]

If you like them enough to pay $18 per/pound for them, here's some:

Exotic Meats USA - Squab

 

[Aunt Bea]

I'm sure that some folks have tried it, thinking it was something else. There used to be a chain here called Lum's. They created a menu item called "Wienerwald Chicken". I don't think it was a coincidence that the local pigeon population started to decline.

Craig

The food at Lum's was lousy but the giant frosted schooners of beer made up for it.

 

[Salvy]

Back around 1960 or therabouts I had a good friend who raised domestic homing pigeons. He would let them fly in the city of Hackensack and they would bring in the city pigeons. I remember delivering a garbage can full of them to a nearby Chinese restaurant. Sal.

 

[Timothy]

Pigeons wouldn't stand a chance in my neighborhood. There are lots of Hawks and Owls around my house. I love em. They eat snakes, mice and any critter dumb enough to come out in the open within their sight.

I was walking my teacup chihuahua, Meko one evening and a hawk made a run for it. I scared it off by waving my arms.

Little Meko peed herself, but she did that for anything that happened near her.

 

[Bolas De Fraile]

Timothy we have a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons (duck hawks) that have raised one chick for the last 7 yrs. They are a legally protected bird with only about 1400 in the country. They nest in the same spot every year and have around the clock protection against egg collectors.

 

[Timothy]

Timothy we have a nesting pair of Peregrine Falcons (duck hawks) that have raised one chick for the last 7 yrs. They are a legally protected bird with only about 1400 in the country. They nest in the same spot every year and have around the clock protection against egg collectors.

That is so cool, Bolas. I've dreamed of having a trained Falcon. I had a friend who owned one in Berlin, Germany, and watching it hunt was truly fascinating and humbling. That bird would leap into the sky, go immediately to a height that made it look like a speck in the sky, and then almost immediately, dive-bomb a rabbit. It never took longer than 5 minutes to bring one back. Incredible how much weight they can take off and fly with.

 

[Claire]

Funny, in our neck of the woods there seem to be plenty of both hawks and pigeons. maybe the balance is good.

We were on the road in a trailer, out to discover America, for three years, and once camped next to a falconer. He was very interesting. He did training sessions with the bird, and we really enjoyed talking to and watching him.

yes, I have eaten squab/pigeon, and it was quite tasty. In Hong Kong. But really, we have a "wild" bird place here where you can buy wild birds of most sorts (I don't think the above). After trying the mallard, the turkey, and the pheasant I realized why man domesticated birds. Very lean. Very, very lean. Very tough. Very flavorful, but needed to be larded, and once I got that down, I realized that braised would be better than roasted, and easier. But, like I said, very tasty.

 

[Timothy]

Funny, in our neck of the woods there seem to be plenty of both hawks and pigeons. maybe the balance is good.

We were on the road in a trailer, out to discover America, for three years, and once camped next to a falconer. He was very interesting. He did training sessions with the bird, and we really enjoyed talking to and watching him.

yes, I have eaten squab/pigeon, and it was quite tasty. In Hong Kong. But really, we have a "wild" bird place here where you can buy wild birds of most sorts (I don't think the above). After trying the mallard, the turkey, and the pheasant I realized why man domesticated birds. Very lean. Very, very lean. Very tough. Very flavorful, but needed to be larded, and once I got that down, I realized that braised would be better than roasted, and easier. But, like I said, very tasty.

I've only eaten two types of wild birds; "chucker", which is what people in Nevada call Prarie Hens, but are actually a Chucker Partridge. Also, Dove.

The Chucker tasted exactly like gamey chicken, and the Dove breasts were the best of the two. They were roasted with a liberal coating of black pepper and were just awesome!