Sheryl and I have been learning the ropes of gourmet cooking for quite some time now. While we look forward to bringing home some freshly hunted venison this season, we’re also psyched about getting a couple of birds our way, too. The meat of wildfowl was our first attempt at cooking, having had a few birds for dinner during the holidays.
There are a lot of birds to choose from, and the details of their preparation are largely dependent on the species. Paying close attention to the species reveals a host of different flavors and meat cuts and various ways of preparation.
Our first attempt, quail (one of the few birds I am capable of shooting), has a slight gamey texture, whereas our next one, partridge, ended in a much sweeter note. Sometimes people like the gamey taste of wild birds, and pheasants are almost always prepared specifically to enhance it.
Game birds do share some traits in common when it comes to preparation. For instance, it sometimes makes excellent sense to cook each part of the bird differently, to necessitate in cutting it up differently. It’s very rare that you’d actually have to roast a whole bird like you would for domestic poultry.
Image source: bbcgoodfood.com
One of the challenges in cooking wild birds is their considerably lower fat content, which means it is easy for it to dry out. There are a lot of ways to avoid this situation, including confit, which involves slow-cooking the thighs and legs of a bird over the course of a few hours or days in fats or oils. Alternative methods include poaching, leaving the bird to cook for a few minutes so that it becomes rare, and then searing the skin.
About the author, Joe Ciringione
Learn more about Providence, Rhode Island outdoorsman and gourmand Joe Ciringione here. To catch up with what Sheryl and I have been cooking, follow us on Twitter.
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