Some of you may remember the marvelous mixed bag I returned home with on New Year’s Eve, a bag that included several barn pigeons. Well, I gave them a go this weekend.
Pigeons. In all likelihood everyone reading this knows the bird I am talking about. One may be pecking at something outside your window now. But unless you live in the country, you would not want to dine on those pigeons. Remember that all of us are what we eat. The birds my friend Evan and I shot that day were “barnies,” rustic cousins of city pigeons that lived in an old barn in Amador County; these birds ate nothing but seeds. Lots of little seeds.
At the table, pigeons – also known as rock doves – are neither doves nor squab. Doves don’t live terribly long and so are far more tender than the average pigeon; doves are also considerably smaller. A squab is a pigeon, but squabs are essentially pigeon veal: year-old (or less) birds raised in cages and slaughtered before they learn to fly.
Our pigeons lived for years before they met Evan and I. Some have been known to endure beyond three decades, although the average lifespan in the wild is closer to 5 years. Still, 5 years is enough time to get tough. What to do?
The English eat a lot of wood pigeons, so I went there for advice. They say look at the breastbone, and if it is pliable it is a young bird. (Same rule applies to all birds, incidentally.) These were not so pliable, but I thought: How tough could they possibly be?
But to hedge my bets, I slipped a knob of fresh butter from the farmer’s market under the skin on the breasts of each one. Ducks in this part of the world are loaded with yummy fat, but these barnies were lean, lean, lean.
I wanted something colorful to go with the pigeons, so I roasted and mashed one of my few remaining kabocha squashes from last season, then went hunting for a suitable sauce. I decided on a green sauce. Now there are endless variations on this classic, but my green sauce is 3 parts parsley, 2 parts fresh oregano, 1 part garlic chives – all of which are growing nicely in the garden right now – plus olive oil, sherry vinegar, salt and a dab of mustard.
How was it? The birds were a little tough, to be honest. I have never been a slave to the cult of tenderness when to achieve it you must sacrifice good, deep flavors, so I didn’t really mind. And here’s an odd thing about these pigeons: Their legs and wings, while chewy, were fantastically flavorful! I cannot say enough about how richly satisfying it was to gnaw on these little bits. I’d be happy with a plate of just those…
UPDATE: Here is Andrea’s Roundup of this month’s Grow Your Own. I especially like the parsnip gnocchi with mushrooms and sugar peas, from Mediterranean Cooking in Alaska.
13 responses so far ↓
1 Peter
// Mar 9, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Sounds great. I love gamy birds and meat- they’re so much more interesting. I bet if you confit the pigeons you’ll get the honest flavor but combined with melting tenderness. And is there anything kabocha doesn’t improve?
2 hank
// Mar 10, 2008 at 7:23 am
I bet you are right – confit would probably do wonders. And no, I’ve not yet found a squash better than the kabocha. I bought seeds for an Italian variant of it to grow this season…
3 Evan
// Mar 10, 2008 at 8:03 pm
That’s awesome Hank. Well, if even if they were a little tough, as usual, your presentation more than makes up for it – they look great!
That’s really interesting about pigeons, I had no idea they lived that long. As usual, I have learned something from you.
Well I guess this means we’ll have to go harvest the pigeon crop a little more often to keep them young and tender huh?
4 hank
// Mar 10, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Indeed. There shall be no 30-year-old barnies in Amador come next year…
5 Miles
// Mar 19, 2008 at 12:39 am
Hank,
Any chance of a photo of the squash you mention? I am wondering if there is a similar one over here under a different name. If not, you send me some squash and I’ll send you some English pigeon!!
6 hank
// Mar 19, 2008 at 6:37 am
No problem. Here is an image. Hope you can find it!
7 Miles
// Mar 19, 2008 at 8:41 am
Hank,
Thanks for that, they look very similar to a couple of varieties I grew last year, they tasted superb.
Miles
8 Andrea
// Mar 24, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Hank, this is great! The green sauce sounds very tasty, like a good chimmichurri. As always, you’ve done a fantastic job of pairing wild game with home-grown produce. Thanks for sharing with us for Grow Your Own!
9 Jenne
// Mar 25, 2008 at 12:46 pm
I’m looking for recipes for wild duck. I was given a bunch of wild duck, they are small. Probably 2-3/serving. would appreciate any input.
10 hank
// Mar 25, 2008 at 5:12 pm
Jenne,
Look at the top of this page and click on “wild game recipes.” I have lots of duck recipes there.
I think you have teal if they are that small. I recently wrote about teal, so this may help you.
Cheers,
h.
11 Eileen
// Mar 31, 2008 at 7:39 pm
are these banded tail pigeons? My husband used to shoot those up at his dad’s place up past Fair Play on Slug Gulch Rd..love that name
12 hank
// Mar 31, 2008 at 7:49 pm
Sadly, no, Eileen. They are barnies, which are merely the country cousins of the flying rats of K Street. You can only shoot 2 band-tails a day now, which is hardly worth the effort.
13 maria v
// Jun 3, 2008 at 11:05 am
this is a very impressive meat! i remember once eating fried pigeon and i liked it – i’ve never had the pleasure to have it again
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