How to cook a pigeon, every hunter knows. The meat of pigeons has an excellent taste and has a lot of useful qualities. Food lovers believe it tastes better than good chicken. That's just to be able to feast and appreciate the meat of the pigeon, you need to learn how to cook it correctly. Since ancient times, in various cultures, there are a lot of descriptions of pigeon dishes that have come down to our times. It is interesting that the carcasses of wild birds need to be handled differently than domestic ones.
How to cook pigeons at home
What is pigeon meat useful for?
Even forest pigeon meat is very tender and does not require auxiliary processing. It can be cooked, fried, stewed. Back in 1000 AD e. Avicenna noted the beneficial qualities of the product in the diet of pregnant women and children. In dovecote, protein is 25%, and fat is only 2%. The pulp of a pigeon has a fibrous structure. The hue of the flesh is dark, like most wild birds. This product is very quickly absorbed by the human digestive system and contains many valuable amino acids and multivitamins: Fe, Ca, copper, P, B vitamins, PP, A.
The iron content in the pigeon is quite high, so this meat is often recommended to be used for the prevention and treatment of anemia. The benefits of introducing this product into the diet of patients with diseases of the upper respiratory tract have also been proven. The taste of pigeon meat will depend on the diet of the bird. For example, domestic pigeons, which are fed mainly with crops, will have a sweet, spicy-nutty flavor.
Secrets of preparation
To cook a wild dove, you need to choose and prepare a carcass. Initially, it should be rid of feathers, then proceed to gutting. Mandatory wild birds look goiter. If there is blackness, such a carcass must be immediately destroyed and in no case should be eaten. The second thing you should pay attention to is the color of the dermis. In pigeons, the skin has a pink color, and in old pigeons it is purple in places.
Before pigeons are cooked, their meat is always pre-processed. This is especially true for carcasses of older birds, they are kept in grape or apple essence for about 10-12 hours. Young growth is soaked in plain water. Gourmets prefer to pickle pigeon in wine a day. Dry red wines are suitable for this.
How to choose the right carcass in the store
All the benefits of pigeons depend on what the birds eat, so the carcasses of individuals who live on the streets of cities and eat do not understand what, eating is not recommended. If you really want to taste pigeons, it is better to go to a specialized store and choose pigeons for cooking there.
The main thing is that in the store or on the market it would be possible to show a certificate for permission to sell birds and confirmation of quality from veterinary control. The skin of the carcass should be dry, dark in color, from purple to brownish. A shade of meat is recommended burgundy.
How to cook in different countries
Since time immemorial, gobbles have been a tidbit for hunters. The territory of their distribution is quite large and covers almost the whole world, so in different countries there are many different recipes for dishes. For example, French chefs prefer to cook this product in an unusual spicy marinade, and Moldovan chefs stuff carcasses of lamb, in Egypt they are stuffed with millet.
The meat of the cooked wild pigeon tastes very good to taste with various fruits and berries, which is why this delicacy is served in Canada with blueberry sauce, tangerines are served in Asia and European chefs combine pigeon meat with mushrooms and truffles.
As a drink for wild pigeon meat, red dry wines, as well as various fruit compotes, are excellent. As you can see, the recipes for pigeon dishes are very diverse, all the ingredients for them are always at hand. Pigeons are often baked in the oven or on a spit. Old individuals are used for cooking basics. Served as a side dish lentils, garlic, chestnuts, cabbage, prunes.
How to cook pigeon kebab
Almost all pigeon dishes are distinguished by their simplicity. Pigeon kebab is no exception in this regard. For this dish in the proportions of 1: 1, 1: 2 or 1: 4, a wine essence with water is taken. The ratios depend on the age of the bird; the younger, the less essences will be needed. Marinate the meat for about 12 hours. After the whole marinade is drained and salt and pepper are added to the meat to your taste. You can add finely chopped green onions, bay leaf and stand for another hour.
If you take onions, it is recommended to chop them with rings, in this form it will be possible to bake it with pigeons on a grid. Cooking time will also depend on the age of the individual: the younger, the faster it cooks. When preparing a monthly bird grown at home, cooking takes no more than 20 minutes, but old wild birds bake for 50 minutes.
Pigeon meat with potato garnish
As in the previous version, the meat should be marinated for a day in wine or vinegar. Often, carcasses do not require additional cutting, but are baked whole. After marinating, you should stuff carcasses with garlic and fry in butter or vegetable oil. The carcasses are fried separately, and after each it is necessary to change the oil, especially if cream is used. Otherwise, the meat may have a nasty taste.
Fry the product until a pinkish crust appears, after which the bird is stuffed with a mixture of seasonings, herbs and onion rings. Any ingredients can be added to your preference. Salt is rubbed into the carcass inside and out. Prepared meat is laid on a baking sheet, coarsely chopped potatoes are placed around, and covered with foil on top so that the meat does not turn out to be overdried. You can cook such a dish within 60 minutes.
DIY dove rescue at home.
Making food for pigeons at home
Pigeon shurpa
Shurpa is an oriental soup. The recipes for this dish are presented in various variations. Hunters use one of these recipes. For this dish, necklaces, vyahiri or any other representatives of meat breeds are perfect. Before cooking, you need to pluck, chop and grind the bird, then put it in a bowl and cook.
Cooking takes 1.5-2 hours. Shurpa is cooked in a thick-walled large cauldron at the stake. There are some secrets to making delicious shurpa:
- about 30 minutes after boiling, put 3 medium onions whole in a cauldron;
- then put carrots, potatoes;
- after an hour, put sweet or hot pepper;
- then the soup is salted;
- You can put any spices to your taste;
- before removing the shurpa from the fire, you must add greens;
- now you can eat shurpa.
Fried pigeon meat
The roots of the dish lie in France. As well as all recipes that include pigeon, this dish is not difficult to prepare. Fry the carcasses in a pan or bake in the oven. To prepare, you will need:
- duly prepared pigeon carcasses prepared in advance;
- milk;
- eggs
- breadcrumbs;
- vegetable oil.
The carcass is cut and put in a saucepan with milk, kept for an hour. Before removing the carcass from the pan, the remaining milk is mixed with eggs. The carcass is dipped in this mixture and then breaded in breadcrumbs, fried over low heat until a crust forms. Rice with vegetables, potatoes or fruits can be served on the side dish.
Pigeon roast
Roast pigeons are prepared as follows: chopped pickles, dill, smoked bacon, finely rub the lemon zest. A pot or pot with a thick bottom is generously greased with oil. In a baking dish, put half the mixture of greens and lard, then put the carcasses, cut into large pieces. Top with the remaining mixture.
The dishes are covered and put out to stew on a slow fire or simmer in the oven. If the meat did not have enough juice so that it does not burn, the broth is added to the saucepan. The mixture on which the meat was cooked is used as a side dish.
Cutlets
To cook this dish deliciously, you need to prepare 10-15 pigeons. The remaining ingredients are the same as for conventional cutlets. Carcasses prepared in advance are cut up, separating the fillet with a knife and removing the skin. With the help of a meat grinder, everything that was possible to separate is crushed with the addition of onions, spices, bread. After they lay a raw egg.
Of the pigeon seeds, the broth is cooked. At the same time, cutlets the size of a large nut are formed from minced meat. Cutlets are fried in very hot oil until golden brown and appear in a saucepan. After preparing the broth, they should pour the patties and simmer them for about 20 minutes on low heat. As a side dish, you can use chopped large sliced young potatoes with herbs.
The second option is roast
To cook this dish, you will need a pigeon carcass, olive oil, leek and a little honey. The carcass must be greased with oil and fried in a pan until golden brown. After removing the fried meat from the fire, you need to put it in a preheated plate and cover it with foil. In the same pan, honey should be melted and the leeks allowed. The remaining oil should be whipped with vinegar essence.
Onion is added to the meat, watered with gravy and served to the table. Garnish is chosen depending on your taste preferences. If you do not know how to surprise guests, you can use such a simple and tasty recipe.
Final part
Many beginner poultry farmers and hunters' wives face the question of how to cook pigeons at home. World cuisine includes many different recipes for cooking pigeon dishes from time immemorial. In many countries, pigeon is considered a delicacy. And no wonder, because the bird has a wonderful taste, which is many times superior to chicken.
Even doctors recommend eating pigeon to their patients and children. In terms of protein, pigeon meat is also superior to chicken. The product is perfectly absorbed by the body and does not require large energy consumption in cooking. The best option is to buy a bird in a specialized place from a trusted seller.
Doctors warn against eating pigeons that live on city streets. By the way, the taste of such a bird will be just disgusting, not to mention the fact that it can be poisoned. The pigeon grown at home is fed with special feeds so that its flesh has a spicy sweet nutty taste. The day before the slaughter of these birds, they begin to specifically solder milk with the addition of salt. Naturally, a wild dove of such preparations does not pass.
If you do not know how to cook a pigeon, bake it in the oven or on charcoal. Such a dish is prepared in an elementary way, and its taste is simply incomparable.