Preparing pigeons

[nomad]

Just started pigeon shooting. Could any one explain how to prepare a pigeon ready for cooking after it's been shot? Any photos of the operation?

[red_stag88]

What I do is...

• Pluck a tiny bit off the brest, till you can see some skin.
  
• Cut this skin
  
• Cut all the way till breast meat is visable
  
• Cut either side of the breast bone, downwards, then outwards
  
• Do this bit carefully as the are two bits of breast either side
  

And there you have it in a nutshell, quick, easy and you get the best meat.

[M ROBSON]

I have a quick way of breasting pigeon but its a bit gruesome.

 

Firstly take a pair of garden clippers and cut the wings off close in to the body.

Then incert your thumbs into the crop/wishbone area.

Pull them apart in opposite directions and peel the breast bone away.

 

You end up with the breast bone and all the meat still in place.

The skin will peel away if you do it correctly so I normally wrap the breast in streaky bacon to keep it moist.

Best of all it takes less than 30 seconds!

[stoggieman]

Though skinning is quick and easy I think you loss some flavour doing this

They also tend to dry up if roasted though for casseroles or slow cookers this way is ideal

I tend to place anything featherd into a sink of hot water and weight it down

in the meantime I clean the gun put the gear away drink tea fuss the dogs

After about ten minutes I remove the birds put them into a bowl then place one into the sink full of water and pluck it the feathers come away easily and dont go all over the place I cut away the feet and the wings at the first joint

Time to do one bird is about 2 minutes

I then gut them and freeze them. When they are thawed out you can do what you like with them

I do sometimes fillet the breasts as described My wife says she does,nt like pigeon

but she goes mad on my beef casserole Hope she does,nt find out that most of the

beef was feeding on oilseed rape.

What the eye does not see the heart cannot grieve

 

 

Peter

[nomad]

Thanks guys, will try those methods. Do you empty the crops straight after a pigeon has been shot? Apparently some people do and some don't bother.

[Teal]

Oilseed rape gives them a bitter taste I hear.

[Ozo]

i find simply plucking pigeon and then guttin them is the best way, although i pluck birds asap after shooting them as it is much easier if the are warm. :blink: also if u intend to go shootin again soon, check wats in their crop and this will give u a gud idea which area most pigeons are feeding in (obviously were watever is in their crop grows) Ozo

[Hammergun]

Don't be tempted to start plucking them when you are sat in your hide, as the sight of feathers blowing about will put off any pigeons from dropping down to the decoys!!

[cooky]

Once you have your breast meat freeze it and save it up till you have about 3-4 lbs worth take it along the local butchers and ask him top make into sausage :( very nice

[JONO]

I, like stag, pull a tuft off the chest - revealing the skin

 

I then make a nick with a sharp knife and then, with my hands pull the skin off the breast down as far as the abdomen, across as far as the wingsand up as far as the neck, exposing the crop.

 

Then get a filleting knife and slice down along the breast bone and then angle your blade to take the meat cleanly off the bone plate underneath - carefully slice up until the main breast and mini "goujon" of pigeon comes away in your hand.

 

J

[lurcherboy]

My wife has a cookbook which is tunisian (printed in english) and there is a recipe in it for roast pigeon. Not breast but whole, if you are interested I will post it. Apparently it is a national dish!

 

LB

[darren m]

LB -- yes print it please mate , i want to try whole roasted pigeon , but i don't know how to prepare it .

Anyone :(??

Darren .

[lurcherboy]

Darren its a bit lenghty so I will post it a the weekend.

 

LB

[cooky]

LB -- yes print it please mate , i want to try whole roasted pigeon , but i don't know how to prepare it .

Anyone :(??

Darren .

Ingredients :-

 

1 tbsp clarified butter

1 pigeon

300ml pigeon stock

1 tbsp butter

 

 

Method :-

 

1. Set the oven to 200°C/gas 6.

 

2. Heat the clarified butter in a pan and lightly brown the pigeon. Place the pigeon in a roasting pan and roast in the oven for 1 hour.

 

3. Place the pigeon stock into a saucepan and bubble gently until reduced by half. Stir in the butter and serve immediately.

 

4. Serve the pigeon with the sauce .

[northy]

gr8 1 cooky

 

i spent 4 hours in safeway looking for pigeon stock, i was terribly disapointed to find out they dont sell it :(

[Ozo]

yea hammergun, i dnt pluck em til i get home, i only shoot enough pigeons to feed me so go home after i shoot 2 r 3, i always roast my pigeons whole, but i only rub some vegetable oil over them and then about halfway through the cooking i put abit more over them.

[darren m]

OZO -- how do you prep them prior to cooking .

[lurcherboy]

Darren, here it is!

 

Stuffed Pigeon/Hemen mihshi

 

2 pigeons

250g minced meat

100g butter

50g parmesan cheese

50g parsley

3 eggs

1 onion

1 lemon

2 tablespoons of rice

1 **** of saffron

fine salt to taste

ground black pepper to taste.

 

Cut pigeons throat, pluck, singe and gut. Then clean thoroughly, wipe and rub both inside and outside of pigeon with salt and pepper.

 

Pick over the parsley and chop finely. Peel and chop the onion. Sort out and wash the rice then cook in salted water for ten mimutes and drain. Hard boil 2 eggs and cut into pieces.

 

Season the minced meat with salt and pepper, add the chopped onion and a **** of butter and cook in a casserole without water over a low heat, leave to cool a little then add the parsley, the rice, the cheese and the egg pieces. Mix the ingerdients with a raw egg and season with salt and pepper. Fill the pigeon with the stuffing and sew the openings.

 

Heat the oven moderately, rub the pigeons with rest of the butter, put in a suitable oven dish, pour over a glass of water in which a large pinch of saffron has been diluted and bake for 30 minutes. From time to time baste the pigeons with the sauce, turn over the pigeons 2 or 3 times and when they are done ( test by pressing the flesh between your thumb and forefinger ) leave to become golden brown in colour then remove from the heat, cut in half and serve hot sprinkled with the cooking liquid.

 

 

Also works with collored dove, turtle dove, woodcock, teal, partridge etc.

 

Its a bit rough in its translation but worth the effort all the same.

 

 

 

Enjoy LB

[Teal]

Ummm turtle dove. How much is a **** of safron anyway?

[Country_est]

I go along with M Robson,

 

But instead of cutting the wings of I just grab, twist twice and pull till wings come off. Then its the same as pull skin away from crop just enuf to get your thumbs in, then open just like a crab. Then you end up with the breast on the bone in one hand and the rest in the other ready to bin. Do this outside next to the bin and its all dead easy .

 

As for cooking them, chuck them in the caserole with the pheasants and add extra sauce and eat pheasnats on Sunday, and pigeons on monday..

[paulwgun]

LB -- yes print it please mate , i want to try whole roasted pigeon , but i don't know how to prepare it .

Anyone ??

    Darren . 

Ingredients :-

 

1 tbsp clarified butter

1 pigeon

300ml pigeon stock

1 tbsp butter

 

 

Method :-

 

1. Set the oven to 200°C/gas 6.

 

2. Heat the clarified butter in a pan and lightly brown the pigeon. Place the pigeon in a roasting pan and roast in the oven for 1 hour.

 

3. Place the pigeon stock into a saucepan and bubble gently until reduced by half. Stir in the butter and serve immediately.

 

4. Serve the pigeon with the sauce .

Dont think you need to roast for 1 hour though 20 - 30 min should be enough for a pigeon when placed in a pre heated oven

[stupidsalmon]

"Pastilla" is a good recipe for pigeons is this. Dice 8 pigeon breasts and pan fry until browned. Then place the meat into oven dish. On top of this put scrambled eggs with parsley and then flaked almonds with cinnamon and icing sugar. Bake for about 30mins on 180.

I know its sounds like **** but certainly doesnt taste like it.

Bloody delicous

[lurcherboy]

I have a quick way of breasting pigeon but its a bit gruesome.

 

Firstly take a pair of garden clippers and cut the wings off close in to the body.

Then incert your thumbs into the crop/wishbone area.

Pull them apart in opposite directions and peel the breast bone away.

 

You end up with the breast bone and all the meat still in place.

The skin will peel away if you do it correctly so I normally wrap the breast in streaky bacon to keep it moist.

Best of all it takes less than 30 seconds!

This is the best and quickest way by far.

[Shotgun-Sean]

Just started pigeon shooting. Could any one explain how to prepare a pigeon ready for cooking after it's been shot? Any photos of the operation?

i think that some of you are missing the point of the original question, he wants to know how to prepare pigeons for cooking some of you are correct in saying how to breast a bird, but to prepare the complete bird for roasting is the same for any of our feathered friends now there are several ways of doing this, this is the way i prefer.

 

PLUCKING A BIRD

Start at the neck, pulling against the way the feathers growand take particular care over the breast area so you dont tear the skin this is better than skinning a bird as it keeps the meat moist when cooking

 

the leg DONT cut it off break it at the joint and twist it to losen the tendons then pull the foot gently twisting as you pull, all the tendons should pull out with the foot and the meat on the legs will be totally edible. (this is for bigger birds but i thought i would include it anyway)

 

DRAWING A BIRD

 

Cut of the head just where the neck starts and discard. pull out the crop which will reveal what the bird has been eating and discard.

cut of the neck where it joins the body and keep for stock if this is required ( normally pheasants)

make a slight slit at the vent and insert your first 2 fingers- the entrails will pull out quite easily. and discard.

 

hope this helps

 

Sean

[Staffs-Shooter]

I have a quick way of breasting pigeon but its a bit gruesome.

 

Firstly take a pair of garden clippers and cut the wings off close in to the body.

Then incert your thumbs into the crop/wishbone area.

Pull them apart in opposite directions and peel the breast bone away.

 

You end up with the breast bone and all the meat still in place.

The skin will peel away if you do it correctly so I normally wrap the breast in streaky bacon to keep it moist.

Best of all it takes less than 30 seconds!

This is the best and quickest way by far.

QUOTE (M ROBSON @ Apr 30 2004, 09:34 PM)

I have a quick way of breasting pigeon but its a bit gruesome.

 

Firstly take a pair of garden clippers and cut the wings off close in to the body.

Then incert your thumbs into the crop/wishbone area.

Pull them apart in opposite directions and peel the breast bone away.

 

You end up with the breast bone and all the meat still in place.

The skin will peel away if you do it correctly so I normally wrap the breast in streaky bacon to keep it moist.

Best of all it takes less than 30 seconds!

 

 

This is the best and quickest way by far.

 

Certainly is. You do however create quite a mess with feathers - do as i do & prepare your game at your mother in laws!