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mousjoos

Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 1986
Location: VERY Sunny SW France

Posted: Sat Oct 29, 16 3:22 pm Post subject:
Yet more chestnuts A couple of pocketfuls of walnuts Three thrush-like birds given to me by my colleague who hunts A bag of yesterday's bread from a client for the chooks & a heap of branches for firewood gleaned from the roadside at work

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15949

Posted: Sun Oct 30, 16 8:57 am Post subject:
I took a double look at where you were mousjoos, but seeing you were in France, I suppose any bird is fair game. I have just been re-reading 'A Year in Provence' and the section in there about hunting is rather amusing.

mousjoos

Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 1986
Location: VERY Sunny SW France

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 16 2:33 pm Post subject:

Not any bird MR, just most birds...
I knew an ex gamekeeper in W Sussex years ago & he ate rook, & blackbirds, amongst other things such as badger
The difference I've found between hunters here & those I knew in UK is that here they eat what they kill, whereas (& my ex brother in law was a case in point) the others hunted for "fun"
I know this isn't true of everyone but the vast majority saw hunting as "a day out playing with guns"...here it's very different

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2570
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 16 5:59 pm Post subject:
In today's NY Times: hunting wood pigeons in France. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/31/t-magazine/food/palombe-pigeon-basque-country.html and 11 pictures https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2016/10/31/t-magazine/pigeon-from-the-wild-to-the-french-table/s/palombe-slide-JBVT.html Any comments?

mousjoos

Joined: 05 Jun 2006
Posts: 1986
Location: VERY Sunny SW France

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 16 8:38 pm Post subject:

I don't understand the context of the "any comments?" at the end.

Firstly here this year the numbers of the pigeons are down as the wind is in the wrong direction, the birds are flying too high & arriving in Spain in therefore greater numbers.

Secondly the Basque traditions of hunting different from those in this region, the Basques having a heavy Spanish influence to them.

The right to hunt was granted by Napolean the (think of a number) apparently, so is jealously & preciously guarded by ordinary French...a case of "use it or lose it"

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46188
Location: yes

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 16 9:30 pm Post subject:

wood pigeon are delicious, in the UK they are either a protected bird or avian infestation so you can or cannot shoot them depending what they are doing ,if i understand the basic rule in a tree = protected, eating one's peas vermin (and very tasty)
one of the alternatives to shooting them is find where they cross the road as they often fail to look both ways and also fall victim to high fronted vehicles as they don’t climb too well in an emergency

the thing in the casserole looks more like a woodcock ,also delicious and game in the UK.

i tried rook a long time ago ,just once. perhaps young ones are better eating as rook pie was an old time keeper's spring dinner time favourite but the one i found was chewy to say the least and the flavour was no better than fairly horrible.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2570
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Mon Oct 31, 16 10:47 pm Post subject:

Things are always different abroad. I asked about comments just from curiosity - what do people think about the Basque traditions of shooting wood pigeons.

No wood pigeon here. I've seen then in the Netherlands. Have cooked pigeon / rock dove here (smaller than wood pigeon, city bird, wild type is gray, broad black bar markings but there are numerous fancy breeds.)

Pigeon shoots over in Pennsylvania - caged birds released for shooters. Animal rights people trying to ban the events as cruel and inhumane. They claim birds are wounded, not killed outright.

Never attended a pigeon shoot. I will say that our captive raised pheasants are so tame that it is said they have to be kicked to make them fly so they are legal to shoot. I have seen wild pheasants in Connecticut. Here in New Jersey I occasionally see a stray cock bird, never hens.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15949

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 16 6:52 am Post subject:

Pigeons shot in the UK are mainly to keep them off the crops, but a fair number are eaten too. Someone I worked with used to go shooting pigeons, and one morning when he gave me a lift into work, he told me to hold a carrier bag open, then tipped in a dozen dead pigeons. They were distributed around at work. Haven't had pigeon, but a couple of dozy pheasants that committed suicide, one flying into a gate, the other under the car wheels.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2570
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Tue Nov 01, 16 1:06 pm Post subject:

One long ago winter I saw a dead ruffed grouse on the road. Stopped car. Felt between wing and body - still warm. Had flown into a car and broke its neck, I think. So I took it home and we had it for dinner.

And one time I was in town and the owner of a wildlife art gallery had been out shooting ducks. He gave me three. Which I brought home, dressed, and we had them for dinner.

Another time a friend gave me a pheasant she had been given - didn't want to deal with it. I offered to show her how to dress it but no, no, wanted nothing to do with it. My good luck.

It's funny / amusing what people will / will not be willing to do - I find dressing game birds perfectly acceptable.

Mistress Rose

Joined: 21 Jul 2011
Posts: 15949

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 16 7:24 am Post subject:
Must say for things like rabbits and unexpected birds, I have to get my trusty Cookery Year book out which tells me how to deal with them. Son phoned me once and said if he brought a rabbit home from work could I deal with it. Also ended up with a haunch of venison from a deer that had just been frightened to death by a dog attacking it.

Jam Lady

Joined: 28 Dec 2006
Posts: 2570
Location: New Jersey, USA

Posted: Wed Nov 02, 16 1:02 pm Post subject:
I will give credit to my year-long college course in comparative anatomy which have been useful in a way my professor did not perhaps intend. It has been very useful when cutting up birds (ducks are so different from chickens etc), venison forequarter & hindquarter, woodchuck and raccoon. Calculus and differential equations, on the other hand, have not.

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46188
Location: yes

Posted: Sat Dec 24, 16 9:32 pm Post subject:

today's hound scamper provided about a kilo of oyster shrooms which were lightly salted , then they dripped for a couple of hours on the rack before being mopped dryish.

they are now cold smoking over beech shavings in a drafty place and will be sliced and pickled in blueberry balsamic vinegar once they are about dried to about 1/3 of the original water content.

very yum with cheese, cold meats or even on a pizza.

bubble

Joined: 13 Apr 2008
Posts: 960

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 16 12:58 pm Post subject:
From a few days ago . Clitocybe geotropa

gz

Joined: 23 Jan 2009
Posts: 8893
Location: Ayrshire, Scotland

Posted: Tue Dec 27, 16 2:25 pm Post subject:
beautiful...and the basket too

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