Game birds

From Lunchplatter.com WIki

Table of contents

1 What are game birds? 2 Availability 3 Quality 4 How to cook

What are game birds?

Game birds are any wild bird suitable for food, large (such as wild turkey, and goose), medium-sized (including peasant and wild duck) and smaller birds (such as the coot, dove, grouse, hazel hen, lark, mud hen, partridge, pigeon, plover, quail, rail, snipe, thrush, and woodcock).

Availability

Due to expense of raising gamebirds at a farm, they are not readily available. Most can be found frozen; and some of the smaller birds are also canned.

Quality

Both age and the way that it was treated post mortem will affect the quality of the bird. Quality birds should be vibrant and not dull or dry. It should also give off no odor. The younger the bird the more tender its meat will be. A young bird can be identified by the pliability of their breastbone and sharper claws.

How to cook

Due to larger roaming areas, game birds will usually be leaner then their domestic counterparts. Due to this, they will lack natural fat and should be basted, barded or larded before roasting.

Older birds are best cooked with slow, moist heat such as braising, or used in soups or stews.