Yup, most areas of the world its known as Squab. I buy it on occasion from the freezer section of Superstore (same company as Loblaws in Canada) here.

I made quail once and I thought eating around the bones was a pain in the rear end. Soon afterwards I found out that, traditionally, you just eat the bones. Next time I have quail that's what I'll do.

You know the nursery rhyme, "Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in a pie?" They really did that - baked whole birds in a pie. Plucked, I imagine, but with bones in.

As far as eating pigeon, I remember one day when I had just started IF and I was really hungry. I was at the train station staring at all the pigeons...

I don't know, sounds like that could end up being a pain in the rear end as well . It's like herring, I suppose, some people pride themselves on eating them bone and all, even the larger ones.

I was flipping through an old French cookbook at the library the other day and my eye fell on a recipe for quail. The recipe was meant to prepare the birds directly after the hunt over a fire. I don't remember everything exactly, but I think you were supposed insert a whole clove into its anus and roast it over the fire for a very brief time and then serve it "bloody" on top of some bread. Maybe I'll try to find that book again and give it a closer look!

I posted a recipe for roast beef over on my blog:
http://cavemanfood.blogspot.com/200...roast-beef.html

It's very simple but does require a meat thermometer.

You end up with this:

New twist on the old chicken soup:

1 chicken, skinned and joined
1 med onion halved, 1 stalk celery, cut into 3rds
1 large carrot, cut into thirds
4 slices of fresh, ginger root.
salt pepper to taste.

place all ingredients into a large pot cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer with lid on low for 1 hour. skim the scum as needed with a slotted spoon. Remove chicken from pot, let cool a bit and remove meat form bones and shred with fingers to bite size pieces. remove vegetables and strain liquid into a second smaller pot. return chicken to pot, add starined liquid reserving about a cup in the second pot. add vegetables to smaller pot, discarding the ginger root. using a hand blender puree the vegetables and return to original pot. simmer for an additional hour or until the chicken meat is tender.

the ginger gives this soup a little something extra and the pureed vegetables give the soup a little body.

hope you like it!

That sounds almost exactly like a recipe I posted on my blog a few weeks ago, except you just simmer the chicken for 20 minutes, then turn the heat off and let it finish cooking in there for about an hour. The chicken comes out very moist and wonderful.
http://mostlypaleo.blogspot.com/200...ld-chicken.html

Technically, a bird doesn't have an anus, it has a vent. The vent is used for both reproductive and elimination purposes. Yes, eggs come from the same place as chicken poop.

That's interesting, though. When you butcher a chicken, you're supposed to remove the preen gland (and the crop, too, I think.) I was wondering if a quail's preen gland can ruin the meat too - I guess not.

Looks good.
I made a roast yesterday. I did the usual thing, salt & pepper and place in the oven at 150 for 3 hours (my MIL, the angel, started it for me since I was at work). When I got home it had only been about 2:15 and we needed to eat soon so I turned the heat up to 275 for 30 minutes or so. Wifey came home and said "Oh no, it's not nearly done yet!" Then I got interrupted by some stuff (had to go to a neighbor's house to pick up 30 pounds of free meat) so the roast sat in the cooled oven a little extra. I checked the temperature and it was around 120. Sadly I didn't realize that's pretty much perfect, and anyway the outside wasn't well browned. So I put it back at 450 for another 30 minutes (don't hate me!) Then Wifey and I made a sauce with red wine, chicken stock, garlic and mushrooms.

Wifey said it was the best roast she'd ever tasted. It was a bit grey for me, but not bad. If only I'd realized that 120 isn't even rare...

Interesting about the vent. The recipe definitely said "anus" (I remember that part distinctly!). Probably just a poor translation from French.

I'm not sure about getting that gland out. The recipe might have mentioned gutting the bird somehow but that part didn't stick in my brain.

I bet that's where I got the idea of using ginger in chicken soup!
Thankx for the idea!

Chicken gizzards and hearts

This is one of my favorite dished my mom makes. It is an old Russian recipe. People were poor and made due with the cheapest cuts. you can find chicken gizzards and hearts in almost every supermarket in US, right next to the livers. and they are cheap:$1.50 per lb

3 packages of chicken gizzards and hearts or just gizzards.
5 medium onoins, chopped
cloves garlic, chopped
canola oil
salt/ pepper to taste

wash gizzards an remove any hard lining (usually yellow-green)
in a large skillet sauite onions in canola oil, when onions softened add garlic. saute until onions are browned on med-high heat. place onions/garlic mix into a heavy pot.

heat skillet and canola oil and brown gizzards/hearts. they will give of some liquid at first. cover pan with lid and pour off exess liquid into pot with onions, otherwise it will take forever to brown. I browned each package at a time. Deglaze with water (1/4 cup)or stock or white wine if you like by scrubbing the brown goodness on botttom of pan with a wooden spatula. I used water. add deglazing liquid into pot bring to a boil and simmer. you want the liquild to slowly reduce until the onoins become mushy and liquified. this makes a very tasty sauce. simmer for about 3 hours. or until meat is tender and almost all the liquid is gone. after 2 hrs I opened up the lid and let the liquid reduce a lot , then semicovered the pot and let it simmer on low.

this is a tasty and inexpensive treat.

One of the poultry stalls at my local market usually has bags of chicken hearts very cheap. I like to fry them up with just a bit of butter and garlic, and voila - the perfect meat snack / finger food. I'm not as fond of the gizzards, but each to their own.

I've grown to like chicken hearts quite a bit - usually I just pick them out of the stock pot and eat them straight though.

I've been afraid of trying gizzards in case they contain trace amounts of gluten.

When you say remove any hard lining, do you have to cut them open first? Or do they come that way?

the ones I bought were open, but I sliced some larger pieces int smaller, bite size pieces. the onion gravy is delicious