Printed by: LEHEY_GREG @ESSG Sent: 31 Dec 85 18:27 From: SLUTZ_DONALD @TSII To: LEHEY_GREG.COSIG @ESSG Subject: 3: Peacock Recipes? Actually, it is a peahen. I guestimate it to be about a year old. Does anyone know how to cook these things? (I assume chicken recipes can be used so I don't need them.) Thanks. Printed by: LEHEY_GREG @ESSG Sent: 01 Jan 86 17:47 From: LEHEY_GREG To: SLUTZ_DONALD @TSII Cc. COSIG Subject: COSIG: Peacock recipe? In Reply to: 31 Dec 85 18:27 From SLUTZ_DONALD @TSII : 3: Peacock Recipes? How about that, I got a cookbook for Christmas which has something to say about cooking unusual and beatiful birds. It's called "The Cookery of England" by Elisabeth Ayrton, published (in England) by Penguin. I don't know if it is available in the US - a lot of Penguins aren't. Anyway, to quote from Chapter 4 (page 150): The appearance of food is always important, but fashions do change. Today we do not wish to emphasize the fact that the bird we are eating soared in full plumage before it was shot, or swam or strutted, handsome as a lord, before its neck was wrung. Our ancestors thought differently. Indeed they seem to have felt that if a bird was beautiful it must be particularly good to eat. Neither peacock nor swan is really very good: the meat of both is stringy and rather dark, with a slightly coarse flavour which must be masked with high seasoning. Yet both were served at royal banquets because, with skins sewn back over the cooked meat, heads and necks propped up and tails spread, their appearance was splendid indeed. The skinned birds were sometimes roasted whole, in which case the skin was simply laid over the roast, the neck held up by a spike; sometimes they were boned and stuffed with smaller birds and forcemeat and then roasted, which would have made for better eating, and sometimes they were cut up and made into a sort of brawn. In the latter cases the skins were tightly sewn, and the birds, borne in procession into the hall and round the high table, would appear complete. The carver would cut the stitches, lay back the skin and place portions on a serving platter. At the Vintners' Hall in the City a 'feast of cygnets' is still eaten once a year with traditional ceremony. The cygnets are preceded by six musicians, followed by six Swan Uppers in striped jerseys and white ducks. Two Swan Markers, in red and blue watermen's coats, came [sic] after them, and then the cooks carrying the cygnets on great dishes of pewter and silver. Mr Swan Warden (who wears a great swan's feather in his cap) joins the procession and presents the cygnets to the Master Vintner. All is splendid, but the eating would be better if the cygnets could be replaced by fine young geese. In Norwich, which was famous for swans, the birds were stuffed with finely chopped rump steak, 3 or 4 lb to a swan: and this was certainly the best part of the dish. Peacocks tended to be even less good to eat, but they were a splendid spectacle when carried in procession, trains spread and heads set alight so that they resembled phoenixes. In the fifteenth century, an Archbishop of York served 100 at a single feast. Nowadays we hardly ever eat these birds, which are neither poultry nor game, and which we consider too scarce, too beautiful and not well-fleshed enough for the table. ===================================================================== After that, you can imagine that she does not go on to present recipes for peacock or swan. You can also understand why the recipes specify peacock and not peahen (or peabird? peaperson?). I would suggest that you start with a recipe for something like pheasant. In contrast to chicken, this is a much dryer bird, and needs some precautions to be taken to avoid getting dry and stringy; you may, of course, find that all such precautions are to no avail. To save me going and looking for another cookbook, here is a pheasant recipe from page 199 of the same book: \ov Roast Pheasant ______________ brace [i.e. 2] of young pheasants 2 oz (60 g) butter 2 rashers fat bacon (*) 2 shallots or one onion bunch of watercress a little flour pepper and salt 2 oz (60 g) very fine breadcrumbs (*) Greg's note: if you do not eat pork, you might be able to substitute duck or goose fat, or even beef fat. Put 1 oz (30 g) butter and a shallot or half an onion inside each bird, and wrap the fat bacon around the breast of each. Put them into a roasting tray, cover lightly with [aluminium] foil and roast in a preheated oven, 400 F, gas mark 6 [200 C], for 30 minutes. Remove the birds from the oven. Uncover them, dredge lightly with seasoned flour, baste them well, and return to the oven to brown for 10 minutes. By roasting covered, you prevent the breasts from drying. If you prefer to roast uncovered, flour lightly at the start and baste well every 10 minutes. Cook on a spit for the same length of time as in oven, fastening the birds breast to breast with a small onion between them to hold them apart and add flavour. Fix very firmly so that they will not swing while turning. Brush all over with melted butter and baste from time to time. Serve garnished with watercress and accompanied by fried crumbs, red-currant jelly, forcemeat balls, small bacon rolls, and bread sauce. For the crumbs, pour a little of the fat from the roasting birds into a small frying pan a few minutes before they should be cooked, make it smoking hot and drop in the crumbs, shaking and turning them quickly until they are light brown and crisp. ===================================================================== This is the recipe for pheasant. For a peacock, I would consider the following changes: - Pheasants only weigh about 1 1/2 lb (750 g) each. I suspect that your peahen weighs considerably more. The roasting times would have to be adjusted accordingly. - As I said before, the bird will probably be even drier than a pheasant. Assuming that it is anatomically possible, I would attempt to lift the skin from the breast (carefully insert your hand in the neck opening to do this) and put some fat between the two. This will be MUCH more effective in stopping the breast from drying out. - Depending on the size of the bird, I would consider filling it. A mincemeat (ground beef) filling with spices would probably be a good idea. If you want any further suggestions, contact me and I will do some thinking about it. - You might like to consider garnishing the bird with some of the prettier feathers - it still won't rival a peacock, but might look as good as the best pheasant. I don't know how you came to your bird, but I would suggest that, at this time of the year, you hang it by the beak in a cold place (garden shed) for 2 to 3 weeks before eating, until the feathers almost fall out by themselves. This is standard for all wild birds, and makes for a much more tender flesh. The rank smell of the meat is to be considered a feature, not a bug. Please let me know how things went after you have eaten it - I would be very interested. Please also keep the replies, and contact me and tell me when the reply file is full and where it is, so that I can pull it over here. Happy New Year Greg Printed by: LEHEY_GREG @ESSG Sent: 02 Jan 86 11:21 From: OBRIEN_JIM @BIGBEN To: LEHEY_GREG @ESSG Subject: COSIG: Peacock recipe? In Reply to: 01 Jan 86 17:48 From LEHEY_GREG : COSIG: Peacock recipe? Hello Greg, And A Happy New Year to you and all your readers. When roasting any bird which is inclined to be dry, better results can be achieved by placing the bird breast-down in the roasting dish. It worked fine for our Turkey this Christmas. Cheers, Jim. Printed by: LEHEY_GREG @ESSG Sent: 03 Jan 86 00:16 From: SLUTZ_DONALD @TSII To: LEHEY_GREG @ESSG Subject: COSIG: Peacock recipe? In Reply to: 01 Jan 86 17:48 From LEHEY_GREG : COSIG: Peacock recipe? Hi Greg. Thanks very much for all the info! There were 6 (now there are 5) peahens running loose here and messing my house up (eat flowers, cat food and crap on cars, picnic table, etc). My son bagged one, cleaned and frooze it. Will try to prepare it. If any success, will get another one and let it hang for awhile as you suggest. I got a number of silly replys and one serious one - using wild rice. Will collect responses next week in a file and send it to you. Thanks again. Don