Eating Woody Woodson

This morning me, Clare, and Brian went out on a walk. After the walk we went to Wigston, where there was a small shop that sold mainly seafood, but also Pigeon (or 'Pidgeon' as they had on their sale board). Seeing pigeons in the garden everyday, I've wanted to eat one for quite a while.

So I bought a couple, and then spent quite a bit of the afternoon getting them ready for cooking. They were very smelly! Thankfully they were already feathered and gutted.

After pulling / cutting the skin away from the breast, I could then cut the breast meat away. I also skinned the wings, which looked like they had a bit of meat on them. There didn't really seem to be any meat elsewhere on the birds.

Pigeons before skinning

Skinned but breast not removed

Frying the wings and a small offcut of breast

Left overs

They must have been Woodies rather than reared pigeons as they had a few bits of shot in them.

We used a Pigeon Casserole recipe, but Clare made some Cheese scones to go on top, and we had vegetables with it rather than in it. You brown the pigeon pieces in a hot frying pan, which is very quick, then add them to the casserole dish. Then fry up the veg (we just used leek) and add that to the casserole dish. Then cover in gravy and cook. We did 15 minutes at 160 C fan I think, added the cheese scones, then 20-25 minutes at a slightly higher temperature.

When it came to eating it, the wing pieces were just too tough. It seems like they are covered in sinews rather than meaty muscle. The meat was cooked nicely, and tasted like liver. So, I can't say I was a big fan. I don't mind liver occasionally, but it's not something I particularly like. Still, at least now I know what pigeon tastes like. I forgot to take a photo of the cooked meal though. Doh!

In the evening me and Billy watched Gandhi. It was very good and featured the actor that plays Dhalsim in Street Fighter the Movie. Really we wanted to watch Thunderbirds the Movie tomorrow, since that features Ben Kingsley too. But sadly that film doesn't seem to be available for download anywhere. (Well you can rent it for £2.50 from the Google Play store, but that seems like an extreme rip-off given the film's reputation).