I received an email from a reader complaining that my earlier post about pigeons was in “shockingly poor taste.” (Obviously, a first time reader.)
So in the service of good taste, I offer up this yummy sounding recipe for Glazed Roast Squab.
- 2 squab, about 12 ounces each
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cilantro sprigs
- 2 scallions, finely shredded
- 2 tablespoons finely shredded ginger
- 2 tablespoons thin soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon black soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons Shao Hsing rice cooking wine
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon distilled white vinegar
Remove any fat pockets from the squab. Rub squab with salt. Rinse the squab under cold water and thoroughly pat dry the cavity and skin with paper towels.
In a medium bowl, combine cilantro, scallions, ginger, thin soy sauce, black soy sauce, rice wine, and sugar, and stir to combine. Place half the cilantro, scallions, and ginger in each of the cavities and smear the soy sauce mixture in the cavities and on the outside of the squab. Marinate 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Pour 1/4 cup boiling water into an 8-inch glass baking dish and place the squab breast-side down in the dish, reserving the marinade. Roast 30 minutes and turn the squab breast side up, basting with reserved marinade. Roast 30 more minutes. Baste with marinade in pan and cook 15 minutes more, or until squab are golden brown and just cooked.
Drizzle 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar on each squab. Allow squab to rest 10 minutes before chopping into bite-sized pieces. Serve immediately.
Yes, “squab” is indeed pigeon, and yes, I have eaten squab, and my only real complaint is that they’re too small.
Mr. Cynical spews:
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Us humans need not be ashamed of killin’ and grillin’.
In fact, tonite, the Mrs. & I are dining on Elk Ribeye’s…..well-seasoned and cooked a teeny bit more than rare with a home-grown Baked Potato with lots of butter, sour cream & bacon….and of course, some free-range tofu on the side.
Mr. Cynical spews:
Speaking of Roast Squab–
Hillary Clinton is happily on Bill O’Reilly tonight.
That must rub you KLOWNS a bit raw, huh?
sidereal spews:
I’m assuming this is supposed to be the anti-PETA dickswinging portion of the post. I know it’s astoundingly difficult for some people to (want to) understand, but there’s a difference between eating meat and sadistically fucking with animals (like blowing darts through their heads). A difference that is, in fact, already enshrined in the law. So while you’re larf larfing it up, most of the rest of society is already uncretinous enough to get the difference.
And hey listen! That’s the sound of me unsubscribing. There are enough great progessive blogs out there (even local ones) that I don’t need to spend time reading through treatises on how fun killing pigeons is.
Darryl spews:
Mr. Cynical,
“Speaking of Roast Squab–
Hillary Clinton is happily on Bill O’Reilly tonight.
That must rub you KLOWNS a bit raw, huh?”
Umm…no. Why would that bother us any more than, say, Toby Nixon appearing on the David Goldstein show bother you Wingdings?
Goldy spews:
sidereal @3,
Don’t be so concrete. You won’t find a single word in these two posts that come out on the side of cruelty to animals. I love animals, as anybody who knows me will attest to.
But it was absolutely impossible to read the pigeon darting story without being reminded of the classic Tom Leher song, which is funny exactly because it is both cruel and sick.
The whole point is… lighten up.
Darryl spews:
Hey Goldy,
Just watch…your recipe will end up in the Cindy McCain Family Recipe Collection!
Darryl spews:
Goldy,
I guess 3 wants pigeon posts in good taste…not pigeon posts that taste good!
Darryl spews:
Mr. Cynical,
“tonite, the Mrs. & I are dining on Elk Ribeye’s…..well-seasoned and cooked a teeny bit more than rare with a home-grown Baked Potato with lots of butter, sour cream & bacon.”
Yummm! That’d all go down well with an after-dinner Heparin.
Marvin Stamn spews:
What’s next, eating roadkill?
I hear possums are pretty tasty.
2nd Amendment Democrat spews:
My brother and I, while in college, lived on pigeon, deer, rabbits, raccoon and almost anything with 2 or 4 legs. We became good cooks and eventually had to instruct our wives the ins and out of a kitchen. Sorry Roger about your kin but us carnivores eat too.
The Real Mark spews:
Goldy,
In the true spirit of peace and harmony, you choose to promote the eating of DOVES??!!
Roger Rabbit spews:
“my only real complaint is that they’re too small”
Too bad Republican assholes killed off all the passenger pigeons. They had meat on them.
Roger Rabbit spews:
@1 Only snobs and restaurants capitalize “baked potato”. And the only reason restaurants do it is so they can buy a potato for 10 cents and charge a snob $15 for it.
Roger Rabbit spews:
@3 “there’s a difference between eating meat and sadistically fucking with animals (like blowing darts through their heads)”
I’m sure that’ll be a great comfort to the animal when they’re wringing his neck at the slaughterhouse.
Mr. Cynical spews:
Awwwwwwwwwww Darryl—
I don’t need no stinkin’ blood-thinner.
However, you might consider some “skin-thickener”!
The Real Mark spews:
Goldy,
How about posting your favorite recipe for Hassenpfeffer?
Mr. Cynical spews:
Rog–
We made enough on NOV to afford $15 Baked Potato’s! Tough day today though.
Glad I own McDonald’s….despite that pauper GBS trying to talk me out of it!!
GS spews:
Weer havin Woast Wabbit at our table this eevnin. Finger lickin good!
Gotta wach for da buck shot howefer
slingshot spews:
How the hell do you unsubscribe from sumpin’ you don’t subscribe to? And they’re not pigeons, they’re flying fuckin’ rats.
SeattleJew spews:
Love the recipe. looks like someone who dropped one on my Ferrari yesterday.
Silverstar spews:
I have the solution to the pigeon problem. Peregrin falcons. They eat the buggers.
PETA has some good points, and it has some really stupid positions. Like discouraging pet ownership. And sorry folks, my ancestors were hunter/gatherers, not just gatherers. I agree that we shouldn’t be raising animals for food the way we do, if for no other reason than the risks to public health. But until we are willing to give up our cheap hamburger (which someone described to me lately as fat disguised as meat) and our prime rib, we are going to put our lives at risk. How else do you get e.coli, an intestinal bacteria, from spinach? Someone or something with the infection pooped on it. It may be systemic in the ground water, in which case you can wash it all you want, and it won’t do any good.
I sometimes think that Gaia is trying to get rid of a parasitic infection called humans.
slingshot spews:
@20 SJ,…just have your pool boy detail that sucker.
The Real Mark spews:
slingshot @ 22
Or SJ can just borrow Daddy Love’s Pooool Boy in a gold lame’ Speedo (see: MadTV).
Jon spews:
Soilent Green Is People
lorax spews:
If you know anything about how industrial meat it produced, you know it’s 1000 times more cruel (and less efficient!) than hunting pigeons with blowdarts.