How do I cook pigeon breasts?

I'm not sure whether this counts as 'edible gardening', but in our garden the pigeons do a lot of eating, so let's reverse the roles for once ....
I bought (sorry, it was the only way) quite a few frozen pigeon breasts today and want to cook some of them tomorrow. Every website recommends to just fry them for a few minutes on each side. But I generally prefer my meat well done, not half raw. Can I do cook the breasts for longer? And how about marinading? Thanks!

 

Thank you Marley - of course, that recipe is for a whole pigeon which I would have preferred but the butcher had only breasts. Anyway, I am now marinading it which always makes meat better. I think. In too-sour kefir, amongst other things. That reminds me .... does anyone want kefir grains? Marvellous probiotic, I've got plenty to spare. Just ask.

 

Pigeons meat is hard, rubbery and purple. I can only imagine that it will benefit from some marinading.

 

I've cooked whole pigeons before and they were delicious. The trick seems to be to really give it lots of time, and cook it in some liquidy saucy stuff like tomato etc. Hard and rubbery - no. The colour must have been disguised by the tomato! And doesn't matter.
Though I have this romantic idea that those pigeons are shot, in a town square or something. Whereas they've probably been fed on corn and kept in cages even?

 

I get my pigeon "straight" from the garden! I remove the breast and pan fry them in garlic butter. the rest of the bird goes to the ferrets.

 

And how long do you fry them for?

 

I would marinate them in buttermilk for 3 hours, turning them 1/2 way through. saute gently in butter and olive oil and salt/pepper. Imagine they are not that large, so 10 mins on each side should finish them.

 

Nice idea. I have no marinated it overnight (in oil, too-sour-to-drink kefir, pepper and salt) and will do as you say - 10 minutes each side. Will let you know the outcome!

 

I notice that you too use this mix for frying. I always fry in an olive oil/butter mix. Because I once read somewhere it was good to use the combination of both, because then you could let it get hotter without ill effects. Do you think that is true?

 

I often use a butter/olive oil mix for frying too. The flavour is good and the hot fat 'spits' less than if you use butter alone, or so my mother taught me. Clarifying the butter before use would also help prevent spitting but is more work!

I look forward to hearing how you get on with your pigeons, hopefully they will be delicious!

I think pigeon meat sold in the UK these days is usually from wild wood pigeons. In the past pigeons/ doves were bred as a source of fresh meat in winter, and housed in special dovecotes: Dovecotes of Old England, Wales and Scotland. Years ago I saw inside one of these somewhere down in your part of the world and it was amazing - a tall square building with row upon row of pigeon holes (must be where the term comes from!) ascending. I think though I am not sure that the inhabitants would have been not wood pigeons but something more like a ring dove, or those fancy white fantail domestic pigeons one still occasionally sees in a smaller dovecote. 'Squabs' or young birds were apparently especially tender and delicious.

 

Well I cooked it in the butter/oil for about 15 minutes. It was nice, I expect that the marinading helped, but next time I will cook it a bit longer for I do like my meat well done. I still got 11 more in the freezer so plenty of chance to try things out!

 

Butter in with olive oil, stops the butter from browning or burning. And to me the word "Frying" is a higher temp, than the word Saute. I used the word Saute to indicate it should be a lower temp. Remember not all olive oil is meant for saute also, some only for salads and bread dipping.

 

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