Sherried Francolin / Spurfowl / Guinea-fowl

[Dimitri]

Hi Guys,

After a wonderful day's wingshooting on Saturday I knew I would be having Swainsons Spurfowl for dinner one night this week. That night is tonight and I've asked my wife to make a game-bird curry with potatoes and carrots. However, it was a close call between the curry and sherried gamebirds and I thought I'd share the Sherried Gamebirds recipe that has always turned out great when we have made it.

Just like furred game, you must handle the birds properly in order to get good quality meat. Here are some suggestions:

1. Don't be too hasty on the shot. The closer the bird is to you when you shoot it the more damage/pellets/feathers there will be in the carcass. I use a 12ga with 5/6/7 shot. I would say that the bird should not be closer than about 15m when you take the first shot. Birds that take the full charge of a 12ga at less than 15m are likely to be inedible. The size of pellets, the choke and the calibre all play a roll. You may be able to take shots a little closer with a 16ga, 20ga, 410ga etc without spoiling the carcass.

2. I gut the birds in the field immediately after I recover them, or as soon as possible after recovery. The pellets sometimes rupture the intestines and I certainly don't like the idea - or the smell - of the birds marinating in their intestinal juices all day. Gutting the birds immediately also helps to cool the carcass quickly. I do not subscribe to gutting all the birds at the end of the day. I keep the stomach, liver and heart as they are very tasty as a dish on their own or when added to whatever dish you make with the gamebirds. After removing all the insides I just stuff the giblets back into the cavity and remove them all again when I get back home.

3. When I get home, I remove the crops. I am normally tired and so I don't pluck/skin the birds on the day that I shoot them. I hang the birds from their necks or just place them on some newspaper on the cold garage floor until the next day. Our spurfowl/francolin/guineas are normally shot in the cold winter months and I have never had any birds go bad overnight. I pluck/skin them the next day.

4. If I have time on my hands I will pluck the francolin/spurfowl. The skin does carry a little bit of fat, it looks appetizing and it may help a little with succulence. Otherwise I just skin them. Guineas I always skin. Their skin is an unappetizing greyish purple colour which I don't like at all.

5. After plucking, I remove the feet, head and pope's nose. I remove any feathers and pellets that may be visible in the meat. I rub the inside of the abdominal cavity to loosen and then wash out the lungs and any dried blood. I let the birds dry on a rack and then package them.

SHERRIED FRANCOLIN/SPURFOWL

3-4 francolin/spurfowl
5-6 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 cloves of garlic (crushed)
2 onions (finely diced)
2 stalks celery (chopped)
salt & black pepper to taste
1 cup old brown sherry
Flour

- Quarter the birds and dust in a little flour
- Fry the onions in butter and olive oil until soft
- Add the garlic and the birds and fry until birds are golden brown
- Transfer to a casserole, adding the sherry, seasoning and celery
- Deglaze the pan with a little sherry and add to the casserole
- Cover and cook in a medium oven for +- 3 hours or until tender
- Add more sherry if necessary

If you like, you can drape a rasher of streaky bacon over each bird quarter once transferred to the casserole.

Enjoy and please let me know how it turned out if you make it.

[jdpretorius]

Thank you Dimitri, I'll definitely give this a try

Any ideas on Egyptian Gees.....the last time i cooked one was on a roughing-it hunt many many moons ago..... and marinated it in orange/juice amongst othet things, overnight. It went into a pot with a rabbit...came out really nice > or we were just really hungry
A Frenche friend recon they hang game birds by the neck and if it falls off it's ready to be cooked

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[tripodmvr]

Die watervoëls se smake is meestal baie wild. Ek het al wildemakou in rooiwyn gaargemaak en my vrou permanent van wildsvleis genees. Eende het blykbaar 'n beter smaak as ganse en makou.

Lyk my jy moet die ganse en makoue soos korhane berei. Sit korhaan en 'n baksteen in 'n pot en kook vir 24 uur. Gooi dan die korhaan weg en eet die baksteen.

[Forester]

Dankie Dimitri,

Fisant maak vir my ‘n lekker voorgereg. Ek maak die borsies in ‘n pan met baie botter en bietjie sout en peper. Soos met alle wildsvleis moet ‘n mens passop om dit te gaar te maak. Ek maak die borsies toe in foelie laat dit rus terwyl ek die sous maak. Vir die sous ‘n bietjie rooiwyn en ‘n eetlepel kweperjellie word in die pan (dieselfde as waarin die borsies gemaak is) gegooi en verhit totdat dit verdik tot loperige stroop.

[Dimitri]

jd, I have made Egyptian Goose a few times using the recipe below and it turned out OK. It's not my favourite bird to eat, however.

When I was in my teens I experimented with making biltong out of just about everything I shot including hares and Egyptian Geese. The biltong from the geese was actually quite good provided you removed every little bit of fat before curing it. On occasions where I did not remove the fat it smelt terrible - sort of fishy. So when I cooked the geese I also removed all visible fat - just in case.

I have seen some very complicated recipes for geese which include all sorts of fancy ingredients. Perhaps that implies that geese don't necessarily have the best tasting meat - hence the complicated recipes and long list of ingredients.

WILD DUCK A L’ORANGE (DUCK, TEAL, YOUNG GOOSE)

2 wild ducks 165 grams butter
45ml brandy Salt and white pepper to taste
Juice of 5 oranges 10 ml maizena (cornflour)
1 sliced orange and cherries for decoration

• Wash ducks very well, quarter and pat dry.
• Melt butter in saucepan, add duck pieces and fry lightly, do not brown.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Add about 1 cup water and allow ducks to simmer until tender and the water has been absorbed.
• Add the brandy and flame.
• Add the orange juice, leaving aside about 1/4 cup juice in which the cornflour has been diluted.
• Boil the orange juice sauce briskly for about 5 minutes.
• Finally, add the cornflour to thicken the sauce.
• Stir and heat gently.

[Dimitri]

Dankie Dimitri,

Fisant maak vir my ‘n lekker voorgereg. Ek maak die borsies in ‘n pan met baie botter en bietjie sout en peper. Soos met alle wildsvleis moet ‘n mens passop om dit te gaar te maak. Ek maak die borsies toe in foelie laat dit rus terwyl ek die sous maak. Vir die sous ‘n bietjie rooiwyn en ‘n eetlepel kweperjellie word in die pan (dieselfde as waarin die borsies gemaak is) gegooi en verhit totdat dit verdik tot loperige stroop.

Klink en lyk lekker. Dankie Forester.

[jdpretorius]

Die watervoëls se smake is meestal baie wild. Ek het al wildemakou in rooiwyn gaargemaak en my vrou permanent van wildsvleis genees. Eende het blykbaar 'n beter smaak as ganse en makou.

Lyk my jy moet die ganse en makoue soos korhane berei. Sit korhaan en 'n baksteen in 'n pot en kook vir 24 uur. Gooi dan die korhaan weg en eet die baksteen.

Ek't al gehoor hulle sê mens moet sy vel af trek en van hulle pasty maak
Die een wat ons in die bos gemaak het het knoffel, sout, peper, gemengde kruie....en dalk old brown cherry saam met die lemoen gekry. Ons het die pot die aand voor bed tyd in die as begrawe. Die volgende oggend het hy bietjie groente en aartappeltjies gekry, en hom weer n paar kole gegee van die koffie vuurtjie. Toe ons uit die bos kom vir brunch was hy reg en lekker gesmul......sy vel was wel af.... maar dit is nou donkie jare al terug so ek kan dalk net die lekker haas onthou

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[jdpretorius]

jd, I have made Egyptian Goose a few times using the recipe below and it turned out OK. It's not my favourite bird to eat, however.

When I was in my teens I experimented with making biltong out of just about everything I shot including hares and Egyptian Geese. The biltong from the geese was actually quite good provided you removed every little bit of fat before curing it. On occasions where I did not remove the fat it smelt terrible - sort of fishy. So when I cooked the geese I also removed all visible fat - just in case.

I have seen some very complicated recipes for geese which include all sorts of fancy ingredients. Perhaps that implies that geese don't necessarily have the best tasting meat - hence the complicated recipes and long list of ingredients.

WILD DUCK A L’ORANGE (DUCK, TEAL, YOUNG GOOSE)

2 wild ducks 165 grams butter
45ml brandy Salt and white pepper to taste
Juice of 5 oranges 10 ml maizena (cornflour)
1 sliced orange and cherries for decoration

• Wash ducks very well, quarter and pat dry.
• Melt butter in saucepan, add duck pieces and fry lightly, do not brown.
• Season with salt and pepper.
• Add about 1 cup water and allow ducks to simmer until tender and the water has been absorbed.
• Add the brandy and flame.
• Add the orange juice, leaving aside about 1/4 cup juice in which the cornflour has been diluted.
• Boil the orange juice sauce briskly for about 5 minutes.
• Finally, add the cornflour to thicken the sauce.
• Stir and heat gently.

Thanks Dimitri!!!
This will also go into the must try book. It sounds delicious

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[jdpretorius]

Dankie Dimitri,

Fisant maak vir my ‘n lekker voorgereg. Ek maak die borsies in ‘n pan met baie botter en bietjie sout en peper. Soos met alle wildsvleis moet ‘n mens passop om dit te gaar te maak. Ek maak die borsies toe in foelie laat dit rus terwyl ek die sous maak. Vir die sous ‘n bietjie rooiwyn en ‘n eetlepel kweperjellie word in die pan (dieselfde as waarin die borsies gemaak is) gegooi en verhit totdat dit verdik tot loperige stroop.

Klink en lyk lekker. Dankie Forester.

+1

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[Dimitri]

I made Sherried Spurfowl last night. I didn't have celery in the fridge and didn't feel like going to the shops so I substituted the celery with a red onion. The meal was really delicious and I took the opportunity to let my wife know that we now have only 2 large male spurfowl left in the freezer.

True to my unselfish nature, no matter how harsh the elements or how tired I get, I volunteered to go out as soon as possible and try to shoot some more birds for the family's enjoyment.

[Frederik]

True to my unselfish nature, no matter how harsh the elements or how tired I get, I volunteered to go out as soon as possible and try to shoot some more birds for the family's enjoyment.

I suppose that took a lot of convincing to get out of bed

Like the recipe you posted. Must try it one day.

[BenJacobs]

Ek het 'n baie snaakse familie. Die een helfte eet wildsvleis en die ander helfte glad nie, nie eens biltong nie.

Ek het eendag 'n paar kolganse geskiet en die volgende gemaak. En die wat dit geëet het was glad nie bewus dit was wild nie. Dit was bitter lekker!

https://www.bbcsouthafrica.com/recipes/ ... cherry-pie

Die eend het ek vervang met 2 ganse se borsies en die Port het ek geskiep, omdat ek nie sulke fênsie goed gehad het nie. Ek het die cherries sous en al in gegooi.
Groete Ben