Magpie - Edible ?
- Thread starter TeeDee
- Start date
They're another corvid - we used to eat rook pie 
However, they are carrion eaters and could well have been feeding on diseased meat such as birds with avian flu or even poisoned 'pests'. I think I'd leave well alone
However, they are carrion eaters and could well have been feeding on diseased meat such as birds with avian flu or even poisoned 'pests'. I think I'd leave well alone
Most survival manuals say "All birds and their eggs are edible" with caveat that some fowls taste so foul that only in a survival situation would one want to eat them. I'll take your word on magpie, but personally I think I'll stick with pheasant as my preferred game bird.
Just a thought, do you have a recipe?
Just a thought, do you have a recipe?
No recipe - which is why I was asking if anyone had actually eaten it first hand as opposed to reading that its in theory 'edible ' but as Broch pointed out ( which I was aware of another member of the Corvid family ) and the general assumed rule is that it isn't then safe or tasty.
But I obviously googled it and found the above statement.
I think for the purposes of being certain I will bag a Magpie and then a wood pigeon and compare both side by side.
Unfortunately both seem to mate for life which is a reason for me asking in the first place.
But I obviously googled it and found the above statement.
I think for the purposes of being certain I will bag a Magpie and then a wood pigeon and compare both side by side.
Unfortunately both seem to mate for life which is a reason for me asking in the first place.
They're another corvid - we used to eat rook pie
However, they are carrion eaters and could well have been feeding on diseased meat such as birds with avian flu or even poisoned 'pests'. I think I'd leave well alone
Is the 'WE' in that statement WE as in you and your family or WE as in the Medieval Britains?
No recipe - but I was thinking of making initially Duck Burgers ( because I like to experiment ) then I thought of using Wood Pigeons and then onto Magpies.
Apparently there are enough poisonous birds that is not a good advice everywhere. Quial seems to be slightly deadly during autumn migration and the list "poisonous birds" contains enough species that some thought should be given.
We as in Medieval British
- My grandmother used to cook weird and wonderful things, but never magpie (to my knowledge)!We as in Medieval British
You had me at "weird"....
You can't leave me hanging like that!!! Can you remember what?
I've eaten branches, young rooks, when speaking to my father years ago, he and his siblings used to climb the rookery trees and tie the young rooks' feet to the tree so they could not fly away and so got fatter and fatter from the parents feeding them. Then at an agreed time, the lads would climb up and fetch them down to be eaten. My dad was born in the late 20's so it was a county boy thing in the 20's-30's I guess.
ATB Si
ATB Si
A mate of mine shoots geese for pest control and regularly makes burgers from them, very tasty indeed
Pigeons are good eating, rooks, as in young rooks, were considered good eating, but note the 'young' bit there. I see what the magpies round here eat, and honestly, I wouldn't feed my husband city pigeons and I wouldn't feed him magpies either. Woodpigeons are another thing entirely.
Pigeon breast burgers are delicious he says
My Dad shot a moorhen ....way back when @Big Si 's Dad was young too by the sounds of it. His Mum refused to cook it, (she had six brothers, who all hunted/fished) she said it wasn't fit eating. So Dad cooked it. He ate and never ever shot one again. He said it tasted of mud.
So, like Crocodile Dundee said, "you can live on it........" but do you really want to ?
M
Pigeon breast burgers are delicious he says
My Dad shot a moorhen ....way back when @Big Si 's Dad was young too by the sounds of it. His Mum refused to cook it, (she had six brothers, who all hunted/fished) she said it wasn't fit eating. So Dad cooked it. He ate and never ever shot one again. He said it tasted of mud.
So, like Crocodile Dundee said, "you can live on it........" but do you really want to ?
M
I took hours over a Pike I caught, even kept it alive for a few days in fresh running water a la Hugh Fernly whats his face. Still tasted of mud, so never bothered with eating pike again.
Si
Hugh cooks rook in his “cook on the wild side” series (on the channel 4 streaming service currently)
However, they are carrion eaters and could well have been feeding on diseased meat such as birds with avian flu or even poisoned 'pests'. I think I'd leave well alone
They also have a tendency to rummage through dog mess which puts me off.
Once you get past the tail and wings is there much meat worth bothering with one one?
Strange, I've had pike several times and really enjoyed. The best one was on in the pan 30 minutes after being caught.
Geese would work well as they have plenty of fat to make a nice blend.A mate of mine shoots geese for pest control and regularly makes burgers from them, very tasty indeed
I'm quite jealous!!
She had tamed her worst cooking habits by the time she came to live with us. She often said she'd eaten road kill and claimed to have eaten fox - but I don't know if that was true. She did wear the whole skin (head and all) as a neck-wrap. As a nipper I really thought she was a witch!
She was actually a very good cook in the traditional British style. She ran a café in the fifties - stuff like steak and kidney pie, bangers and mash, fish and chips ...
It was her love of offal that got me retching as a child - coming home from school to the smell of tripe cooking or an ox tongue boiling away was not pleasant. She made up for it all by cooking excellent fruit pies, cakes, and puddings though. Sadly, her sense of taste vanished in the later years, so she over-salted everything and anything with almond essence in was inedible!
