Magpie - Edible ?

[TeeDee]

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!

I was made to eat Tripe and Ox Tongue as a child ( needs must ) - Ox tongue I don't remember ( apart from the pulling of the outer sheath of the tongue ) so I assume it was 'ok' - didn't leave me with trauma

Tripe on the other hand..... smelled of silage and didn't disappoint on that front. Only so much boiling in milk with a Parsley you can trick your mind into believing is having a positive effect versus the reality of trying to chew it down your gullet.


That being said - I would honestly revisit it ( if I could find any ) due to this one Video clip from Gordan Ramsay.

 

[Broch]

I was made to eat Tripe and Ox Tongue as a child ( needs must ) - Ox tongue I don't remember ( apart from the pulling of the outer sheath of the tongue ) so I assume it was 'ok' - didn't leave me with trauma

Tripe on the other hand..... smelled of silage and didn't disappoint on that front. Only so much boiling in milk with a Parsley you can trick your mind into believing is having a positive effect versus the reality of trying to chew it down your gullet.


That being said - I would honestly revisit it ( if I could find any ) due to this one Video clip from Gordan Ramsay.

Nope, retried it in the form of Andouillette - still can't get that smell to my mouth

 

[grainweevil]

Ox tongue's lovely, but I'd rather someone else went through the pain of cooking and pressing it.

We have a friend - farmer's widow - and her dad was gamekeeper on the local estate. She has told us stories of growing up with badger hams hanging from the beams and badger-skin rugs by every bed. She didn't give it a thought, but apparently her schoolfriends were a tiny bit put-off!

 

[Toddy]

I had heard of badger ham too. Supposedly it's very good. Not sure I fancy tanning the hide though.

I knew I'd read about it recently.
This was the article.....

I Ate Badger

Here at MeatEater, we’re all about eating what we take from the woods and waters. This article is part of the “I Ate…” series where we’ll taste-test unusual flesh that most sportsmen have not considered bringing to the dinner table. As wild game enthusiasts, we hunters tend to dabble in novel...

www.themeateater.com

 

[plastic-ninja]

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!

Sounds just like my Gran.
She was a brilliant cook until her sense of taste & smell disappeared in her 80s. After that any meal she cooked was a complete lottery!

 

[FerlasDave]

Interesting. I’ve eaten Rook before, it wasn’t bad but was masked by the stew it was in.

I have wondered myself about common frogs though, lots of people eat bullfrogs but I wonder how common frog would be if it were even edible? Hmm

 

[TeeDee]

Interesting. I’ve eaten Rook before, it wasn’t bad but was masked by the stew it was in.

I have wondered myself about common frogs though, lots of people eat bullfrogs but I wonder how common frog would be if it were even edible? Hmm

Do you feel you could intentionally hunt/harvest Frogs ?

 

[Tengu]

My late fathers wife, a picky person, was very keen on pike.

(Never had it myself)

And roadkill, but lifelong biomedical sciences taught her what was safe and what was not to eat.

 

[TLM]

Pike is commonly eaten hereabouts. Largish pikes have very little or no taste so one can use spices to make it taste whatever one wants. A lot of those pesky loose fishbones that do make eating a bit tricky.

 

[FerlasDave]

Do you feel you could intentionally hunt/harvest Frogs ?

Good question. Most of the frogs I’ve seen in any large quantity have always been in some disgusting water that wouldn’t make me want to consume them either way.

Was watching this video that made me think about it, in this scenario I think so!

 

[TeeDee]

Good question. Most of the frogs I’ve seen in any large quantity have always been in some disgusting water that wouldn’t make me want to consume them either way.

Was watching this video that made me think about it, in this scenario I think so!

Flip Yeah - 'Merica!!

Would be interesting to see what historically what people of the fen lands ate in Britain- I know thats not a direct like-for-like comparison but its the closest I can think of in the UK.

 

[Broch]

Flip Yeah - 'Merica!!

Would be interesting to see what historically what people of the fen lands ate in Britain- I know thats not a direct like-for-like comparison but its the closest I can think of in the UK.

Everything that moved that they could catch I suspect

 

[Tengu]

I believe the Fen Tigers were fishers and fowlers, also pastoralists.

 

[forrestdweller]

Most survival manuals say "All birds and their eggs are edible "

sorry to go a bit off-topic, but according to a newspaper article i came across long, long time ago there's a species of bird on New Guinea with poisonous flesh -- not sure if that's a confirmed story or not...

 

[demented dale]

a mate of mine ate everything that his hawks caught without exception. he said most things were good to eat but told me to avoid seagull. Then there s the man who was in court for eating a barn owl. The judge said "before i pass sentence do you have any thing to say?". The man said ""well your honor. There is no way I would have harmed such a beautiful and rare bird under any circumstances other than dire need" The Judge said "" thats fair comment. but tell me what did it taste like?" The man replied "It was a cross between osprey and golden eagle",

 

[Poacherman]

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

Freshwater fish need to soak in salt brine for 24 to 48hours before cooking this removes muddy potato peeling taste and makes them most agreeable, pike are overated trout,tencg,Car p are better.

 

[Poacherman]

Magpie - Has anyone eaten them here?

View attachment 83077

Its meat isn't it iv blended more birds than one can imagine into game pates magpie was in there.

 

[Poacherman]

a mate of mine ate everything that his hawks caught without exception. he said most things were good to eat but told me to avoid seagull. Then there s the man who was in court for eating a barn owl. The judge said "before i pass sentence do you have any thing to say?". The man said ""well your honor. There is no way I would have harmed such a beautiful and rare bird under any circumstances other than dire need" The Judge said "" thats fair comment. but tell me what did it taste like?" The man replied "It was a cross between osprey and golden eagle",

Hawks very often catch magpies, magpies are slow in flight.

 

[Poacherman]

Everything that moved that they could catch I suspect

Eels

 

[Everything Mac]

I had heard of badger ham too. Supposedly it's very good. Not sure I fancy tanning the hide though.

I knew I'd read about it recently.
This was the article.....

I Ate Badger

Here at MeatEater, we’re all about eating what we take from the woods and waters. This article is part of the “I Ate…” series where we’ll taste-test unusual flesh that most sportsmen have not considered bringing to the dinner table. As wild game enthusiasts, we hunters tend to dabble in novel...

www.themeateater.com

I too have heard of badger ham but don't know anyone that's tried it. As you say supposedly very good. I'd certainly give it a go.