Sparrows?

[Four Fingers of Death]

A lady I know said her friend used to shoot these with an air rifle as they raided the chook food. I had hundreds of them raiding my chook food when i was raising chooks, but I couldn't get a shot in due to the angle of the chookhouse in realtion to the windows, etc. I am aout to get back into chooks and am relocating the shed and should be able to pop them nicely.

She said she ate them once and they were like spatchcocks. I am hoping she gets me the recipe when the old guy gets back from holidays.

Has anyone here cooked these?

[rugerman1]

Whatsa Chook? (http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-cho2.htm) :mrgreen:

[jackley]

I'm going to take a guess. A chook is a chicken. But whats a spatchcock?

Jerry

[Glen]

There's MEAT on a sparrow?!? Sounds like a lot of work, with very little return...

[MT Gianni]

I think the chickens could peck through and find it.

[StrawHat]

But whats a spatchcock?Jerry

The only spatchcock I know of is a way to prepare fowl. The backbone is removed (not unlike certain politicians) and the bird is splayed flat and held flat with skewers.

Of course Four Finger MickDeath may be referring to something unigue to Australia.

[jackley]

Of course Four Finger MickDeath may be referring to something unigue to Australia. Yeah! maybe sparrows are are different bird also.

Jerry

[kodiak1]

sparrow aint that what them Aussies call them EMU birds down there????

Now that'sa drum stick.

Ken.

[Gussy]

I thought you cooked them like smelt. Deep fry the whole thing, peel and eat.

[KYCaster]

I heard they taste like chook!!! :roll:

Jerry

[Slowpoke]

I heard they taste like chook!!!

Jerry

More like Dove they are dark meat.

Sparrow pie, Robin Pie= Knew a old woman once that loved to cook strange things, her favorite was Jonny Crane other wise known as Blue heron.

I used to humor her and keep her well supplied because she could make the best Duck and Dumplings I ever ate. Man could she do justice to a Blue Bill or a Black duck.

When I was 18 she could pick three ducks to my one and hers would be perfect, she was pushing 70 at the time, when ever I picked most of the ducks, her husband would say" who ever eats the most duck eats the most feather's"

good luck

[DLCTEX]

Cajuns like to eat blackbirds (Redwings). They migrate to South La. for winter in flocks of thousands. One shot with #9 in a 12 guage will fill the pot. Of course, Cajuns will eat most anything, as a good Gumbo or Jambalaya can make strange things taste good. DALE

[Wayne Dobbs]

dale,

For six combative years, I was married to a smokin' hot Cajun gal and she opined that a Cajun would eat anything that had two eyes, an a**hole and would make the grease stink!

[uncowboy]

Had a lady liked cooking them when I was young. I shot a bunch for her. She just put them in her spagitti sauce. She just breasted them. They were good, J.Michael

[NoDakJak]

In the late sixties I was stationed at Itazuke Air Force Base in southern Japan and went through hunters class. I was surprised to find that Sparrows were classed as a game bird with millions being harvested every year, mostly by trapping. I ate many of them in the bars where they were spitted on a bamboo sliver and cooked over a Hibachi pot and then served as an appatizer with your beer. Not much meat but tasty! Neil

[Hardcast416taylor]

Back about a half century ago or so when I was a college kid I had an American History class. I seem to remember the instructor saying one day that the sparrow bird in North America was brought over by the pilgrims as a food source. I guess that is why they are called English sparrows. Enough escaped their cages and look at their numbers now.:groner: Robert

[kodiak1]

The starlings came from England also and I believe they ate them things too.

Ken.

[clodhopper]

With all this finacial trouble looming over us, I told the wife my stash of 50 bricks of .22 lr ammo would insure we would be eating little bitty chicken for a long time.

[clodhopper]

Sorry guys,
This thread is about cooking so here is my untried recipe.
Skewer one pair of sparrow breast on a long fork.
Spray with olive flavor pam cooking oil.
sprinkle on KICKIN' CHICKIN spice.
sear over the coals of your local cooking wood.
Personaly I would use engleman spruce because that's what I have.
Red oak would give it good flavor, but a real he-man would use green douglas fir and declare the pitchey flavor good.

[HABCAN]

There's a feller named Orville lives over west in the next village up the highway known as the 'Bluebird Man' an' cuz sparrows decimate bluebirds he'll kill/shoot/trap/eliminate any sparrows he can. Sometimes he gits a whole passel of 'em an' bein' a countrified gentleman he don't never wanta waste nuthin. I axed him whut he done with 'em an' he tol' me he eats 'em. Cooks 'em same as a owl. Here's his recipe.

Ya skins 'em first, then takes the breasts an' mebbe a few drumsticks if'n yer a mind to. Put 'em in a pan an' brown 'em. Then, ya puts 'em all in a covered roaster with a demijohn o' rum, a splash er two o' corn likker, an' any sour cream th' cats don't want. Ya puts that in th' oven on real low heat overnight. Next day fer dinner ya throws out the fowl(s) and eat the gravy, dippin' it up with johnny cake/corn bread.

I'se bin told of fellers in Que-bec an' Nfld. usin' a similar recipe fer cookin' trash like skonks an' sech, 'ceptin' they add a lotta maple syrple.

A ol' cowboy now gone t' his re-ward tol' me he done similar fer kiyoots an' badgers in th' Dirty Thirties.

[fiberoptik]

I tried eating a crow I popped once, but when I skinned it out, there was a nice big fat blow-worm in it's breast. That kinda turned my appetites elseweres. Course in the M.C. we ate snakes/rats/dogs/cats/monkeys/etc.

[dale2242]

I`ve eaten crow a few times for things I`ve done or said. Always left a nasty taste in my mouth.

[Baron von Trollwhack]

If you gotta eat crow, eat it while it's small.

BvT

[kycrawler]

sparrow and crow are both ok , i have pigeon traps set out and often catch a few sparrows also pigeons are worth about 2-2.50 each around here takes about 25-30 sparrows to feed 4 i just breast them and toss the rest

[Old Ironsights]

Dunno about Sparrow... if it's too small to treat like Crow, then maybe roasted whole?

As for Crow:

Yes, Check for Worms (RE: Fiberoptic) but that's easy.

Just pop the breasts, look for worms and throw away the rest.

See: www.crowbusters.com http://www.crowbusters.com/recipes.htm

Good stuff. :drinks:

[home in oz]

My English mother from a small village in UK told me once that her grandfather was a gamekeeper. He trapped and shot large numbers of sparrows on the estate where he worked and the family consumed them, most it meat pies.

My mother recollected that they were quite tasty but not much on them.