How to cook partridge? Recipes for delicious partridge dishes

Since hunting ceased to be the main means of obtaining food, and people learned to raise poultry and livestock, game began to be valued much higher than the result of the work of livestock breeders. Nutritionists say that the meat of wild birds and animals is healthier because it is less fatty. And they never used artificial feed, additives or hormones.

However, even in times of greater prevalence of hunting, partridges were valued for their tender, juicy meat and were considered a worthy product even for the royal table.

National preferences

The partridge is an international bird. It is found, perhaps, everywhere, except for very tropical places and Antarctica. And each country has its own ideas about how to cook partridge. The Germans stew it, and always as part of a vegetable stew. In Russia it is customary to fry poultry. Americans bake it in the oven or as a barbecue. The French, in general, do not eat whole partridges: they make broths and soups from the carcass, and use the meat as pates and soufflés.

But these are just traditions that do not have to be followed. Any way to cook partridge always produces delicious results. So you can choose any one, or you can try everything.

Choice of birds

Hunters, of course, are well versed in the quality of their catch. But ordinary city dwellers have gone far from nature and can only appreciate a piece of cut pork or “stati” chicken. And there is a fairly serious risk that such an illiterate person will buy something completely different from what he would like.

So, before you cook partridge, you must first buy it. When choosing a bird, you need to look under its armpit. The skin under the wings should be thin, flexible and soft. If she is rude or hard, you have an “old lady” from whom nothing good will come of it.

The same secret place should be free of any stains. They are? The partridge is, to put it mildly, stale. If the bird is not plucked, you need to take a closer look at the feathers: felted feathers, as if wet, also indicate that the carcass has been lying on the counter for many days.

Cooking features

Partridge meat is considered a delicacy, despite the fact that the fat of this bird has a bitter taste. Whether this drawback will be leveled out during cooking depends on the skill of the cook. Only by knowing the peculiarities of baking partridge and taking into account a number of important points will he be able to turn this game into a culinary masterpiece, and not spoil a valuable product.

• When purchasing a partridge at the market, experienced hunters advise looking under its wing. If the skin is tender and light, the bird is fresh and young, its meat will be tender and tasty. If you find greenish spots, you should not take such game, even if they ask for mere pennies for it.
• Partridge feathers are usually removed along with the skin, so you don’t have to bother with plucking the bird. You just need to rip open its abdomen, remove the giblets from it, then wash the carcass and dry it with a towel.
• If the bird has been frozen, it should be allowed to thaw in the refrigerator without exposing it to extreme temperature changes. Trying to speed up the process using a microwave or warm water will result in the bird losing a lot of moisture and its meat becoming dry and tasteless.
• When baking partridges, place them on a baking sheet with their backs facing down. This is due to the fact that under the influence of high temperature, the bitter fat of the bird will be rendered, and it is contained mainly in the back area. If you place the bird with its back facing up, the fat will permeate all the meat, giving it an unpleasant aftertaste.
• Often the bird is baked in foil so that it simmers in its own juices and is juicy. However, due to the specific nature of partridge fat, the use of the described preparation technology in this case is undesirable. Due to languishing in its own juice, it can acquire a bitter taste. If you want to bake partridge in foil, you must first fry it a little in a frying pan to render out the bitter fat.
• Sometimes partridge is baked in a sleeve, although this method also involves simmering the bird in its own juice. With this method of cooking, the fat still flows out of it and does not remain inside, so the bird will not be bitter.
• Due to the specific taste of the bird, it is often baked in a sweet sauce or honey, which neutralizes the bitter taste, making the taste of the dish more harmonious.
• When baking partridge with vegetables, the use of special technology is also required. It is important to protect vegetables from the bitter juices of the bird. Therefore, they are added after the fat has been rendered, sometimes even transferring the bird to a clean form.

Carcass cutting

In stores and supermarkets, game is usually sold frozen and already dressed. But if you're lucky enough to find a fresh bird, you'll need to gut it before cooking it. How to prepare partridge for sending to the fire?

Suppose you can pluck a bird without outside advice. Giblets are also removed without any special subtleties. But then – attention! The partridge must have its crop removed. Since the bird is small, its head is usually not cut off, only the eyes are removed, and then the head is hidden under the wing. The claws must be cut off and the paws must be bent back. Now your bird is ready for further processing.

Partridge and oven

In our opinion, this wild bird is too small to fry. Therefore, people who know how to cook partridge deliciously prefer to use the oven. Naturally, due to the small size of the bird, the calculation of products always involves several carcasses - it’s not worth lighting the stove just for one. Usually four birds are cooked at once (unless you have a very large family).

Most recipes suggest marinating the partridge before cooking it in the oven. Firstly, this way she will lose less weight, and secondly, the meat will become softer and more flavorful. So first we prepare the sauce. Heat the vegetable oil and butter together (in a 1:1 ratio). Quickly fry the partridges in this mixture (about five minutes). Add bay leaf, thyme, shallots. You can add chicken broth. The saucepan should simmer over low heat for about an hour. Then the carcasses are set aside, the broth is strained, red currant juice or jelly (1 tbsp), black berries and grated beets (50 g each) are added. Everything boils for 3-4 minutes and is removed.

Butter, pounded with the same charlotte, salt and thyme, is rubbed into the partridges, which are then wrapped in thin strips of bacon. Then the prepared birds are placed in the cold for an hour. This partridge recipe offers a very gentle marinating.

Place pieces of bread with a thin layer of butter on a baking sheet, and place partridges on them. Place in a hot oven. After a quarter of an hour, when the bread is toasted, it is removed and the game is left in the oven. When it turns golden brown, it is put back on the bread, poured over with sauce and asked for everyone to come to the table.

Description

Wild partridges

The partridge is an ancient bird; it has existed for several million years, so even our very distant ancestors ate it. The appearance depends on the subspecies, most often its feathers are light and dark gray in color, with reddish-brown sides.

Often found in fields and meadows adjacent to forests, it spends most of its life on the ground and runs quickly. It flies very rarely, only in case of danger, sometimes it flies into trees for food. It was brought to the USA and Canada by people, but had not been found there before.

Partridges are divided into 3 species and more than 15 subspecies; they differ in plumage color, size and habitat. There are subspecies that live in constant cold conditions, for example the white partridge.

"Sleeve" option

There is also a good idea on how to cook partridge in the sleeve. Gutted and feathered birds are rubbed with salt. They will be salted for about ten minutes. During this time, mustard, pepper and mayonnaise are mixed. The proportions of ingredients are according to your taste. The carcasses are rubbed with the mixture and marinated for about half an hour. Do not use ready-made seasonings - the taste is not the same, most of them contain some kind of stabilizers.

Peel and wash the garlic cloves, cut large ones lengthwise. Cut sweet and sour apples into small slices. Place a clove of garlic and a couple of apple slices into each pickled partridge. The cuts on the carcasses are sealed with toothpicks, and the birds are placed in a food sleeve. Leftover apples can be placed there too.

The cut end is tied. The sleeve is placed with the seam up on a baking sheet, and the partridges are baked for half an hour at 180 degrees. About 5-10 minutes before the end, you need to open the seam - otherwise the bird will turn out more like boiled or stewed. The result is amazing!

Chukar meat with sour cream

You need to take a couple of partridge carcasses, 3-4 tablespoons of vegetable oil or about 100 g of butter, 350 g of fat sour cream, several sour apples, fresh herbs, spices to taste. Preparation begins with washing the carcasses and rubbing them with a mixture of salt and various peppers. A little lemon juice can be poured into the abdomen. Grate the apple and carrots on a coarse grater and place inside the bird. The legs are turned over backwards and tied together with the wings with culinary thread. Preheat the oven. Grease a baking sheet with oil and place the carcasses on it belly up. Simmer for an hour. During this time, you need to turn it over several times and grease the game well with sour cream. 10 minutes before being ready, brush the bird with a mixture of sour cream, garlic and chopped herbs.

The multicooker will not let you down!

It turns out no less tasty if you know how to cook partridge in a slow cooker correctly. A large variety of products is not required, the main thing is not to disrupt the technology.

You will have to take more partridges than other recipes - six to eight. Their total weight should be close to one and a half kilograms. You will also need garlic, honey (2 tbsp), red pepper, soy sauce (50 ml) and small onions.

Before cooking partridge in a slow cooker, you will have to lightly boil it. Then each carcass is rubbed with pepper. Vegetable oil is poured into the multicooker, and partridges are laid out in it. Onions are artistically arranged among the carcasses. To prevent them from falling apart during cooking, it is better not to cut off the “butts”. Add honey, garlic (either whole cloves, or coarsely chopped) and soy sauce (it is usually salty, so you should taste “for salt” before the end of cooking).

You need to pour enough water into the bowl so that the birds completely disappear under it. The extinguishing mode is turned on and the time is set to one hour. Partridges are very small, so 60 minutes is usually enough. But if the meat is not soft, you can increase the time.

Increasing livestock at home

In captivity, partridges lay up to 60 eggs (for comparison, in the wild - no more than 15). This increase occurs due to a balanced, regular diet and artificially increased daylight hours (up to 15 hours a day). These birds hatch eggs only 3 months a year, from May to July. For this reason, betting on income from selling partridge eggs is unwise.

To hatch chicks naturally, laid eggs are placed in a small basket with the blunt half down and covered with dry straw. They will need to be turned every 2 days. A small young chicken can sit on eggs.

To hatch chicks naturally, laid eggs are placed in a small basket with the blunt half down and covered with dry straw.

American recipe

This recipe for preparing partridge is good because it allows you to cook the bird on vacation and get a completely unusual taste compared to other options.

The carcasses are washed and cut along the belly, like “tobacco chickens.” They fight back using the same principle, only very carefully and in massive parts. The birds are peppered and salted on both sides, placed in a saucepan and poured with a marinade of wine and white vinegar (there should be a little of the latter, 10 times less than wine). You can also add herbs to the composition - mint, oregano, basil. Partridges should marinate for at least an hour. You can do more - it won't hurt.

Then the birds are dried and greased on all sides with melted butter (this will require 1 tablespoon). Barbecue partridges are fried only on a grill and only under a load. Although the proposed recipe is campy and romantic, you can cook it at home, on an electric grill. Each side will require 6 minutes of frying. It is better not to move the carcasses while they are over the fire - the delicate skin will peel off, and the taste and appearance will not be the same.

A sauce made from garlic, pepper, wine (a couple of tablespoons), vinegar (one teaspoon is enough) and vegetable oil (one large spoon) is very suitable for partridge barbecue.

Chemical composition of the product

Vitamin composition (in milligrams per 100 grams of raw product)

Greetings from Spain

Partridge with oranges has an unusual taste and is interesting to prepare. It cooks quite quickly, as it does not require pre-marinating. The carcasses are cut in half and quickly fried in 20 g of butter (this is important!) Butter. The rosy halves are placed in a deep bowl. The zest is removed from two oranges. In the original recipe, it should be cut very thinly and then cut into strips. However, it has been experimentally established that it turns out no worse if you simply carefully rub it off with a grater.

Peeled oranges are cut into slices and seeds removed. Grapes from one bunch and orange slices are placed in a pan around the partridges. The contents are poured with the juice that came out of the carcasses during frying, sprinkled with orange zest, the pan is covered with a lid and placed in a hot oven, where it will remain for five to seven minutes. The taste of the resulting dish cannot be compared with anything!

Of course, this is not all that can be prepared from partridge. It goes into salads, fricassee and pates are made from it... However, you can start getting acquainted with this game with the suggested recipes.

Egg incubation

To hatch chicks faster, you need to use an incubator. This device is inexpensive (from 2 thousand rubles), but significantly simplifies and speeds up the process of hatching chickens. Only eggs of a certain size that do not have any damage or defects are selected for the incubator.

It will be useful to illuminate each egg using an ovoscope - to assess how many yolks are inside (there should be only 1), whether there is blood, and so on. Modern incubators require virtually no human intervention and hatch chicks in about 15-18 days.