Recipes for old quail

[FenDruadin]

We're pretty new to quail and we processed our first birds today. They were some older quail that haven't been productive, and we decided to practice on them. But of course we don't want to waste them either. So, what would you do if you had three cleaned quail, it was your first time preparing quail, and they were past the optimal butchering age?

Thanks.

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Quote:
Id cook em and eat em . . .

Try making beer-can quail out of them, will keep em nice and moist.
You might have to pour the beer into something else tho, I dont think a can would fit in a quail.

However you cook it, make sure it has liquids or it is covered.
Id also cook them till the meat is "fall-off-the-bone", then it shouldnt be to tough either.

If you skinned them make sure to wrap them in something, most people use bacon, but anything to protect the outside from dryout/char.

When I hunt for quails, I have no idea how old they are, I eat them all, I cant really say Ive ever had a bad one . . .
Not much there to get tough . . .
And if yours are kept in a cage, the lack of muscle-excercise for them would really have cut down on the toughness anyways.

Good luck, let us know how you prepared them and how they turned out!

 

[FenDruadin]

Thanks!! Beer is a great idea. I cut the breast bone, so there's not really a cavity... after watching a few videos I think I did it "wrong," but they are clean and the meat is in tact, so I guess it will taste the same. Anyway.... maybe we'll cover them in beer in a shallow pan and bake them till the meat falls off. Sounds pretty yummy to me.

Thank you--

 

[FenDruadin]

Welp, that was yummy. Not enough meat. But yummy.

They were very slightly tough, but not bad. Next time we'll cook them for longer, but we were impatient! lol The beer was a great idea, and now I have some beer-broth in the fridge for use in recipes.

The bones went in the freezer with veggie ends and such to make broth later.

I'm kinda liking this whole making our own meat thing. I may be ready to consider harvesting duck now.

Thanks for the recipe tip.

 

[JJMR794]

I Have Not Noticed A Toughening With Age. The Optimal Butchering Time Is The Point In Their Life Where You Get The Max Growth For The Least Amount Of Feed And Shortest Time.

They Can Be Cooked In A Crock Pot With Bar B Que Sauce Slowly And Will "fall Off The Bone"

 

[JJMR794]

Wrap Them Lil Boogers In Bacon.... Place Them In An Oven Roasting Bag With A Lil Bit Of Raspberry Vinigrette Dressing Cook At 280 For A Couple Of Hours....

 

[FenDruadin]

Mmmm. Yummy! I think ours were a little tough because we didn't age them--straight in the fridge and a couple hours later into the oven--and we didn't let them cook long enough. They were done, but we were too impatient to try them to let them cook to the fall-off-the-bone stage. And they really *weren't* that tough. Just not melt-in-the-mouth either.

Anyway--they were quite good--and we've got one more roo we're going to process today, but he's going in the freezer to wait until we have enough to make a meal.

Thanks everyone!

 

[chickenwhisperer]

Ohhh I cant wait to eat some of mine . . .