Squab

I learned in one of my cooking classes today that because selling non-farmed animals in restaurants is illegal in Canada, what we use for squab is nothing more than a small chicken or chicken-like bird. Is this true?

I've had squab in Canada; it doesn't look like anything in the chicken family. Also it is served medium rare which - I would think - would be dangerous if it was a chicken or if it was farmed like a chicken. Can anyone enlighted me? I'm sure the rules are the same in the US.

By the way, I've had actual pidgeon in Scotland: it has since become my favourite bird! (served in a rasberry sauce)

[This message has been edited by Anneke (edited 01-17-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Anneke (edited 01-17-2001).]

Anneke:

I have never had real squab that I know of. My understanding is that a squab is an unfledged pigeon...sort of the "veal" of the bird world. I have no idea what you are being offered in Canada, but I do know that there are some squab farms here in the US.

When I lived in Montana, there were many pigeons, especially around barns. I always thought it might be a good idea to ask the farmers if I could hunt a few, since they are not actually considered a game bird and you could get as many as you wanted. Plus, they would all be grain-fed. Never did it, but sure thought about it. Didn't consider what the consequences were of cooking or trying to eat a full-grown pigeon versus a squab.

As far as rare cooked birds, I know that some people swear by rare ducks. Course, these are wild ducks that they hunt themselves. I suppose the biggest caveat against eating any bird rare would be the danger of Salmonella, which is much more likely in a commercial processing facility than it would be in the home kitchen.

Estimates I have heard are that 30-50% of all chickens processed in the US are contaminated with Salmonella. I am very careful whenever I deal with raw chicken in my kitchen. I make sure I don't get any cross-contamination and liberally use chlorine bleach in cleanup.

I have had medium rare venison and it is great although most wild game I have tried has been cooked well-done.

Again, I am being long-winded.

Personally I like medium rare everything and if it wasn't for salmonella, I'd eat chicken the same way. As for venison, medium rare is the ONLY way to eat it. I must admit I was shocked when I saw turkey sashimi on Iron Chef...
I'm still curious though as to why medium cooked squab is safe...

Anneke:

Ewwwwwwww. Turkey sashimi?

I like my sushi deep fat fried and my Steak Tartare well done.

Sorry, can't help you with the medium cooked squab issue. I would be very leery.

Hi Anneke, This is cape chef from work (alter ego # 3)
A true squab is only about 4 weeks old domesticated pigeon and has never flown ,so it is very tender,they usually way about a pound,Fresh squab is available here in the summer months and frozen year round. I always separate the legs and thigh and give them a little more time then the breast I keep the breast MR. I think what your teacher was referring to is chicken Squab or "poussin"in french,there about 4 to 6 weeks old and weigh about a pound and a half,and the breast is white meat unlike the true squab which is all dark meat
cc

That must be what he meant. Thanks! What's your opinion about true squab and salmonella? (ie: serving it medium)

Great answer Crudeau! I actually had a customer who asked for a NY Strip "Pittsburg Style" done medium well! (For the uninitiated pittsburg style is virtually blackened on the outside and raw in the middle)
We had pigeon farms (AKA "City Chickens")in Washington, D.C. where you could pick your own Pigeon if you could catch it. It was called Dupont Circle. There were many other circles in the city that were also good breeding grounds but none that produced the quality available there. If you were lucky you could get one freshly run over.

[Nick.Shu]

correct me if im wrong, but from where i stand this is the story of salmonella in chicken (apparently).

In order to reduce feed costs, dead battery chickens were ground down and added to pellet feed for added protein. Because one of the major breeding areas for salmonella was in or on chicken feathers, so guess what.

So as a end result, outside salmonella was introduced into actual chicken flesh via the foodchain and as a result, most chickens and processing plants have salmonella which is almost impossible to get rid off.

Almost sounds like BSE yeah?.

[Nick.Shu]

post script:

In the state of NSW (Australia) it is illegal to have either: feather or furred game in a commercial kitchen.

That's also what I heard about salmonella. As long as farmed pidgeons don't eat their recycled parents, I guess they should be fine... But how can you ever know for sure?

I wonder what wild chicken tastes like...

Wild Turkey is good.

I am sure that somewhere there are some "wild" (feral) chickens. But dunno where.

I guess the closest to that would be pheasant (also excellent) and prairie chickens.

Nevertheless, interesting concept. Almost as good as my idea of trying to raise boneless chickens.

[Nick.Shu]

ahah, boneless chickens are pretty funny. Apparently, the raising costs are higher, because you have to hire people to roll them over ever half hour.

Like a field full of jello wrapped up in feathered garbage bags.

There are some great squab and poussin producers in the US. I trust a few of them enough to serve squab or poussin rare. It is very good, much like good farm raised duck rare.
I can't get the image of a field of feathered garbge bags out of my head!
FYI, my father in law raised ducks commercially for several years, He had the choice of using "rendered" feed or not, he chose not, and got very good results. One interesting story, however. When the ducks are about two to three weeks of age, their breasts grow faster than their lag muscles, so they tip over. If laft laying on teir sides, their eqilibrium is so altered, they can no longer stand, and eventually die of thirst. So, Father in law made morning rounds of 5000 ducks checking for "tips", when he found them, he would carry them around for a while by their necks to re-orientate their equilibrium, and they were fine. Just funny thought to go with boneless chickens, drunk ducks-no need to baste!

..recovering from a fit of laughter.. Ouch! My side hurts!
Camp Chef, that's probably the saddest and funniest farm image I've ever considered. That explains a lot about Donald!

As for boneless chicken, bones make the meat tastier; if I ever bought one from you Crudeau it would be for its entertainment value; better than a chia pet!

Camp Chef, you mentioned that your father in law opted not to feed rendered feed to his ducks. Are ducks that are fed rendered feed unsafe to eat medium rare? (got one of those in my fridge as we speak)

Nick.shu:

Thanks for the embellishment of my boneless chicken idea. I think you got the picture just right.

CampChef:

Also thank you for the "tipped" duck story. See what happens when you mess with Mother Nature? She can be a real b***h.