View Full Version : Eating dead stuff from the garden
This thread is not for the cringeworthy. I've mentioned in the past that I've wanted to try road-kill. Where I used to work I'd often seen road-kill during the winter and figure that, apart from the damaged side of the animal, there was nothing wrong with the rest of it, having sat out in the cold all night. I have no problem what animals I eat and, to me, wild food is basically about as ethical as meat gets. So, recently I've seen the odd dead fox and badger but either not had the balls to pick it up or I've been in her car without any plastic bags and I know she'd kill me if she found out I'd had a bleeding/oozing 'kill in the back. Also, I'm not so keen on town foxes because they've probably been eating the contents of peoples bins which will affect the taste of the meat.
Anyway, that aside, when we came home this afternoon there was a dead wood pigeon in the front garden. Slight injury underneath. It wasn't there when we left and on closer inspection its eyes were still quite bright (yes, I was scared it might start flapping about when I poked it :D) so I figured it was reasonably fresh. Perfect opportunity for a bit of investigation and if it turned out to be bad I didn't actually have to eat it.
I've saved you from seeing pics of the corpse with feathers head and feet and skipped straight to jointing it up. See where I nicked the gut at the bottom of the carcass, but it basically looks ok to me:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cooking/Pigeon_from_outside_10-06-2012/IMG_7855.JPG
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cooking/Pigeon_from_outside_10-06-2012/IMG_7856.JPG
The only visual damage to the birds was some grazing underneath behind the legs. It didn't seem to be infected at all and was dry with no smell:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cooking/Pigeon_from_outside_10-06-2012/IMG_7857.JPG
Cleaned up and got rid of any remnants of feathers:
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cooking/Pigeon_from_outside_10-06-2012/IMG_7859.JPG
I had planned chicken pie tonight, so this is tomorrow night's dinner. I won't be eating it pink in the middle just in case but it looks fine to eat :)
I ate dead spinach leaves from my garden for tea. Freshly dead. Just call me Bear Grylls! To be honest, whilst I can't see me ever doing that, I think it's a good idea in principle! Certainly economically and ethically!
I'd have to learn how to skin/gut things properly but see no problem with it and if i could do those things I'd probably do it. I think I'd prefer road kill to something just found dead though, unless it was obvious what killed it.
The only thing that puts me off doing this is the faff. Nothing else. Free food is free food after all!
LeperousDust
11-06-2012, 00:51
Seems alright as you say, although always a niggle in the back of my mind if I was doing it myself. Not that I have the slightest clue how to skin and joint a bird (terrible I know :().
Very cool in my eyes though :)
I'd like to publicly admit that this was absolutely delicious. I don't know what they feed country pigeons on, but the ones that live in town are slightly more mellow in taste :D
http://www.jonny69.co.uk/uploads/cooking/Pigeon_from_outside_10-06-2012/IMG_7861.JPG
I decided to cut my risks by only eating the breasts, so the legs and wings are in the freezer for later! On the plate is a nice pile of buttered spinach on the left; on the right is baby new potato sautéed with lardons from my own home-cured bacon, green beans, garlic and balsamic vinegar; the pigeon is simply pan-fried in the fat from the lardons and well seasoned. I didn't cook it too pink just in case.
If it's my last meal, I loved it :cool:
*like* looks 'ansome! Sounds sublime!
LeperousDust
12-06-2012, 04:13
Looks superb my friend and assuming you're not dead right now a success! :D ;D
volospian
12-06-2012, 08:22
lol, I'd have no problem eating road kill if it was me that killed it and I knew it was fresh. I have a pathelogical fear of "bad" food and won't eat anything if it smells even slightly funny, so to find something alreadt dead, without knowing its "providence" I'd have to pass.
However, nowt wrong with scoffing it if you're happy it's not going to give you Ngengi Fever and make your **** so watery it'll pass through the eye of a needle.
The only thing I'd be worried about eating city dwelling animals would be any diseases it may have.
Looks great though!
I will be kindly declining any dinner invitations from Chez Jonny ;)
I think this is gross - but well done!
The gutting didn't gross me out... seeing as I have de-breasted pheasant now :cool:
Just the thought of what it had eaten in the London suburbs! :p:puke:
BB x
Lots of fruit and seeds by the looks of the contents of its backed up gut :)
Bit like Mei Mei here, am in awe of what you're doing but would never do the same in a million years! Good on you though, and glad it was nice and tasty (and you survived!).
SidewinderINC
12-06-2012, 16:57
Nicely done! looks delicious.
I have a question that goes down the roadkill route, I have always been under the impression that you can't collect pheasants if you've run them down yourself for reasons along the lines of poaching - is this correct or an urban myth?
I was nearly in an accident last week whilst being a passenger in a car driving through Devon, a rather large deer decided to jump down the 10ft bank and in front of the car - if we had not stopped in time and hit/killed it (and miraculously not written off the car) what are the laws on us strapping that thing to the roof and driving it home?
I'm assuming you've looked into the whole roadkill thing a bit :p
Lots of fruit and seeds by the looks of the contents of its backed up gut :)
I meant Stuff its absorbed into its bloodstream though?!
Lol you are quazy! :D
(the stomach and contents of it make me gag-even just seeing undigested seeds!)
BB x
volospian
13-06-2012, 08:36
Nicely done! looks delicious.
I have a question that goes down the roadkill route, I have always been under the impression that you can't collect pheasants if you've run them down yourself for reasons along the lines of poaching - is this correct or an urban myth?
That's what I've always been told as well, although I have no idea whether it is really true or just an urban myth :(
I'm not sure about it, tbh, as I believe the law says that an animal is technically "owned" by whoever owns the land that it is on at the time. So, for example, if an estate raised pheasants for shooting, and some of those birds landed in fields on the next farm, that farm could legally shoot and keep the birds as they are on its land. It may not be good form to shoot your neighbours birds, especially if they have invested money in their stock, but I believe it is legal (my Grandfather had a farm that backed onto such an estate. I remember he occasionally had a couple of pheasants hanging in the shed... He also had a couple of friends that he occasionally used to let go hunting for "rabbits" on his land. Obviously if they came a cross the odd pheasant or deer that had found its way into his fields, that was their good fortune...)
Because of this, I suppose any "roadkill" pheasant belongs either to nobody (or indeed everybody) as it's on a public road, or perhaps to the government as "owner" of the road. If it's the former, then I can't see how anybody could be done for poaching, although if it is the latter, I suppose technically you are taking the property of Madge and she may be allowed to chop your head off, or something...
As I said, that's what I believe from what I was told growing up on the farm. I am aware that this fact may not make it true though, simply that my grandfather was never caught, lol. Someone must know this for definite though...
Just googling, this seems to be the main answer:
"All game, if not enclosed, are unowned. This includes pheasants, hares, deer etc. As soon as they are dead they belong to the landowner upon whose land they fall dead. If it's on the highway, they the council or highways agency own them."
And I know its only wiki but there doesn't sem to be anything mentioned about legality on this page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roadkill_cuisine#United_Kingdom
Considering there was a BBC show on it, I'm sure there would have been some kind of media whirlwind if they were encouraging people to break the law
volospian
13-06-2012, 12:18
As soon as they are dead they belong to the landowner upon whose land they fall dead.
Unless, I think, a hunter shoots an animal while on/over their land and it's trajectory means it lands on anothers land, I belive the hunter owns the rights to the bird (assuming it was legally hunted in the first place, of course).
I don't think they automatically have the right to trespass in order to claim the animal, but they still have a legal right to it.
SidewinderINC
13-06-2012, 17:22
sweet, time for a rampage over portsdown hill country lanes next time we're back in portsmouth :D
Fancy Dinner next time I'm back, Sam? :D
Hell yeah :D Its been too long since I saw you anyway!
I passed a dead magpie last night. Probably bounced off a car. I probably should have, shouldn't I :p
volospian
21-06-2012, 16:29
Magpie? You could have made a pie. A Magpie pie. Nice
I'm not sure I'd eat Magpie, although, apparently, they taste like chicken!
That's what I wanted to find out!
It's a good looking bird, which means it'll be tasty.
You should try Blackbird then we can sing the nursery rhyme :)
BB x
Mockingbird
21-06-2012, 18:54
Well done and respect to you.
I keep meaning to cook up roadkill but can't quite bring myself to do it - I'm afraid things got run over because they were too ill to fly away.
You should try Blackbird then we can sing the nursery rhyme :)
BB x
;D ;D ;D
Pumpkinstew
22-06-2012, 15:44
sAhKnINpWx0
1.50
Mockingbird
22-06-2012, 17:27
You should try Blackbird then we can sing the nursery rhyme :)BB x
That's quite a lot of blackbirds to 'find' dead in the garden if you haven't got a catapult, and there isn't a pick on them.
You should approach the TV companies with this, they love a bit of off-the-norm cookery.
They would have loved the bit when I was in the garage with a cleaver above my head about to whack the head off, when in walked my neighbour who had been away for 3 years travelling. I was like "Hi Sandy, long time no see! Uh, try and ignore what I'm doing... how the hell are you?" :D
Have to say Jonny, you are probably the coolest person I know.
Random bumpage, due to random browsing.
Was talking to one of my Sgts t'other day at work. He clumped a deer on the way home one day so stuck the cadaver in the boot and butchered it in his shed. Free venison! Disposal of the carcass was a bit of a 'mare as it happened the day after the fortnightly bin collection. Apparently he got nasty looks off the binmen when they finally collected said bin.
I think he's got quite a bit of land as he's got sheep who are currently "lambing". I asked if they were pets and he replied "Hell no, they're future dinners!!"
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