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Author Topic: Best method for dressing/butchering ?? please offer advice  (Read 8015 times)
Nedley
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« Reply #15 on: October 30, 2004, 12:49:54 AM »

I was told that quail were dark-breast birds, (cortunix anyway, cept for the A&M) but those that I butchered and we ate, were all either jumbo brown or manchurian, and.. the breast meat sure seemed like white meat to us, also kinda dry, I cooked them on the grill, breast up.. maybe that let em dry out to much while cooking, I don't know. Me and the wife both prefer dark meat, so I wasn't real thrilled to find the breast meat on them seemed almost like a chicken breast (except alot smaller).
 Was I misinformed? or was it the way I cooked them? (I wrapped them in bacon, breast up, but when I took them off the grill there was alot of juices that accumulated in the body cavity, I'm wondering if I had cooked them breast down if that moisture would have stayed in the breast better).
 
 As always, thanks for any input
 
Ned
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Fivehollers
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Miss Hannah Mae Pike

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« Reply #16 on: October 31, 2004, 06:33:15 AM »

How long did you cook them and how old are the birds you ate?

Most people think of bobs as they do dove, which is a red meat to me, I still love the little critters tho.

I marinate the bobs for several hours to over night with beer, some type of seasonings, like, seasoned salt, garlic, onion, ummm, some worchestershire what ever turns you on. Then we cook them over open fire, I have a cast iron grate that we use instead of the grill, to much money for briquets, when we have 30 acres of firewood. The hubby is usually in charge of this and timing is everything, it is easy to overcook the little guys and he usually spends most of the cooking time turning them from side to side, we cook them whole, not split down the middle, anyway the only dry birds we had were the older birds like 24 months they were tough, I prefer 13 to 16 weeks they are tender and oh so yummy. You don't have to marinate them but they accept so much flavor, I use different seasonings depending on what side dishes I am making, for example if I am serving them with dressing I will cook the birds with sage and thyme, if I am having rice, I will cook the birds with soy sauce and ginger. Anyway, I know this is getting lengthy but my point is that they are very versitile birds and the cooking time is not very long.

Hope this helps.

Lori
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Nedley
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« Reply #17 on: November 09, 2004, 03:22:26 AM »

Lori,
 Sorry for the long response time.. got caught up in other stuff and nowhere near having any more of them ready to butcher out, so I got sidetracked on other stuff.
 The ones I cooked.. I cooked in the smoker on the hot end.. (probably the same as cooking over a very low temp grill, I would guess about 300 F) I wrapped each in bacon, and cooked them breast up.. I did not turn them any during the cooking, and cooked them about 2 hours (probably way to long, but with poultry I am scared to death of undercooking) When I did take them off the smoker, and moved them around I got alot of juice that poured out of them from the chest cavity, I'm thinking that right off the bat, I shoulda cooked them breast down, or at minimum turned them alot.. I think all the juices drained right out of the breast meat. These were cortunix quail and I believe they were at 10 weeks of age. Bobs might be bigger, I have 3 little bobs out there now that are at 12 weeks and are starting to look bigger than my cortunix, but.. the cortunix from the same eggs (my "egg laying gals") are now 16 weeks old and don't seem any bigger than the ones I butchered.
 The meat was very tender.. it wasn't tough (maybe I mispoke my unhappiness with that, it was not tough at all), but the breast meat was dry, and seemed more like white meat on a turkey or chicken, than it did dark meat like a leg or thigh. I expected the breast meat to be more like a chicken leg since I was told they were dark meat birds even on the breast. The thigh meat was perfect, although very little there.. I'm just curious what I can do to make the breast meat (which is undoubtly the biggest amount of meat) juicier and not so dried out.
 Thanks for you responses :) you really know your quail.
Ned
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Fivehollers
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Miss Hannah Mae Pike

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« Reply #18 on: November 12, 2004, 07:58:25 AM »

Cooking them for 2 hours may be a little long due to the evidence of dry breast meat. I would try turning them more often and remember they only weight ounces so adjust your cooking time accordingly.

Cooking is one of my favorite things to do and we experiment a lot. Just keep plugging away you will find the combination of cooking times and methods that are pleasing to you.

Lori  :D
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