Kitchen Essential

There are three varieties of quail in Britain. There is the European quail which occasionally spends the summer and early autumn here, sometimes breeding successfully before migrating back to the continent before winter sets in. For many years, even before the Protection of Birds Act came into being, the quail has been a completely protected bird in Britain, which is no bad thing considering the persecution they suffer at the hands of our French and Italian neighbours.

Next we have the American bobwhite quail. This is an excellent sporting and eating bird, and is virtually the mainstay of all inland game shooting activities in the USA. They do well in the wild state under favourable climatic and ecological conditions and are fairly easy to rear, so wild stocks can always be augmented should the level of a local population decline for any reason. The bobwhite is a sedentary species and has occasionally bred in the wild in Britain after being released, although our climate is hardly suitable for it to gain a firm enough foothold to become recognized as a resident breeding species.

Lastly we have the Japanese or coturnix quail. To the best of my knowledge, this is not a Japanese wild bird but a commercially manufactured article, created by the Japanese from a foundation of the quail which abounded in millions in the Middle East and many other hot countries in biblical days. The Japanese quail was the original battery hen and was kept in a tiny individual cage with scarcely room to turn round. Under these conditions, a quail would sometimes lay over 365 eggs in the course of a year. The Japanese quail matures at 6 weeks, when it will commence to lay eggs, which will be fertile when the bird is 7 or 8 weeks old.

This quail is the most prolific of the entire, rather extensive quail family, which of course commends it to the commercial producer. As it matures so quickly, it shows an excellent food conversion ratio, probably greater than in any other form of livestock kept by man for food.

It is the Japanese quail which is served stuffed and roast, on a bed of pate, in the best restaurants of Europe, so as it is the most readily available quail, this is the one we must concern ourselves with. Smoked quail will not be found in many restaurants, and I came across it quite by chance in a hotel in Lancashire. This was in my early days of smoking when I was playing about with Abu smoke boxes. By trial and error (especially the latter) I produced a more than tolerable product in the Abu, but as I was asked to smoke a fairly large quantity of quail for a commercial establishment, I realized that I would need to devise a method of smoking the birds which would deal with them in quantity. Here the situation differed from my own private ventures. The quail I originally dealt with were prime, 6-week-old roasting birds, but my business colleague wanted me to smoke his old ex-laying birds, the bulk of whom were large and fat, some weighing 8 - 10 oz dressed, while some were fatless and sinewy, yet allrequired converting into prime smoked quail.

The method I evolved is as follows. I would prick the quail on either side of the breast to allow the brine to penetrate the flesh more easily. I would soak the birds for an hour, making certain each body cavity was completely filled with brine, so that it could penetrate from within also. After brining, I would wash them well and allow to drain on racks for 3 hours. The next stage was an overnight stay in the cold smoker with smoke temperatures at 60 - 80^° F, after which I would stack them in the dustbin-type smoker on wire netting racks on three different levels. The sawdust by this time would be well ignited, and the gas ring placed directly under the bin. The temperature would be raised to 180 - 200^° F and the birds would cook for 3 - 4 hours. Invariably, the top rack would turn a deep reddish brown before the lower levels were cooked, so these would be removed and the lower racks moved up a rung, until they, too, were finished in their turn. This worked very well for a time although I found there was no way to prevent the lower part of the legs going hard and dry.

I was never completely satisfied with this method, or for that matter the rather too elderly merchandise I was handling, which differed from old pheasants in that the latter have sufficient fat and flesh on their bones to prevent their going dry.

However, this contract eventually finished and from there on I was only concerned with my own enterprises, supplying a few birds to hotels and a good many to shooting men who visit our area. I went back to the 4-oz-plus young roasting birds, and decided on a foolproof technique of processing.

I now brine the birds for an hour but do not prick, as brine can penetrate tender young birds without this assistance. I wash and drain for 3 hours, then give them their 12 hours in smoke at 60 - 80^° F. They are then finished in the Abu. As they have been well smoke dried already, the Abu burner only requires a single fill of meths to complete the job, taking approximately 20 minutes, provided only two quail are placed in the Abu at any one time. The quail done in this way are superb. They are well smoked and thoroughly cooked, but the final process keeps them very moist and succulent. The smoked quail certainly deserves to be a great deal better known than it is at present, and is one of the best starters one could ever find.

Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)
Smoked quail

• Smoked woodcock
• THE ABC OF COOKWARE Part 1
• THE ABC OF COOKWARE Part 2
• Smoked fillets of beef
• Storage of smoked food
• Look my grandma’s smokers part 2
• Conquering Clutter (continue...)
• My Favorite Smoking Recipes
• THE ABC OF COOKWARE Part 3
• Smoked ham

Trackback URI | Comments RSS