Wild pigeon cured with birch sap and citrus zest – by Chris Horridge

10 September 2008
Wild pigeon cured with birch sap and citrus zest – by Chris Horridge

Ingredients
(Serves 6-8)

6-8 boneless pigeon breasts, skin off (1 breast per starter portion)
50g low-sodium salt (eg, Solo)
50g xylitol
1 x 6in sprig of savory or thyme
3 bay leaves
5 gloves
9g garlic cloves
6 black peppercorns
Zest of 1 orange
Zest of 1 lemon
250ml birch sap wine
10 juniper berries

Method Crush all spices and herbs before using. Add the salt and xylitol to the wine and bring to the boil. Remove from stove and add the other ingredients. When cool, place pigeon in marinade, cover and chill. Turn every 12 hours, leaving for a total of 48 hours.

When the meat is sufficiently cured it should be fairly firm to the touch. If it still feels tender, then continue to marinate for a further 12 hours. Wipe off the excess marinade, wrap in clingfilm and freeze until solid. Unwrap and use a meat slicer to finely slice. We slice the pigeon breast lengthways, which allows us to roll it up around some herbs.

By Chris Horridge

The Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email

Start the working day with The Caterer’s free breakfast briefing email

Sign Up and manage your preferences below

Check mark icon
Thank you

You have successfully signed up for the Caterer Breakfast Briefing Email and will hear from us soon!

Jacobs Media Group is honoured to be the recipient of the 2020 Queen's Award for Enterprise.

The highest official awards for UK businesses since being established by royal warrant in 1965. Read more.

close

Ad Blocker detected

We have noticed you are using an adblocker and – although we support freedom of choice – we would like to ask you to enable ads on our site. They are an important revenue source which supports free access of our website's content, especially during the COVID-19 crisis.

trade tracker pixel tracking