The Case of the Unidientified Game Bird

[Wilfrid]

I ate dinner in a well known Manhattan restaurant last night.  I ordered one of the specials: roast pheasant with black truffles.  When the waiter lifted the cloche, I found myself presented with two plump, dark brown breast fillets, oozing a little blood, generously drssed with shaved black truffles and encircled by whipped celeriac.

"Flummery?" I asked myself, having watched too many Nero Wolfe repeats.  I tasted the bird, then summoned the Captain.  "This is very nice," I said, "But it's not pheasant is it?"

Now, the honest answer would have been, "No, obviously it's not, we just took you for a jackass and now we're embarrassed."  But he went for the much safer:  "Let me go and ask the chef."

Back he came.  "Sorry, sir, the chef had run out of pheasant, but has replaced it with fresh Scottish grouse."

"That surprises me," I said, because the Scottish grouse season starts on August 12 and ends long before Christmas, and I don't think this bird has been hung for six weeks.  Could it be frozen grouse?"

"Let me ask the chef."

In the meantime, I continued tasting.  Grouse, of course, has perhaps the most distinctive flavor of all game birds - sour, earthy, strongly liverish, and quite delicious.  It also has fairly small breast fillets, which is why its common (although not universal) practice to serve the whole bird.  This, to me, looked and tasted like, and had the texture of, plump squab.

Back came the Captain.  "Sir, the chef assures me that the bird is fresh."  I had no disgareement with that fact.  "Okay, I said, then I guess it was shot illegally, but that's not my problem."

He offered to replace the dish, but in fact the dish was perfectly acceptable.  I only wanted to know what it was.

The mystery deepened as I continued eating.  I had tentatively concluded that, having run out of pheasant, the kitchen had substituted squab, then come up with a spur of the moment impulse to make it sound glamorous by calling it grouse - not knowing that their customer was a difficult, argumentative, egullet food geek.

But then I found the bullet.  Always a good sign with game, because it confirms it was actually hunted rather than farmed.  So, not farmed squab then.  A wild pigeon?  Wood pigeon?  Quite possibly (and why not say so?).

Now, I am fallible, and I suppose, even after all these years, I might not know grouse when I'm eating it, but as I said - if it was fresh Scottish grouse, then it was poached, and I am amazed that exporting poached Scottish grouse to New York, then selling it at the same price as pheasant, is a very viable business.

I was going to identify the restuarant in this post, but they were sufficiently red-faced to buy me two generous glasses of dessert wine and the dessert itself; and the meal was absolutely fine.

A three pipe problem.  I would be interested if anyone has a better explanation for these events.  I thought of sending the bullet to a lab for analysis, then I decided debating metaphysics with Mr Plotnicki on another thread had sent me mad.  But the story's true.

[A Balic]

How big were the breasts? Wood pigeon is a very dark, strong tasting meat and would be much smaller then pheasant. Why would they try to pass it off as pheasant? Do they have Wood pigeon in the US, it would seem to be to much expense/bother to import them from abroad. At the moment you can buy 10 breasts for four quid from my local butcher. It could be woodcock or grey partridge (maybe not dark enough) but these are more expensive than pheasant (like grouse) so why would they palm it off as pheasant. I am mystified by reponse taken by the restaurant, they have lied on at least one account, but why bother to lie at all? How strange, I would out them, bribes or no.

[Rachel Perlow]

Any chance it's a good old-fashioned New York flying rat? (aka pigeon) That would certainly be cheaper than pheasant! ;)

[yvonne johnson]

D’Artagnan are selling fresh Scottish Wood Pigeons Oct-Feb and Scottish Red Leg Partridges Oct-Feb, and for both they say “Watch out for the shot”.

www.dartagnan.com/item.asp?item=FSCPR002

www.dartagnan.com/item.asp?item=FSCWP002

[A Balic]

Interesting. Most likely is Wood pigeon then. Organic game? How cheeky. I have just stocked my freezer up with grey leg partridges and two woodcock, maybe I should export it?

[Wilfrid]

Quote: from A Balic on 12:32 pm on Jan. 31, 2002

How big were the breasts?

I have just been reading yet another discussion about private parts on the Foods of Fear thread (in which Adam is involved), and what is the first thing I read here?

Anyway, Adam, I am inclined to agree with you.  The breasts were a little too large and too mild for wood pigeon.  It was more like squab than anything else, but I didn't think anyone shot squab - maybe I'm just plain wrong about that.  I did consider for a while the possibility that the chef had inserted the bullet in order to add plausibility to his grouse claim - but then that's just too many Nero Wolfe repeats again.

[Fat Guy]

I'm thinking grouse. It doesn't sound like squab or wood pigeon at all, and it's certainly not partridge.

Regarding the livery taste, that comes from overcooking the grouse. If it's properly cooked, it shouldn't have that taste. It will still be strongly flavored, but not what I'd describe as livery.

Regarding the season, are you certain about your dates? I know there are a few types of grouse -- red, black, whatever. Do all cease to be hunted in December? Maybe they only stop hunting red grouse, but the black are still hunted? I'm not sure. How could we find out?

It was not likely of United States origin if it was hunted. Most of the game served in restaurants here comes from Scotland. I think it may even be illegal to sell hunted United States game.

Were you at Lespinasse by any chance? I know he's got a ton of Scottish game coming in all the time. And he does hang it. He also uses the Cry-O-Vac and seals breasts of game in with marinades and whatever and lets them sit around for awhile. Possibly even a couple of months. This can also help to leech out some of the stronger flavors, which would alter the taste versus what you're accustomed to. They do this at Ducasse as well.

If you were indeed upgraded to grouse, it would only be a minor transgression not to tell you. You got something much better than what you bargained for. It's like when I was at Trotter's a couple of years ago and we ordered a tasting menu that had bison on it. He sent out Kobe beef instead. Nobody mentioned it, until we asked. I thought it was strange, but I didn't mind. Probably just a communication glitch. The chef perhaps meant to tell the runners about the change, but got distracted while those plates were on the pass and they went out without instructions. It happens at the best places. Now that I think about it, this sounds like vintage Bouley behavior, but isn't he shut down for now?

[TCD]

Quote: from Fat Guy on 6:46 pm on Jan. 31, 2002

Regarding the season, are you certain about your dates? I know there are a few types of grouse -- red, black, whatever. Do all cease to be hunted in December? Maybe they only stop hunting red grouse, but the black are still hunted? I'm not sure. How could we find out?

***

Now that I think about it, this sounds like vintage Bouley behavior, but isn't he shut down for now?

Grouse season seems to expire on December 10th, but other fowl is still in season until the end of January.  Perhaps sneaking in a random grouse is not too difficult.

With respect to Bouley, the Dining section of the NYT yesterday indicated that he is open (or about to reopen) sans Bakery (the dropping of the Bakery had been in the news a few weeks/months back).  So "Bouley" the restaurant is back.  Fixed price menu until Feb 15th and a la carte thereafter.

(Edited by TCD at 8:19 pm on Jan. 31, 2002)

(Edited by TCD at 8:20 pm on Jan. 31, 2002)

[Bux]

Regarding the livery taste, that comes from overcooking the grouse. If it's properly cooked, it shouldn't have that taste. It will still be strongly flavored, but not what I'd describe as livery.

Gee. The taste of liver is what I look for in game. We may be at loggerheads in regard to the semantics of taste. Gamey and livery are sort of synonymous in my mind. Do I have a too limited vocabularly? I've only had grouse once, but I'd kill for it again. I'm a poor shot though.

[A Balic]

No, Grouse season is well and truely over. As for sneaking one in? Its a bit of a risk, you are not even allowed to display legally shot and frozen down grouse, after the season (although my butcher does). Fat Guy here is a article that lists all the British game seasons, which I crossed checked for you:

http://www.foodiesite.com/articles/1999-09/game.jsp

I'm not happy with it being grouse, mostly because I think Wilfrid would know that bird, but also because it is either illegal or has been frozen down. I am still rooting for wood pigeon, the species in the UK has meat that is very dark and remains dark after cooking and while grouse flesh is almost black when raw, it does go quite pale when cooked (although a marinade may change this, but why would you marinate grouse?). Fat Guy as you explain it the up-grade does seem pretty minor, but if you were expecting pheasant and got Grouse/Wood pigeon some people may find that flavour to be to "gamy"and a little strange, especially if you weren't told about the change.

[Fat Guy]

Bux, I found this quote in a Wine Spectator article. It's from someone at D'Artagnan:

Some refer to the gamy flavor of grouse and similar birds as "livery." But Faison prefers the term "full-flavored." "That livery taste usually occurs when game is overcooked," he says.

I'>http://www.winespectator.com/Wine....l

I'm

going with Grouse in Cry-O-Vac for 6-8 weeks as my final answer.

[Wilfrid]

Thanks, guys, for some very interesting points.  I think, as Bux implied, my writing skills are more likely to be at fault on this occasion than my palate.  For example, I agree that grouse gets bitter when overcooked, but the gamy flavour I described as "liverish" is certainly there when the bird is rare - I am probably using a bad word to describe it.  Similarly with the squab - if it doesn't sound like squab, I'm describing it badly.  I've eaten a million squab, and it was very much like squab.

I did look up the season to check my facts, and like Adam, I found December 10 as the closing date (I knew it was before Christmas).  I honestly don't know how long grouse can be hung, especially using the Lespinasse methods Steven described (it wasn't Lespinasse).  The effect of hanging, however, is usually that it promotes a gamy flavor; and this "grouse" wasn't very "grousy" at all.

Let me confirm that, had I been presented with grouse instead of pheasant, I would have been delighted - I much prefer it.  My best estimate is that I have been cooking grouse, or eating it in restaurants, usually several times during the brief season, since 1988, so I feel pretty confident of my judgments on it.

But then there's the bullet (or small round piece of shot to be accurate), and I sort of suspected that people aren't going around shooting squab in the States.

If there wasn't such a lot of circumstantial evidence against it being grouse, I would probably just conclude that my palate had gone mad.  But taking the grouse season point together with my gustatory reaction, leaves me thinking it was something else.

I should've smuggled a bit out, shouldn't I?

Addition:  Just re-read the posts, and Adam made another good point.  Grouse meat does become paler when cooked (even lightly cooked).  These breasts were dark, dark red - just like rare squab or pigeon.

(Edited by Wilfrid at 10:58 am on Feb. 1, 2002)

[A Balic]

Yep, that bullet is the smoking gun alright.

[Bux]

"liverish"  

"grousy"

"I am probably using a bad word to describe it."

May I suggest "livery" and "grousish" next time. ;-)

[ajay]

I'm a bit confused by the terminology used here.  What precisley does it mean to say something tastes "gamey?"  I ask because the term has often been used to describe the tast of venison, which i'm sure no one would mistake for grouse pheasant or squab.

[Fat Guy]

I think it's an imprecise term used to refer to any meat that tastes stronger and more concentrated than its domesticated couterparts, mostly on account of the extra use the muscles get. There's also a fermented, funky taste that you get with meat that has been aged or hung, which is also somewhat imprecise since you get the same taste if you age farm-raised meat.

[Wilfrid]

Protracted armchair ratiocination has suggested a solution to this puzzle which is consistent with all the known facts, leaves both my judgment and the restaurant's integrity unimpugned, and - above all - explains the mysterious bullet.

If you recall, there were good reasons to think that this bird was not grouse - both the evidence of my palate (freely dismissed by certain bulldog-fanciers, of course) and the fact that the grouse season had ended more than two months previously.

Assume it wasn't grouse.  But assume also that the chef was an honest fellow.  The deductive leap is obvious.  He said it was grouse, because that's what he thought it was.

This is a young, but experienced and able chef.  He is American, and has not, I believe, worked in the British Isles.  His judgment would have told him the bird was fresh, not frozen.  He would have seen at a glance that it was shot wild game (and I think we agreed that bird with a bullet is unlikely to have been sourced in the U.S.).  He probably had no reason to doubt that the bird had been flown in from Scotland.

It is quite possible, however, that our chef is unfamiliar with the precise details of the game seasons of specific, rare British game birds - and maybe doesn't cook grouse that often either.  He sent the bird out as grouse in all good faith, because that's what he had been told it was.

But who by?  I said above that exporting illegally poached grouse to the United States would be a high risk, low profit enterprise.  On the other hand, there would be very significant profit in shipping a crate of shot pigeon at grouse prices - and although you might lose a customer if a restaurant spotted the trick, you'd be most unlikely to face a criminal prosecution.

My work is done, Inspector.  I offer no proof, but perhaps an interview with the so-called "grouse dealer" might be in order.

(Theme music.  Roll credits.)

[macrosan]

Ellery Queen, eat your heart out