[Sca-cooks] Sca-cooks Digest, Vol 2, Issue 85 Peafowl

[Marcus Loidolt]

  Benedicte, 
  I have it on good authority from my apprentice THL Robert Thorne, who raises and sells peafowl that indeed any cock over a year of age is practically inedible! He maintains that what MIGHT have happened in period is to use the skin of an adult cock, tanned or preserved and used to dress the carcass of another bird, perhaps a younger peafowl, perhaps something else..
  Robert maintains that the musk and testosterone produced by a courting cock renders the meat very...pardon the pun, but foul!!
   
  I have helped slaughter peafowl before, as an experiment, and found this to be true! The young birds, upto 8 months of age were fine to eat, the male birds older than a year...BLAH!!!! Mature females didn't taste bad, but were of course tougher...
   
  Abot Johann
  medieval poultrier
   
   
  
Message: 8
Date: Fri, 16 Jun 2006 23:27:58 -0500
From: Stefan li Rous 
Subject: Re: [Sca-cooks] peacocks

Selene replied to my comments with:
<<<
Stefan li Rous wrote:
> Several weeks ago, Adele de Maisieres commented:
> <<< SilverR0se at aol.com wrote:
>> The only truly edible part of the feast was a roast turkey, 
decorated
>> with peacock feathers, which only the high board got to eat.
>
> Oh, do not get me starter on this practice! >>>
>
> Why? Although they used a different faux peacock than a turkey, there
> is period commentary about doing this. Apparently they weren't as
> enthused about the taste of peacock as they were with it's colorful
> plumage.
Speaking as the one who cooked that turkey... even in Los Angeles, land
of a zillion foodstuffs, it was not possible to obtain a food-grade
peacock, with or without plumage. >>>

One possible solution to this is talked about in my peacocks-msg 
file. Use a tanned peacock skin, with feathers, and cover a different 
bird with it. Probably a higher initial cost, but it would be 
reusable if handled with care and precautions were taken to prevent 
any food contamination.

<<< Besides, Stefan's right, "adulteration of foods" is hardly 
exclusive to
modern times, as we plainly see from various Medieval and Renaissance
sources, telling how to stretch wine with water and colorants, etc. >>>

Thank you, but I think the period commentary is less about food 
adulteration and more about the fact that our ancestors considered 
the peacock to be nice and showy, but preferred to be eating a 
different bird. This taste concern is likely one of the reasons that 
the turkey caught on in Europe rather quickly.

Stefan






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