Dove meat

The widespread bird of the pigeon family is the pigeon, whose homeland is Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia. It is noteworthy that in size this bird can be from wagtail to chicken, but in general, a pigeon is distinguished by a short neck with a small head and relatively short four-toed legs. The plumage of the pigeon can be called stiff, hard, tightly fitting to the body, and the tail of this bird is usually slightly rounded and short, but some species are long. The pigeon has a monotonous or variegated plumage color, often with a metal tint.

In general, there are at least fifteen species of wild pigeons in the pigeon family. The most common of these are the gray and brown pigeon, elm, clintuh. In order to obtain delicious bird meat, more than thirty breeds of special meat pigeons are used, among which the most famous are king, Roman strasser, coburg lark, Polish lynx, Florentine, mondain and some others.

Pigeon meat is distinguished by its tenderness and special taste, but currently these birds are practically not hunted. Even though pigeons are quite numerous, the meat of specially grown individuals is used for food.

As a rule, it is customary to kill pigeons for meat at a fairly young age, which varies from 28 to 35 days of the bird's life. During this period, they cannot fly, so they have unusually tender meat. On average, the mass of a young bird does not exceed 800 grams, depending on the conditions of keeping and breed. The live weight of an adult pigeon is 850-1400 grams. The calorie content of pigeon meat is about 294 kcal per 100 grams of fresh product.

In appearance and taste, pigeon meat resembles game meat, but unlike other types of birds, it is considered especially tasty in boiled form. To get white dove meat, it is recommended to give the bird salted milk a few hours before slaughter. Interestingly, sometimes lovers of pigeon meat add seeds of anise, dill or cumin to the bird's feed to give it a certain taste a few days before the slaughter.

A typical French dish is the meat of a pigeon in marinade. In China, pigeons are usually cooked with green peas, in Egypt - with millet filling, while the inhabitants of Moldova of pigeons are traditionally stuffed with lamb. By the way, pigeon meat tastes a little sweet, in connection with which it is perfectly combined with berries and fruits - tangerines, pear, blueberries, apricots and blueberries. In addition, pigeon meat harmonizes with potatoes, vegetables, red wine and mushrooms, up to truffles.

Pigeon muscle meat contains about 25 percent of animal proteins that are easily absorbed by the human body. Meat obtained from young pigeons is especially useful - it is distinguished by a fine fiber structure, a large amount of amino acids, as well as, according to some sources, healing properties in lung diseases.