Subject: [Tweeters] Birds starting with A: Avocet
Date: Jan 4 13:24:59 2006
From: Guttman,Burton - GuttmanB at evergreen.edu


Ah, tres bien! Personally, I find avocet a bit . . . muddy, let us say, for truly fine dining, but I shall try it with your orange reduction sauce next time I go shorebird hunting. I'm reminded that somewhere I have an old (as, perhaps, 17th century) recipe that was sent on Birdchat (I think) several years ago. It starts with a very small bird, perhaps a sparrow, which is then wrapped in a slightly larger bird such as a blackbird, and it continues this way to wrappings of larger and larger birds until one has a kind of roast of about a dozen birds within birds. Surely an appropriate main course for some ABA, AOU, or Audubon Society convention.

Burt Guttman
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 guttmanb at evergreen.edu
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S. E., Olympia, 98503

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Subject: [Tweeters] Birds starting with A: Avocet


Greetings All:

American Avocet. Delicious.

The breast meat really is the best, but since the bird is relatively small, it usually takes several individuals to really suffice.

The meat should be roasted at about 350 degrees; cooking time is brief as the meat is not very thick. I like it best with an orange reduction sauce made from red wine (yes, I know, fowl should be with white, but I think a good merlot is best here). Make sure you spice it up with some garlic, black pepper, shallots, and a bit of ginger.

To really finish it off -- try a few of the orange head feathers on the edge of the plate. Really brings out the orange of the sauce. Of course, this means you need adults in alternate plumage. On the other hand, juvs just starting to fly are the tastiest.

Bon appetit
Steven Mlodinow
Everett WA