Guinea Fowl Chilli (Tomato Free)

I don't eat chicken - ever since my days (years) spent as a Food Hygiene Inspector where I saw thousands of them coming down the line....often with tumors, growths and what not. It used to be surprising to me because they were for the most part still quite young.

However, it seems they were very prone to cancers of one sort or another. I never saw this in any other animal to this extent and naturally removed them from my diet. Actually I haven't eaten them since - instead I would tend to go for their wild fowl friends.

I really have come to like guinea fowl which is not related to the chicken, but belongs to the pheasant family. It is a lovely bird and I have written about on here before. Again, like any meat, it is not something we would eat more then 3 or 4 times a year, but when we do we love it.

This past week I had a guinea fowl to do something with and decided to make a chilli with it. Just something a little different and with a lovely combination of flavours. It turned out nicely - I have made this before and everyone has enjoyed it.

To make the chilli - I proceed in steps. First of all I slow roast the guinea fowl in the slow cooker for most of a day or a night. This way it is succulent and tender. I cooked this one in plenty of onions, garlic, sage, salt and pepper.

I take the meat off of the bones and place the meat back into the pot - keeping it on a low heat setting. The guinea fowl had lots of liquid around it so I sprinkled a little spelt flour over top to make a thicker consistency.

In the meantime I soaked some red kidney beans over night to be ready to cook once the meat was done. I always cook my beans in lots of sea weeds - so they are not tough, and the sea weed gets into the meal as well.

In another pot I made a sauce - using carrots, beetroot, sweet potato, squash, sautéd onions, garlic and leek - these were cooked until tender and then blended into a puree. Then I added generous amounts of cumin, coriander, turmeric, pepper, salt and some bay leaves. 

Next I started to assemble everything - the beans went into the slow cooker with the meat and liquid, then the sauce was poured over top of everything. I left it to blend and heat through for about an hour or so and then turned it off. 

Once it had been sitting cooling for the afternoon it was ready - the kids loved it, the guinea fowl adds a rich taste to the rest of the ingredients as well.

April 

Guinea Fowl chilli

Roasted Guinea Fowl - A change from chicken

While I don't eat chicken and haven't for many years now, recently I have been interested in guinea fowl. It is similar to chicken and I am told the taste compares somewhere between chicken and pheasant. Which makes for quite an interesting tasting meat...

Last night - with nothing else to do (LOL) I decided to slow roast one in the oven to see how it would do. It doesn't smell exactly like chicken nor does it smell gamey - but it does smell like fowl. And it smells very good!

The way I ended up cooking it is also a little different - there isn't much fat on these birds so I wanted to add a little olive oil, but then it's also nice to have some interesting fresh tastes when slow roasted together bring out the best flavours of the meat.

For roasting I chopped shallots, garlic, an apple and half a leek - these were added to the roasting pan. Then I sprinkled some rubbed sage, thyme, sea salt and pepper all over the vegetables and the fowl - this was then placed into the pan.

Once the bird and veggies were ready to go I drizzled olive oil and then some water over top and placed it in the hot oven for 2 1/2 hours. We could smell it cooking away for the next while and it filled the house with a lovely homey odour.

Once it was fully cooked - I took it out (I basted it several times during the process) and had a look. It is lovely and very fragrant for such a small little game bird. And tender on top of all that...if you would like a change to something nicer - give it a try!

April

Oven roasted guinea fowl in shallots & apple 

Guinea Fowl - Crock Pot Recipe

Today I have been cooking a guinea fowl in the crock pot - mainly to see how it turns out but also in the hope of creating a new dish for us to all try. Although it is years since I have cooked one - it all comes back fairly quickly!

A guinea fowl is not like a chicken in that it is closer to it's wild cousins, has a completely different attitude and outlook on life and it's actually a useful animal. I remember them on the farm years ago, where they would behave like watch dogs alerting us to any foxes or strange goings-on.

Because they are very lean they also make a great addition to your Pagan Diet as well as give some other flavours and tastes in meals where you might have used chicken. Although the meat is mostly darker than domestic birds, it is far tastier.

I decided to cook this guinea fowl in the slow cooker in order to get the best flavour but also to ensure it wasn't tough in any way. I started out my adventure with 1 tablespoon of butter melting on the wood stove, then stirred in 1 tablespoon of spelt flour.

Next I added 1/4 cup of water to the butter mixture and kept stirring until it was all uniform looking. I placed this aside and prepared the bird for the crock pot. To do this I just washed and salted it inside and out and placed it on the bottom of the pot in 1 cup of boiling water.

Then I added the butter mixture and 1/4 cup of olive oil over top of the bird. Next I sprinkled 1 teaspoon each of dried sage and thyme and a few grains of ground black pepper. The slow cooker was on a high heat setting - this was left for the next 2 hours or so and then turned down to low.

Every hour I carefully basted the entire bird inside and out with the liquid in the bottom of the cooker and left it to simmer for another 3 hours. Once the meat was falling off the bones (each bird might be different depending on age and size) I turned it off to let it cool.

Now, there is lovely cooked guinea fowl meat for sandwiches, casserole, soup or stew or for just picking! My taste testers loved it added in to their chilli....

April

Guinea Fowl roasting in the crock pot