Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Infrared Cooked: Guinea Fowl

The guinea fowl, also known as the guinea hen is native to Africa, but the helmeted guinea fowl has been domesticated. 
It has been introduced outside its range in areas such as southern France, where it is known as pintade, the West Indies and the United States. 
They are known as gleanies in the United Kingdom. They have dark gray or blackish plumage with white spots, a large round body and a small featherless head. The wings are short and rounded and the tail is also short. They generally run rather than fly and nest on the ground. They are found in open habitats such as savanna. There is a feral guinea fowl in our neighborhood in Redlands which I have seen a number of times running across the road. They are very odd looking in a fun sort of way, kind of a prettier version of the turkey vulture. I purchased a guinea fowl to eat. 
It is about the size of a pheasant 
and smaller than a chicken. 
I rubbed on some olive oil and sea salt and let it sit about an hour. 
I was worried, that like pheasant, it would be very dry, so I put some slabs of bacon on the outside, then I put it in the infrared cooker. 
I was pleasantly surprised 
at how well it turned out. 
It is much more moist 
and meaty than pheasant. I think the infrared cooker is a good way to cook it, to help it retain its moisture. 
It is a very nice size for eating. A half is about perfect for a meal. 
I would have no hesitation eating it in the future and would take it hands-down over pheasant. 

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