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Aquatic Birds, Other Than Duck
Coot, mud hens, marsh hens, rice hens, hell divers, or water hens-by whatever name are the only birds that need a good washing with water before cooking. They are frequently made palatable merely by skinning them to remove the marshy taste, after which they are submitted to long stewing until they are tender. If they have a very fishy smell, cook only the legs and breasts, even parboil these a few minutes with a cut onion, and then season highly with thyme, parsley, bay leaf, onion, and garlic, and either stew or bake.
But here is another method: Skin the birds, and if they still have a fishy odor, soak in salt water for a couple of hours-better pretend they are not fishy, though, and just give them a water bath. Cut them up, dip wet meat in seasoned flour, and fry in bacon fat. When done, add more fat or butter, heat to sizzling, add a few tablespoons of water and quickly clamp down the cover to let steam a minute.
A field-to-skillet treatment of coot and rails, birds that reward preparation more than technique. Almost everything that makes them good to eat happens before they meet heat.
- Skin, never pluckThe off-flavor lives in the skin and the layer of fat directly beneath it, not in the muscle. Peel the skin off with the feathers still attached and strip away every trace of yellow fat; a bird handled this way rarely needs the salt soak at all.
- Take only breasts and legsOn coot the breast fillets are dark, lean and about the size of a small chicken thigh; the legs are tough but usable. The recipe discards the rest when the birds smell fishy, and most who cook coot leave the carcass and giblets behind as well.
- Know which birds are legalCoot, moorhens and rails are game species with seasons and bag limits. Grebes, the birds called hell divers here, are protected in the United States and Canada and may not be taken. Use only birds lawfully bagged in season.
- The parboilA few minutes at a bare simmer with a cut onion, as the recipe directs, to draw off the strong stuff. Discard that water entirely and start the seasoning in fresh liquid or fat.
- Two speeds, no middleStewed or baked, give the legs and any whole birds a long, gentle braise, an hour and a half or more, until they pull apart; the recipe specifies no temperature, only "long stewing." Fried breast fillets go the other way: three to four minutes a side in hot bacon fat and no longer, or they turn to leather.
- Seasoned flourRead this as flour with salt, black pepper and a little cayenne. The thyme, parsley, bay, onion and garlic listed for the stewed version are not optional garnish here; they are doing real work against the residual flavor.
- The steam finishAdding water to sizzling fat and clamping the lid deglazes the pan and softens the crust into a light gravy. Keep it to a minute, use two to three tablespoons, and stand back when the water hits the fat.
- Doneness and yieldWild birds should reach 165F throughout. Figure two coot per person for the fried version, since a pair of breasts and two small legs is a modest serving.