Peacock meat was considered a great delicacy and a feast for kings in India for centuries. Peacock is protected as a national bird in India, though they are numerous and a pest in some agricultural areas.

Here in New Zealand I have shot them and they are good eating.

This is how I do them

Take only the breast meat (the legs are too stringy). Cube the meat into 2" chunks.

Marinade - Fry on low heat 1 chopped onion, a table spoon of chopped ginger, a table spoon of chopped garlic until pale golden brown - then add 4 table spoons of tandoori masala. Take the mix off the fire once you get a nice smell.

Grind the mix in a food processor until it is a fine paste - then add 1 cup unsweetened yogurt, squeeze half lemon or lime.

Marinate the meat for an hour. Add qtr teaspoon salt and mix well. Leave for 10 minutes. Mix again and put on skewers and grill at 300 F for 10 minutes and turn and grill for another 5 to 7 minutes.

Keep basting with marinade so that it does not dry out.

A variation - you could just take the breast fillets and score with a knife and marinate for an hour. Grill or bake for 20 minutes in a covered dish and then open the dish and grill for 5 minutes.

I haven't tried peacock although I have numerous very old recipes for it.

I'm always interested when people say the legs of game birds are too tough to eat. I hear that all the time here about Grouse, ducks, geese etc. The legs on all game birds are very nice if cooked low and slow with some moisture and a lid on the pot.

The legs on peacock must be quite large and a few pairs (I asume they come in pairs )
would make a nice meal.

Is the breast meat white or dark on peacock? Sounds like a yummy recipe.

We have eaten a few peacocks over the years.
Ones that were raised inside a run and well fed tasted just like turkeys. Those living outside are definitely more stringy and quite small once all the feathers are off.
The former can be cooked as with a domestic turkey and the latter as any gamebird.

I got one from a friend that was moving ( along with a couple of guinne fowl and some rabbits.). It was an old bird ant turned out fairly tough fut the flavor was good. If you had a young bird it would make big difference.

Peacock is white meat, just like the Indian Jungle fowl.

Thanks for the tip on the legs. Yes even the breast meat can dry out.

Unsweetened yogurt is a great marinade commonly used in North Indian cuisine.

this might be worth a try - supposedly an ancient greek recipe. click here:

http://foodsoftheworld.activeb...lumage_topic146.html

The spanish name translates as "Royal Turkey". I would try a receipe for Turkey.

Kind like John Wesley Hardin killed a man for snoring--

I killed Gramps' peacock,

for scarin' the livin' $#!+ out of me and wakin' me up before dawn-

After the whoopin'; I got to pluck and cook it--


Haven't eaten another one since in the past

45+ years


Other than the sore butt

I recall it tasted pretty good

That's hilarious. A hunting buddy I had in High school, had a neighbor that had couple that ran around the yard making all kinds of racket. We were coming back from a pheasant safari one day, and one of them got a little too far out of bounds (neighbor lady's car wasn't there) so we offed it. Real similar to turkey, and it was a lot quieter from that point on. I'm thinkin' they would be good deep fried whole like turkey. That is the ONLY way I like turkey cooked.

He had just gotten the bird, he was really proud of it.

I had NO idea it was there, or for that matter what is was , but that loud shrieking oowawk,oowawk--

two feet from my untrained ear led me to believe it was dangerous and needed to die

(at least as my adolescent brain processed the info)



Deep fried sounds good, maybe it's time to find another one.

Funny story-25 yrs ago I was married to a Thai girl who hailed from the SE Thailand area bordering Cambodia. Back in the US she did her rural SEA thing w/ a huge garden agumented with game I brought home. (She tried hunting once but was scared by Pee-Loks in the woods(Animist Culture ghosts) She called all in a tizzy one day-she caught a "turkey" in her garden. I got home to find a plump Peacock hen under a clothes basket in the bathtub! I processed it and we roasted it much like turkey. It was delicious, tender, white meat and very juicy. Never had one since, even raising Peacocks from time to time cause the cost over $150 as adults locally.

My father would hang a peacock overnight which supposedly tenderised it. As with most game, peahens (females) are better eating than Peacocks. I guess they are the same as a Wild American Turkey in terms of table fare.

Hmmm. There's a male wandering our neighborhood looking for love and female wild turkeys of course won't have anything to do with him ...

Perish the thought!

Except as noted, at 1 in the morning it can be considered!