Skip to content

Slow Cooker Hunter Style Wood Pigeon

It was not an easy time for a mining family forty years ago. The miner’s strike had dragged on for a whole year during which time we learned very quickly how to live on a very meagre budget. Then Paul decided he needed a change so we moved our young family to a small, country market town near the east coast where my parents had a house large enough to accommodate us all. As my parents spent half the year living in Spain and we had precious little income other than unemployment benefits and the occasional seasonal work we continued to live frugally. Fortunately one of our daughters became friends with the local butcher’s daughter and since he was; like us; into custom cars and vans it wasn’t long before we were on good terms.

We were in his shop one day when he was bemoaning the fact that he had a freezer full of wood pigeons he was finding hard to get rid of. Now, both Paul and I had been brought up eating game; pheasant, venison, pigeon, rabbit, you name it, we’d eaten it; so we thought nothing of taking them off his hands. He was happy to sell them to us for 10p a bird if we were prepared to pluck them ourselves; which is why all our daughters can pluck and prepare a bird when the need arises. Thereafter he would save us any pigeon he was given, along with the odd rabbit or two. I know you don’t get much meat on a pigeon but with really cheap or free vegetables from the local farmers we could feed the seven of us for less than £1.

Fast forward 40 years and even though we have put our roots down in God’s own country and are financially stable we still like our game, so when the local market was selling two wood pigeon for a fiver I had to buy a couple, along with a venison haunch and a brace of pheasant; another game bird nobody seems to want these days; for less than a tenner for the lot.

Since I have previously made hunter style recipes using pork and chicken I had an inkling of what to do so I chucked everything into the pot and hoped for the best. And very tasty it was too.

  • 2 whole wood pigeons
  • 1 medium onion, roughly chopped
  • 1large carrot, cut into cubes
  • 1 medium green pepper, diced
  • 1 cup of runner beans, sliced
  • 2 cups mushrooms, cut into quarters
  • 500mls chicken stock
  • Couple of sprigs fresh thyme
  • Fresh sage leaves, ripped 
  • 1tbs cornflour
  1. Place all the vegetables into the slow cooker.
  2. Sit the wood pigeon on top of the vegetables.
  3. Add the stock, close the lid and cook on high for 4 hours.
  4. When cooking is complete remove the pigeon and keep warm. Set to sear/sauté. 
  5. Mix the cornflour with a little water to make a slurry and add to pot mixing well until the sauce thickens.
Tags:

1 thought on “Slow Cooker Hunter Style Wood Pigeon”

  1. Amanda

    I remember doing pheasant curry for Christmas dinner one year in the new huge saucepan I’d been given as a present. Bloody lovely. And it makes a darn good curry in the slow cooker.

Comments are closed.