Squab (food)
Encyclopedia
In culinary terminology, squab is a young domestic pigeon
or its meat. The meat is widely described as tasting like dark chicken. The term is probably of Scandinavia
n origin; the Swedish word skvabb means "loose, fat flesh". It formerly applied to all dove and pigeon species, such as the Wood Pigeon, the Mourning Dove
, and the now-extinct Passenger Pigeon
, and their meat. More recently, squab meat comes almost entirely from domesticated pigeons. The meat of dove and pigeon gamebirds hunted primarily for sport is rarely called squab.
The practice of domesticating pigeon as livestock
may have come from the Middle East
; historically, squabs or pigeons have been consumed in many civilizations, including Ancient Egypt
, Rome
and Medieval Europe. Although squab has been consumed throughout much of recorded history, it is generally regarded as exotic, not as a contemporary staple food
; there are more records of its preparation for the wealthy than for the poor.
The modern squab industry uses utility pigeons. Squabs are raised until they are roughly a month old, when they reach adult size but have not yet flown, before being slaughtered.
may have come from the Middle East
; historically, squabs or pigeons have been consumed in many civilizations, including Ancient Egypt
, Rome
and Medieval Europe. Doves are described as food in the Holy Scriptures and were eaten by the Hebrews
. Texts about methods of raising pigeons
for their meat date as far back as AD
60 in Spain. Such birds were hunted for their meat because it was a cheap and readily available source of protein.
In the Tierra de Campos
, a resource-poor region of north-western Spain, squab meat was an important supplement to grain crops from at least Roman times. Caelius Aurelianus
, an Ancient Roman physician, regarded the meat as a cure for headaches, but by the 16th century, squab was believed to cause headaches.
From the Middle Ages, a dovecote
(French pigeonnier) was a common outbuilding on an estate that aimed to be self-sufficient. The dovecote was considered a "living pantry", a source of meat for unexpected guests, and was important as a supplementary source of income from the sale of surplus birds. Dovecotes were introduced to South America and Africa by Mediterranean colonists. In medieval England, squab meat was "highly valued", although its availability depended on the season--in one dovecote in the 1320s, nearly half the squab yield was produced in the summer, none in the winter.
In England, pigeon meat was eaten when other food was rationed during the Second World War
and remains associated with wartime shortages and poverty. This was parodied in an episode of the sitcom Dad's Army
, "Getting the Bird
". Nevertheless, many people continue to eat it, especially the older generation.
Pigeons, unlike other poultry, form pair bonds to breed, and squabs must be brooded and fed by their parents until they are four weeks old; a pair of pigeons may produce 15 squabs per year. Ten pairs can produce eight squabs each month without being fed by their keepers. Pigeons which are accustomed to their dovecote may forage
and return there to rest and breed. Industrially raised pigeons have young which weigh 1.3 pound (0.589670081 kg) when of age, as opposed to traditionally raised pigeons, which weigh 0.5 pound (0.226796185 kg).
Utility pigeons have been artificially selected
for weight gain, quick growth, health when kept in large numbers, and health of their infants. For a greater yield, commercially raised squab may be produced in a two-nest system, where the mother lays two new eggs in a second nest while her offspring are still growing in the first nest, fed crop milk
by their father. Establishing two breeding lines has been suggested as another strategy for greater yield, where one breeding line is selected for prolificacy and the other for "parental performance", which, according to Aggrey and Cheng, is "vital" for squab growth after the age of two weeks.
Meleg estimates that 15-20% of eggs fail to hatch in well-maintained pigeon lofts. Egg size is important for the squab's initial size and for mortality at hatching, but becomes less important as the squab ages. Aggrey and Cheng feel that the hatched weight of squabs is not a good indicator of their weight at four weeks old.
Squabs reach adult size, but are not yet ready to fly (making them easier to catch) after roughly a month; at this point, they are slaughtered
.
meats, but there is relatively little meat per bird, the meat being concentrated in the breast.
Squab is dark meat
, and the skin is fatty, like that of duck
. The meat is very lean, easily digestible, and "rich in proteins, minerals, and vitamins". It has been described as having a "silky" texture, as it is very tender and fine-grained. It has a milder taste than other game, and has been described as having a mild berry flavor. Squab's flavor lends itself to complex red or white wines
.
In the 14th century humorism
book Health Regime, squab was regarded as a "hot and moist" food, whereas the meat of older pigeons was regarded as hot, dry, and "barely edible". The Roman cookbook Apicius
recommended sauces with a combined sweet and sour flavor to accompany roasted or braised squab. In 1607, a recipe book from a monastery suggested cooking squab with pork fat or bitter limes. There is less information about traditional recipes incorporating squab or pigeon used by commoners, but there is evidence they were "handed down from generation to generation". In the 15th century, the Italian friar Luca Pacioli
wrote a book of "culinary secrets" which included "How to Kill a Squab by Hitting with a Feather on the Head". In 18th century France, pigeons à la crapaudine ("Toad-like Squab") was a popular "dish of skill" for both rich and poor, in which the squab was arranged so that it looked like a frog, with the breast forming the frog's "face". Religious dietary laws
once prohibited meat on fast days, but allowed frog's meat, as it was a water dweller. Pigeons à la crapaudine played with that convention, and is still part of French traditional cuisine.
Commercially raised birds "take only half as long to cook" as traditionally raised birds, and are suitable for roasting, grilling, or searing, whereas the traditionally raised birds are better suited to casserole
s and slow-cooked stews. The meat from older and wild pigeons is tougher than squab, and requires a long period of stewing or roasting
to tenderize. The consumption of squab probably stems from the relative ease of catching birds which have not yet fledge
d, or that unfledged birds have more tender meat. Once a squab has fledged, its weight decreases significantly.
Today, squab is part of the cuisine of many countries, including France
, the United States
, Italy
, the Maghreb
, and several Asian countries
. Typical dishes include breast of squab (sometimes as the French salmis
), Egyptian mahshi
(stuffed with rice and herbs), and the Moroccan pastilla
. In Spain and France, squab is also preserved as a confit
. Demand for squab is increasing in Nigeria, despite being more expensive than beef, pork or chicken, as pigeons can quickly be raised to table weight and are easy to keep, providing diseases are controlled, as young pigeons are especially susceptible to disease.
In the United States, squab is "increasingly a specialty item", as the larger and cheaper chicken
displaced it. However, squab produced from specially-raised utility pigeons continues to grace the menus of American haute cuisine
restaurants such as Le Cirque
and The French Laundry, and has enjoyed endorsements from some celebrity chef
s. Accordingly, squab is often sold for much higher prices than other poultry, sometimes as high as eight USD
per pound.
In Chinese cuisine
, squab is a part of celebratory banquets for holidays such as Chinese New Year
, usually served deep-fried. Cantonese-style pigeon is typically braised in soy sauce, rice wine and star anise then roasted with crispy skin and tender meat. Squabs are sold live in Chinese marketplaces to assure freshness, but they can also be dressed in two styles. "Chinese-style" (Buddhist slaughter) birds retain their head and feet, whereas "New York-dressed" (Confucian slaughter) birds retain their entrails, head and feet. The greatest volume of U.S. squab is currently sold within Chinatown
s.
Despite the relative ease of raising pigeons, squab is "not usually considered" in terms of its potential for food security
. In parts of the developed world, squab meat is thought of as exotic or distasteful by consumer
s because they view feral pigeon
s as unsanitary urban pests. However, squab meat is regarded as safer than some other poultry products as it harbors fewer pathogen
s, and may be served between medium and well done
.
Utility pigeon breeds:
Domestic Pigeon
The Domestic Pigeon was derived from the Rock Pigeon. The Rock Pigeon is the world's oldest domesticated bird. Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets mention the domestication of pigeons more than 5,000 years ago, as do Egyptian hieroglyphics.Research suggests that domestication of pigeons was as early as...
or its meat. The meat is widely described as tasting like dark chicken. The term is probably of Scandinavia
Scandinavia
Scandinavia is a cultural, historical and ethno-linguistic region in northern Europe that includes the three kingdoms of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, characterized by their common ethno-cultural heritage and language. Modern Norway and Sweden proper are situated on the Scandinavian Peninsula,...
n origin; the Swedish word skvabb means "loose, fat flesh". It formerly applied to all dove and pigeon species, such as the Wood Pigeon, the Mourning Dove
Mourning Dove
The Mourning Dove is a member of the dove family . The bird is also called the Turtle Dove or the American Mourning Dove or Rain Dove, and formerly was known as the Carolina Pigeon or Carolina Turtledove. It is one of the most abundant and widespread of all North American birds...
, and the now-extinct Passenger Pigeon
Passenger Pigeon
The Passenger Pigeon or Wild Pigeon was a bird, now extinct, that existed in North America and lived in enormous migratory flocks until the early 20th century...
, and their meat. More recently, squab meat comes almost entirely from domesticated pigeons. The meat of dove and pigeon gamebirds hunted primarily for sport is rarely called squab.
The practice of domesticating pigeon as livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
may have come from the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
; historically, squabs or pigeons have been consumed in many civilizations, including Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and Medieval Europe. Although squab has been consumed throughout much of recorded history, it is generally regarded as exotic, not as a contemporary staple food
Staple food
A staple food is one that is eaten regularly and in such quantities that it constitutes a dominant portion of a diet, and that supplies a high proportion of energy and nutrient needs. Most people live on a diet based on one or more staples...
; there are more records of its preparation for the wealthy than for the poor.
The modern squab industry uses utility pigeons. Squabs are raised until they are roughly a month old, when they reach adult size but have not yet flown, before being slaughtered.
History
The practice of domesticating pigeon as livestockLivestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
may have come from the Middle East
Middle East
The Middle East is a region that encompasses Western Asia and Northern Africa. It is often used as a synonym for Near East, in opposition to Far East...
; historically, squabs or pigeons have been consumed in many civilizations, including Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt
Ancient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
, Rome
Ancient Rome
Ancient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
and Medieval Europe. Doves are described as food in the Holy Scriptures and were eaten by the Hebrews
Hebrews
Hebrews is an ethnonym used in the Hebrew Bible...
. Texts about methods of raising pigeons
Pigeon keeping
Pigeon keeping is the art and science of breeding domestic pigeons. People have practiced pigeon keeping for about 10,000 years in almost every part of the world...
for their meat date as far back as AD
Anno Domini
and Before Christ are designations used to label or number years used with the Julian and Gregorian calendars....
60 in Spain. Such birds were hunted for their meat because it was a cheap and readily available source of protein.
In the Tierra de Campos
Tierra de Campos
Tierra de Campos is a large historical region or greater comarca that straddles the provinces of León, Zamora, Valladolid and Palencia, in Castile and León, Spain...
, a resource-poor region of north-western Spain, squab meat was an important supplement to grain crops from at least Roman times. Caelius Aurelianus
Caelius Aurelianus
Caelius Aurelianus of Sicca in Numidia was a Roman physician and writer on medical topics. He is best known for his translation from Greek to Latin of a work by Soranus of Ephesus, On Acute and Chronic Diseases. He probably flourished in the 5th century, although some place him two or even three...
, an Ancient Roman physician, regarded the meat as a cure for headaches, but by the 16th century, squab was believed to cause headaches.
From the Middle Ages, a dovecote
Dovecote
A dovecote or dovecot is a structure intended to house pigeons or doves. Dovecotes may be square or circular free-standing structures or built into the end of a house or barn. They generally contain pigeonholes for the birds to nest. Pigeons and doves were an important food source historically in...
(French pigeonnier) was a common outbuilding on an estate that aimed to be self-sufficient. The dovecote was considered a "living pantry", a source of meat for unexpected guests, and was important as a supplementary source of income from the sale of surplus birds. Dovecotes were introduced to South America and Africa by Mediterranean colonists. In medieval England, squab meat was "highly valued", although its availability depended on the season--in one dovecote in the 1320s, nearly half the squab yield was produced in the summer, none in the winter.
In England, pigeon meat was eaten when other food was rationed during the Second World War
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
and remains associated with wartime shortages and poverty. This was parodied in an episode of the sitcom Dad's Army
Dad's Army
Dad's Army is a British sitcom about the Home Guard during the Second World War. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft and broadcast on BBC television between 1968 and 1977. The series ran for 9 series and 80 episodes in total, plus a radio series, a feature film and a stage show...
, "Getting the Bird
Getting The Bird
"Getting the Bird" is the fourth episode of the fifth series of the British television situation comedy Dad's Army and was originally transmitted on 27 October 1972.-Synopsis:...
". Nevertheless, many people continue to eat it, especially the older generation.
Husbandry
Squab have been commercially raised in North America since the early 1900s. As of 1986, annual production in the United States and Canada was one and a half million squabs per year.Pigeons, unlike other poultry, form pair bonds to breed, and squabs must be brooded and fed by their parents until they are four weeks old; a pair of pigeons may produce 15 squabs per year. Ten pairs can produce eight squabs each month without being fed by their keepers. Pigeons which are accustomed to their dovecote may forage
Forage
Forage is plant material eaten by grazing livestock.Historically the term forage has meant only plants eaten by the animals directly as pasture, crop residue, or immature cereal crops, but it is also used more loosely to include similar plants cut for fodder and carried to the animals, especially...
and return there to rest and breed. Industrially raised pigeons have young which weigh 1.3 pound (0.589670081 kg) when of age, as opposed to traditionally raised pigeons, which weigh 0.5 pound (0.226796185 kg).
Utility pigeons have been artificially selected
Selective breeding
Selective breeding is the process of breeding plants and animals for particular genetic traits. Typically, strains that are selectively bred are domesticated, and the breeding is sometimes done by a professional breeder. Bred animals are known as breeds, while bred plants are known as varieties,...
for weight gain, quick growth, health when kept in large numbers, and health of their infants. For a greater yield, commercially raised squab may be produced in a two-nest system, where the mother lays two new eggs in a second nest while her offspring are still growing in the first nest, fed crop milk
Crop milk
Crop milk is a secretion from the lining of the crop of parent birds that is regurgitated to young birds. They are found among all pigeons and doves where they are referred to as pigeon milk...
by their father. Establishing two breeding lines has been suggested as another strategy for greater yield, where one breeding line is selected for prolificacy and the other for "parental performance", which, according to Aggrey and Cheng, is "vital" for squab growth after the age of two weeks.
Meleg estimates that 15-20% of eggs fail to hatch in well-maintained pigeon lofts. Egg size is important for the squab's initial size and for mortality at hatching, but becomes less important as the squab ages. Aggrey and Cheng feel that the hatched weight of squabs is not a good indicator of their weight at four weeks old.
Squabs reach adult size, but are not yet ready to fly (making them easier to catch) after roughly a month; at this point, they are slaughtered
Animal slaughter
Slaughter is the term used to describe the killing and butchering of animals, usually for food. Commonly it refers to killing and butchering of domestic livestock ....
.
In cuisine
Usually considered a delicacy, squab is tender, moist and richer in taste than many commonly-consumed poultryPoultry
Poultry are domesticated birds kept by humans for the purpose of producing eggs, meat, and/or feathers. These most typically are members of the superorder Galloanserae , especially the order Galliformes and the family Anatidae , commonly known as "waterfowl"...
meats, but there is relatively little meat per bird, the meat being concentrated in the breast.
Squab is dark meat
White meat
White meat or light meat refers to the lighter-colored meat of poultry as contrasted with dark meat. In a more general sense, white meat may also refer to any lighter-colored meat, as contrasted with red meats like beef and some types of game....
, and the skin is fatty, like that of duck
Duck (food)
Duck refers to the meat of several species of bird in the Anatidae family, found in both fresh and salt water. Duck is eaten in many cuisines around the world.-Types of ducks:The most common duck meat consumed in the United States is the Pekin duck...
. The meat is very lean, easily digestible, and "rich in proteins, minerals, and vitamins". It has been described as having a "silky" texture, as it is very tender and fine-grained. It has a milder taste than other game, and has been described as having a mild berry flavor. Squab's flavor lends itself to complex red or white wines
Wine and food matching
Wine and food matching is the process of pairing food dishes with wine to enhance the dining experience. In many cultures, wine has had a long history of being a staple at the dinner table and in some ways both the winemaking and culinary traditions of a region will have evolved together over the...
.
In the 14th century humorism
Humorism
Humorism, or humoralism, is a now discredited theory of the makeup and workings of the human body, adopted by Greek and Roman physicians and philosophers, positing that an excess or deficiency of any of four distinct bodily fluids in a person directly influences their temperament and health...
book Health Regime, squab was regarded as a "hot and moist" food, whereas the meat of older pigeons was regarded as hot, dry, and "barely edible". The Roman cookbook Apicius
Apicius
Apicius is the title of a collection of Roman cookery recipes, usually thought to have been compiled in the late 4th or early 5th century AD and written in a language that is in many ways closer to Vulgar than to Classical Latin....
recommended sauces with a combined sweet and sour flavor to accompany roasted or braised squab. In 1607, a recipe book from a monastery suggested cooking squab with pork fat or bitter limes. There is less information about traditional recipes incorporating squab or pigeon used by commoners, but there is evidence they were "handed down from generation to generation". In the 15th century, the Italian friar Luca Pacioli
Luca Pacioli
Fra Luca Bartolomeo de Pacioli was an Italian mathematician, Franciscan friar, collaborator with Leonardo da Vinci, and seminal contributor to the field now known as accounting...
wrote a book of "culinary secrets" which included "How to Kill a Squab by Hitting with a Feather on the Head". In 18th century France, pigeons à la crapaudine ("Toad-like Squab") was a popular "dish of skill" for both rich and poor, in which the squab was arranged so that it looked like a frog, with the breast forming the frog's "face". Religious dietary laws
Medieval cuisine
Medieval cuisine includes the foods, eating habits, and cooking methods of various European cultures during the Middle Ages, a period roughly dating from the 5th to the 16th century...
once prohibited meat on fast days, but allowed frog's meat, as it was a water dweller. Pigeons à la crapaudine played with that convention, and is still part of French traditional cuisine.
Commercially raised birds "take only half as long to cook" as traditionally raised birds, and are suitable for roasting, grilling, or searing, whereas the traditionally raised birds are better suited to casserole
Casserole
A casserole, from the French for "saucepan", is a large, deep dish used both in the oven and as a serving vessel. The word casserole is also used for the food cooked and served in such a vessel, with the cookware itself called a casserole dish or casserole pan...
s and slow-cooked stews. The meat from older and wild pigeons is tougher than squab, and requires a long period of stewing or roasting
Roasting
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat, whether an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting usually causes caramelization or Maillard browning of the surface of the food, which is considered by some as a flavor enhancement. Roasting uses more indirect, diffused heat , and is...
to tenderize. The consumption of squab probably stems from the relative ease of catching birds which have not yet fledge
Fledge
Fledge is the stage in a young bird's life when the feathers and wing muscles are sufficiently developed for flight. It also describes the act of a chick's parents raising it to a fully grown state...
d, or that unfledged birds have more tender meat. Once a squab has fledged, its weight decreases significantly.
Today, squab is part of the cuisine of many countries, including France
French cuisine
French cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from France that has developed from centuries of social change. In the Middle Ages, Guillaume Tirel , a court chef, authored Le Viandier, one of the earliest recipe collections of Medieval France...
, the United States
Cuisine of the United States
American cuisine is a style of food preparation originating from the United States of America. European colonization of the Americas yielded the introduction of a number of ingredients and cooking styles to the latter...
, Italy
Italian cuisine
Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
, the Maghreb
Maghreb
The Maghreb is the region of Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. It includes five countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Mauritania and the disputed territory of Western Sahara...
, and several Asian countries
Asian cuisine
Asian cuisine styles can be broken down into several tiny regional styles that have roots in the peoples and cultures of those regions. The major types can be roughly defined as East Asian with its origins in Imperial China and now encompassing modern Japan and the Korean peninsula; Southeast Asian...
. Typical dishes include breast of squab (sometimes as the French salmis
Salmis
A salmis is a preparation from classical French cooking. When a roast or sautéed piece of meat is sliced and reheated in sauce, the result is a salmis.Typical salmis preparations involve roasted game birds such as squab or duck...
), Egyptian mahshi
Dolma
Dolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions such as Russia, Middle East and the Caucasus and Central and South Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include onion, zucchini, eggplant,...
(stuffed with rice and herbs), and the Moroccan pastilla
Pastilla
It is a pie which combines sweet and salty flavours; a combination of crisp layers of the crêpe-like warka dough , savory meat slow-cooked in broth and spices and shredded, and a crunchy layer of toasted and ground almonds, cinnamon, and sugar.The filling is made a day ahead, and is made by...
. In Spain and France, squab is also preserved as a confit
Confit
Confit is a generic term for various kinds of food that have been immersed in a substance for both flavor and preservation. Sealed and stored in a cool place, confit can last for several months...
. Demand for squab is increasing in Nigeria, despite being more expensive than beef, pork or chicken, as pigeons can quickly be raised to table weight and are easy to keep, providing diseases are controlled, as young pigeons are especially susceptible to disease.
In the United States, squab is "increasingly a specialty item", as the larger and cheaper chicken
Chicken (food)
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world, and is prepared as food in a wide variety of ways, varying by region and culture.- History :...
displaced it. However, squab produced from specially-raised utility pigeons continues to grace the menus of American haute cuisine
Haute cuisine
Haute cuisine or grande cuisine was characterised by French cuisine in elaborate preparations and presentations served in small and numerous courses that were produced by large and hierarchical staffs at the grand restaurants and hotels of Europe.The 17th century chef and writer La Varenne...
restaurants such as Le Cirque
Le Cirque
Le Cirque is a French restaurant in Manhattan owned and operated by Sirio Maccioni. It first opened at the Mayfair Hotel in 1974. It closed and reopened as Le Cirque 2000 at the Palace Hotel in 1997. The latest installation of Le Cirque opened in 2006 in the Bloomberg Tower building at One Beacon...
and The French Laundry, and has enjoyed endorsements from some celebrity chef
Celebrity chef
A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become famous and well known. Today celebrity chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations via mass media, especially television. Historically, celebrity chefs have included Antoine Carême and Martino da Como.-External...
s. Accordingly, squab is often sold for much higher prices than other poultry, sometimes as high as eight USD
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
per pound.
In Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine
Chinese cuisine is any of several styles originating in the regions of China, some of which have become highly popular in other parts of the world – from Asia to the Americas, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa...
, squab is a part of celebratory banquets for holidays such as Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year – often called Chinese Lunar New Year although it actually is lunisolar – is the most important of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is an all East and South-East-Asia celebration...
, usually served deep-fried. Cantonese-style pigeon is typically braised in soy sauce, rice wine and star anise then roasted with crispy skin and tender meat. Squabs are sold live in Chinese marketplaces to assure freshness, but they can also be dressed in two styles. "Chinese-style" (Buddhist slaughter) birds retain their head and feet, whereas "New York-dressed" (Confucian slaughter) birds retain their entrails, head and feet. The greatest volume of U.S. squab is currently sold within Chinatown
Chinatown
A Chinatown is an ethnic enclave of overseas Chinese people, although it is often generalized to include various Southeast Asian people. Chinatowns exist throughout the world, including East Asia, Southeast Asia, the Americas, Australasia, and Europe. Binondo's Chinatown located in Manila,...
s.
Despite the relative ease of raising pigeons, squab is "not usually considered" in terms of its potential for food security
Food security
Food security refers to the availability of food and one's access to it. A household is considered food-secure when its occupants do not live in hunger or fear of starvation. According to the World Resources Institute, global per capita food production has been increasing substantially for the past...
. In parts of the developed world, squab meat is thought of as exotic or distasteful by consumer
Consumer
Consumer is a broad label for any individuals or households that use goods generated within the economy. The concept of a consumer occurs in different contexts, so that the usage and significance of the term may vary.-Economics and marketing:...
s because they view feral pigeon
Feral Pigeon
Feral pigeons , also called city doves, flying rats, city pigeons or street pigeons, are derived from domestic pigeons that have returned to the wild. The domestic pigeon was originally bred from the wild Rock Pigeon, which naturally inhabits sea-cliffs and mountains. All three types readily...
s as unsanitary urban pests. However, squab meat is regarded as safer than some other poultry products as it harbors fewer pathogen
Pathogen
A pathogen gignomai "I give birth to") or infectious agent — colloquially, a germ — is a microbe or microorganism such as a virus, bacterium, prion, or fungus that causes disease in its animal or plant host...
s, and may be served between medium and well done
Temperature (meat)
Temperature is a description of how thoroughly cooked a cut of meat is based on the color, juiciness and internal temperature when cooked. The gradations of cooking are most often used in reference to beef but are also applicable to lamb, pork, poultry, veal, and seafood .Gradations, their...
.
See also
Recipes:- Squab pieSquab pieSquab pie is a traditional dish from South West England, with early records showing it was associated with Cornwall, Devon and Gloucestershire. Although the name suggests it contains squab , in fact it contains mutton and apples. The pie was eaten around the world in the 1900s, though outside South...
- Pigeon piePigeon piePigeon pie is a a traditional French savory game pie made of pigeon meat and various other ingredients. It has been eaten at least as early as 1670.In Morocco it is called Bastila....
Utility pigeon breeds:
- American Giant RuntAmerican Giant RuntThe American Giant Runt is a breed of pigeon developed by selective breeding primarily as a utility and exhibition breed. American Giant Runts, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants from the Rock Pigeon ....
- CarneauCarneauThe Carneau is a breed of pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding primarily as a utility breed. Carneau, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants from the Rock Pigeon ....
- French MondainFrench MondainThe French Mondain is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding. French Mondains, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants from the Rock Pigeon ....
- King PigeonKing (pigeon)The King is a breed of pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding primarily as a utility breed. Kings along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons are all descendants from the Rock Pigeon ....
- StrasserStrasser (pigeon)The Strasser is a breed of fancy pigeon developed over many years of selective breeding. Strassers, along with other varieties of domesticated pigeons, are all descendants from the Rock Pigeon ....