Pot Roast Guinea Fowl

Our friends S&H gave us two guinea fowls when they came over for the Peking Duck dinner. The fowls are from McFarm. I've never cooked this myself before, however Wm has cooked ginger wine with them and herb tonic soup too.

So here we go - 2 whole bulbs garlic, 15 shallots, 2 large onions and 4 bay leaves. Clean/trim the birds, there's quite a lot of fat under the skin. One was left whole, the other halved.

Here I've dusted the fowls with salt, black pepper and flour. I browned them thoroughly on my steak pan. The aromatics were browned separately in my dutch oven.

We interrupt this collage of photos to show a bored little girl playing outside in the rain, she added washing liquid to the tiled floor to create a slippery surface.

Next, the two half fowls were browned. I dusted rosemary and thyme onto the birds too. You want high enough heat to brown the skins but not hot enough to burn the oil so be a little careful, keep your eye on the flames and adjust accordingly.

The nicely browned skins will give so much flavour. Add the birds to the dutch oven, add more rosemary, thyme and dried parsley. I should really be using fresh herbs but oh well.

Then a good half bottle of white. Reduce reduce reduce, at this point I was really really torn - recipe books dictate adding a good quality stock you here - but it's a Sunday, I'm not going to make any - no thank you. SO. I had to reach for the Bisto jar - a tablespoon or so of chicken Bisto was added. eeeksss... But I wanted a rich slurpy gravy so don't shoot me.

No water was added at all - it was supposed to be a pot roast. Put lid on and simmer slowly. I added a tankard of red after an hour.

The birds needed almost 2.5 hours of cooking time to tenderise and soften them. But look at the gravy at the end - it was thick, shiny and so rich and flavourful.... (I was a bit caught up reading naughty bidarlah's blog, I almost forgot to take the pan off the fire).

Overall, I thought it was good, the meat was dark and falling off the bone; however breast meat was dry - did I make the dreaded mistake of overcooking to beyond redemption?

Some of us had rice.

And some had garlic pasta.

I really like looking at food posts with lots of pics but I must admit I have overdone it slightly here. hehe - I hope you enjoy them nonetheless :D