# Luca’s guinea fowl in red wine



## Luca Lazzari (May 9, 2012)

I love guinea fowl, faraona as we call it in Italy. I like its taste and the fact that it reminds me of my childhood, since “faraona arrosto” (roasted guinea fowl) was one of my mother’s favorite recipes.
So I was very happy when my beloved (and infinitely patient) fiancée Gabriella bought a guinea fowl, cleaned and cut into pieces, and ask me to cook it. But… Houston, we have a problem: I never cooked this bird in my entire life… However, the task was not overwhelming, I just took a look around and picked up a recipe, then simplified it and... buon appetito!
Here is my easy recipe to prepare a more then decent guinea fowl au vin, mes amis, Luca’s style. And don’t be misled by its exotic name: guinea fowl was known to the ancient Romans, then disappeared from Italian desks but was served again to us pizza-eaters during the 16th century.

The ingredients I used were extra virgin olive oil (2 tablespoons), 40 g butter, 150 g pancetta, 1 onion, 800 g guinea fowl cut in pieces, 40 g plain flour, 350 ml red wine, nutmeg, salt, pepper.

Finely slice the onion, cut the pancetta with a knife in little dices, warm the olive oil in a saucepan, then add the butter and melt it. Add and sauté the onion on medium fire, then add the pancetta and fry it for about 4 minutes. Flour the guinea fowl pieces, season them with salt and pepper, then put them in the pan and grate some nutmeg on them. Cook the meat for about 5 minutes, turning it a couple of times. Add the red wine and stir it to mix it with the sauce already in the pan. Cover with a lid and cook for about 1 hour, maybe less, until the fowl is cooked. If needed, add some warm water during cooking. At the end, put the meat in a serving dish, then spoon the sauce in a sauce bowl and serve it (I left out the fat in excess).







You can eat the guinea fowl drinking the same good red wine you used for cooking: in my case, it was a Lambrusco di Sorbara, a typical wine from Emilia-Romagna.

Buon appetito!


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## Harry Cobean (May 9, 2012)

buonasera luca
i think i can speak for big brother bolas as well as myself when i say that guinea fowl is probably our favourite bird.personally i like it kept simple..i have a small counter top oven for every day cooking that has a rotisserie.put 3 or 4 crushed cloves of garlic,fresh thyme or rosemary & a wedge of lemon in the cavity,brush the outside with olive oil,sprinkle of salt & pepper then on the spit for 40-50 mins,salad,good bread,good wine,good company...heaven!
bolas cooked a fabulous dish one evening when i was visiting of braised g/fowl in a porcini based stock....delish!
definitely going to give your recipe a shot,it looks great!
harry


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## 4meandthem (May 9, 2012)

How big are your hens? Or what's a henway?(old joke)

The guinea hens we get here arent much bigger than a large squab. The carcass is about the size of my fist. They are usually served as 1 hen per portion.

The dish looks good.


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## taxlady (May 9, 2012)

4meandthem said:


> How big are your hens? Or what's a henway?(old joke)
> 
> The guinea hens we get here arent much bigger than a large squab. The carcass is about the size of my fist. They are usually served as 1 hen per portion.
> 
> The dish looks good.


Luca wrote that he used 800 grams of guinea hen. 900 grams would be about 2 pounds.


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## Greg Who Cooks (May 9, 2012)

Just exactly what is a guinea fowl in US? How do we get one? (Or several?) I've never seen a guinea fowl in my supermarket.

Or is this just a chicken recipe? Any fowl in a storm?


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## 4meandthem (May 9, 2012)

taxlady said:


> Luca wrote that he used 800 grams of guinea hen. 900 grams would be about 2 pounds.


 
It doesn't look he he used the whole bird. It seems like they are about the size of a supermarket fryer or close to 4 lbs whole maybe. That is quite a bit bigger than guinea hens available here. I am guessing they are about 1 1/4 -1 1/2 lbs.


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## buckytom (May 9, 2012)

Gourmet Greg said:


> Just exactly what is a guinea fowl in US? How do we get one? (Or several?) I've never seen a guinea fowl in my supermarket.
> 
> Or is this just a chicken recipe? Any fowl in a storm?



they are little chickens in white tank tops with hairy armpits and thick moustaches below their cere...

i can get guinea hens here, even freshly slaughtered, but for the most part an "equivalent" common in the states would be quail, or for more meat, cornish hens.


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## Harry Cobean (May 10, 2012)

Gourmet Greg said:


> Just exactly what is a guinea fowl in US? How do we get one? (Or several?) I've never seen a guinea fowl in my supermarket.
> 
> Or is this just a chicken recipe? Any fowl in a storm?


guinea fowl were originally a game bird that was domesticated.all the  guineas raised over here are free range 'cos the don't take well to  factory farming.taste is delicious & somewhere between a pheasant  & chicken so they are great for anyone who finds chicken bland but  doesn't like a strong game flavour.excellent for the health conscious  as,like most game, they have a very low fat content even with the skin  on,but you have to be careful when cooking to avoid drying out.roast on a  rotisserie or breast side down so that they self baste.the fowl we get  over here are usually about 1kilo(2.2 pounds) & cost  £5-£6($8-$10),so equivalent to a good quality chicken but much,much  tastier.


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## Harry Cobean (May 10, 2012)

buckytom said:


> they are little chickens in white tank tops with hairy armpits and thick moustaches below their cere...


saw a few of those 'round the pool last time i was on holiday,thought they were german lady tourists.............!


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## Margi Cintrano (May 10, 2012)

*Luca:  Lovely Recipe*

 Buongiorno Luca,

Guinea fowl in red wine ... lovely recipe ...

Guinea fowl is a feathered game variety, popular in Ribera Sacra, Galicia, 34km northeast of Orense, Galicia, Spain ... It is considered a delicacy in this region. 

I had a wonderful lunch over in Nogueria de Ramuin, Orense at a renovated Benedictine Monastery Hotel called Parador de San Estevo in a hamlet of 20 people 600m above sea level in the chestnut forests of Ribera Sacra ... The lunch was guinea fowl in red wine sauce, however, they were served stuffed and whole ... The Galician Chef José Ramón Rodriguez ( 30 yrs of experience with this Government owned Hotel Chain ) is a marvel with Galician traditional regional cuisines ... 

I shall have to try your recipe, perhaps in October, when availability of freshly hunted guinea fowl are abundant. 

It can be delicious with  pheasant or quail or partridge too ... 

 However, Guinea Fowl are more luscious ... 

Thanks for posting. 
Grazie.
Margi.    

It is otherwise somewhat uncommon in the desert of Madrid, except in upscale restaurants ...


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## Margi Cintrano (May 10, 2012)

Harry,

It is very uncommon today to find modern professional women, who do not wax unwanted hair !  and futhermore, I cannot believe that German women do not wax !  

Madré Mía, what sub topics land up on D.C. 

Margi. 



Margi.


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## Margi Cintrano (May 10, 2012)

Buckytom, Good Morning,

Cornish hens and Guinea Fowl are truly distinctly different in texture and flavor.

Quail too.  

From my view point, perhaps, more close in texture or flavor profile would be:

Partridge, Red Partridge or Pheasant ... 

Have a nice day. 

Margi.


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## Luca Lazzari (May 10, 2012)

Margi Cintrano said:


> From my view point, perhaps, more close in texture or flavor profile would be:
> 
> Partridge, Red Partridge or Pheasant ...



I agree, Margi. However, due to the lack of partridges and pheasants, I think I'll replicate the recipe with some humble cockerel I've got in my larder...


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## Margi Cintrano (May 10, 2012)

Luca,

I am a fan of Guinea Fowl ... 

Actually it is more costly than Partridge in Spain !  It is wonderful ... 

Here are seasons for feathered game birds, due to the extensive dryness we have here ... and lack of rain ... 

Margi.


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## buckytom (May 10, 2012)

Margi Cintrano said:


> Buckytom, Good Morning,
> 
> Cornish hens and Guinea Fowl are truly distinctly different in texture and flavor.
> 
> ...



yes, i was replying as to what would be a commonly available substitute for game birds here in the u.s..


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## Bolas De Fraile (May 11, 2012)

Margi Cintrano said:


> Harry,
> 
> It is very uncommon today to find modern professional women, who do not wax unwanted hair !  and futhermore, I cannot believe that German women do not wax !
> 
> ...


you should visit Wales


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## Bolas De Fraile (May 11, 2012)

This is one of my own.
The day before the dinner party.
Remove the breasts from your pheasant, place the breasts in a dish and put a few glugs of port in, cover and put in the fridge.
Make crepes and cover. 
Fry some diced bacon, remove from the pan, chop the rest of the pheasant and fry, remove from pan.Fry carrots, onions and garlic then put the bacon and pheasant back in the pan and cover with red wine, bring to a boil and simmer till the meat is very tender, remove the carcass and strip the meat off and reserve.
Pass the stock the reduce to make a good gravy.

Shred onion and fennel on a mandolin then use to make a marmalade, cool, add the shredded pheasant meat cover and mix.
Take a crepe put a big blob of the mix in the middle and form a parcel, store in the fridge.

Next day. Take everything out of the fridge and bring up to room temp.

Take the pheasant breast out of the port and pour the port into your gravy bring to the boil and reduce again then monte au buerre.

Whilst you are making the gravy, melt a little butter in oil till it starts to sizzel then place the crepe parcels in the pan seam side down and fry slowly till sealed and  crispy on that side only. Place the pillow on a warmed plate.

Flash fry the pheasant breasts, rest, slice horizontally, fan and sit on the pillow. Dress with the gravy

This dish is very impressive, it takes about 10 mins to finish as most of the work is done the day before.
I take it that we all know the importance of percy pepper and sidney salt so I did not mention them


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## Harry Cobean (May 11, 2012)

Margi Cintrano said:


> Harry,
> 
> It is very uncommon today to find modern professional women, who do not wax unwanted hair !  and futhermore, I cannot believe that German women do not wax !
> 
> ...





Bolas De Fraile said:


> you should visit Wales


@ margi
i have no idea if they were professional or not margi,i wasn't going to get any closer than i had to,they were speaking german & talking about invading the pool area so if it walks like a duck,looks like a duck & quacks like a duck then usually...............!
@bolas
what?thought they were sheep!


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## Bacardi1 (May 11, 2012)

I really like naturally-raised Guinea Fowl.  Sometimes our local Wegmans market carries them, but I usually purchase them online from D'Artagnon's  Gourmet Meat, Foie Gras, Organic Poultry, Pate, Truffles, Gourmet Food Gifts and Meat Recipes, especially when they're running one of their frequent sales.  Whether I order fresh or frozen, the quality is exceptional.  One bird easily & adequately serves 2 people.


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## Margi Cintrano (May 11, 2012)

Bolas,

Anytime, we need a truly hearty laugh, we re-read your posts ! 

Thanks for your good sense of humor ... You are quite funny ...

Margi.


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## Margi Cintrano (May 11, 2012)

Bacardi,

This is great ... Thanks for posting this info on guinea fowl sources in USA.

Margi.


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