- Joined
- Feb 15, 2015
- Location
- New York, New York
Again while watching Victoria on PBS this weekend another new dish presented itself - the ortolan. I spent some time on the internet to find out what this French delicacy was comprised of exactly and was immediately disgusted and wondered why everyone at the banquet seemed to enjoy it.
An ortolan bird is about six inches long and weighs just four ounces. It's olive green and yellow, with a touch of ruby. While it's not unusual to eat small birds like partridges and pigeons, it's the treatment and bizarre manner in which it is eaten that cause my stomach to churn.
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emberiza_hortulana_2.jpg
The bird is captured alive from the wild, blinded and jammed into a tight cage, unable to move and is kept on a strict diet of grapes, figs and grain until it balloons to four times it's normal size. When the bird is of the proper size it's drowned alive in Armagnac - a type of brandy.
But wait, it gets worse the poor bird is then roasted for about eight minutes. When eaten, as shown on Victoria, your face is covered with a napkin (I suspect if you dine alone this is not necessary!) and you place the whole bird inside your mouth, with only it's beak and head sticking and bite down! The head then falls down into the napkin, apparently while biting through it pockets of brandy are released into your mouth.
Apparently covering your face with the napkin portion of eating ortolan began with a priest, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who did it to hid his gluttony from God.
Here's a link from Anthony Bourdain about the poor ortolans. While it is illegal in both France and in the US, it sounds as though he's tried it, perhaps in another country - http://cookingwithlittlebuddy.com/ortolans-anthony-bourdain-and-larousse-gastronomique/
An ortolan bird is about six inches long and weighs just four ounces. It's olive green and yellow, with a touch of ruby. While it's not unusual to eat small birds like partridges and pigeons, it's the treatment and bizarre manner in which it is eaten that cause my stomach to churn.
- https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Emberiza_hortulana_2.jpg
The bird is captured alive from the wild, blinded and jammed into a tight cage, unable to move and is kept on a strict diet of grapes, figs and grain until it balloons to four times it's normal size. When the bird is of the proper size it's drowned alive in Armagnac - a type of brandy.
But wait, it gets worse the poor bird is then roasted for about eight minutes. When eaten, as shown on Victoria, your face is covered with a napkin (I suspect if you dine alone this is not necessary!) and you place the whole bird inside your mouth, with only it's beak and head sticking and bite down! The head then falls down into the napkin, apparently while biting through it pockets of brandy are released into your mouth.
Apparently covering your face with the napkin portion of eating ortolan began with a priest, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, who did it to hid his gluttony from God.
Here's a link from Anthony Bourdain about the poor ortolans. While it is illegal in both France and in the US, it sounds as though he's tried it, perhaps in another country - http://cookingwithlittlebuddy.com/ortolans-anthony-bourdain-and-larousse-gastronomique/
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