Is it OK to eat them here in Switzerland ?

I saw quite a few on the lake in Zurich last weekend, and thought about bagging one for Christmas day. It'd make a change from having the usual turkey.

Back in the UK I've got no chance as the Queen owns them all, and I'd probably get done for treason or something.

Wouldn't suprise me. Apparently you can eat dog here, you just can't sell it.

I'd ask the neighbours if you can borrow their gun and get down the lake.

Tell me when you're going

I hope you're joking. Swans can live up to 50 years, and usually mate for life. How do you think the left over swan will feel?

Image from Wikipedia (swan section)

Have the other Swan at new Year, or in the freezer for Easter?

In for penny, in for pound...

years ago didn't they used to stuff a swan with a turkey, then stuff the turkey with a chicken then stuff the chicken with a partridge or something like that and roast it all together? sure it was a swan, or maybe a goose

I think it was a Tudor thing - swan stuffed with peacock stuffed with various other birds then ending with being stuffed with a lark - and then being stuffed into various knights and royalty.

Yum! Right, i'm off to Macca's!

It's been the christmas thing to do in the UK - 3 birds in one. Never had a swan though (I guess the Queen must own them all) but usually Goose or Turkey. Though once I think we had the duck as the biggest bird and a partridge as the smallest... but don't remember was in the middle.


~ Nanda

Here is the best recipe I know of for Swan....

Together with your prepared Swan, place a big rock in the largest cooking pot you have.

Next, add herbs of your choice, one cup of water,and use as many bottles of Grog it takes to cover both the Swan and rock with.

Bring to the boil,,, simmer for one day and one night..

When cooking time is over,

Remove the Swan from the pot and dispose of it thoughtfully....



Now,,,, eat the rock and drink the cooking stock.... En Guete !!!

Probably like soup if it's the following day. That's what we do with the left over turkey.

A swan ? Go on ! In fact their River Cafe guy with the glasses did one of those Russian doll stuffing exercises. He had about 8-9 birds inside each other I think. And that is something you won't find very often, even in "specialist" magazines...

dave

Thats the same prgramme I saw I think, the guy from River Cottage?

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall is brilliant ... one of the most enjoyable series I have seen, reminds me of childhood, bottles of pop in the stream, cream teas & little boys for goalposts ......

This probably derives from a cookery book first published in the 60's by William Menzies Weekes Fowler, he would have had his own TV program now. Delightfully un-PC

"'Having shot your cormorant, hold it well away from the body ..these birds are extremely verminous and the lice are said not to be host specific. Hang up by the feet with wire, soak in petrol and set on fire. This removes the feathers and the lice. When the smoke has cleared cut off the beak. Bury the carcass in a light sandy machair type soil for a fortnight. This is said to remove the taste of rotting fish. Dig up the bird, skin and draw it. Place in a strong solution of salt and water for 48 hours. Remove, dry and stuff the bird with whole unpeeled onions..the onion skins are supposed to bleach the meat from black to dark brown.

Simmer gently in seawater - to which 2 tsbs of chloride of lime have been added - for six hours. This has a further tenderising effect. Meanwhile mix up a thick paste of methylated spirit and curry powder spreading the mixture liberally over the breast of the bird. Finally roast in a hot oven for three hours and discard as being good for nothing"



Here's a reiew of the book - highly reccomended

Having shot your cormorant...-Life & Style-Food & Drink-TimesOnline

BTW I agree about Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, this Fowler guy is a 60's version of him

Any guy that can raise a pig, slaughter said pig and then use every bit of it has my vote!

It makes Gordon Ramsey with Trinny and Susannah look tame!

reminds me of his quote about using every bit of the pig (almost) "we ate everything but the oink"

thats the bloke, didn't want to attempt to spell his name

Yep great programme.....

Beats Jamie Oliver that's for sure....

Good one!!

Nasty beasts...they usually chase my dog out of the water when she is swimming in the Limmat.

fduvall

The point where I draw the line with Fernley-Whittingstall was when he cooked up that human placenta for that daft woman. Fine if you are a wild animal and not sure where your next meal is coming from, or a human and plainly in the s**t (stuck on desert islands, that sort of thing), but if you're that desperate for protein that you have to eat your own bloody placenta and you live in a developed nation, GO TO TESCO AND BUY A SODDING STEAK.
Bloody hell.
Anyhoo. Not all swans are owned by the Queen in the UK. I think the Abbotsbury birds are owned by someone else.