European Starlings?

Ingrid · 10-01-2011, 05:43 PM

So what's the deal with European Starlings? They're everywhere and they're a nuisance. So why not 'em and eat 'em? I've never heard of anyone eating them but I'm wondering if you could? How do they taste? How would you cook one?

wvbreamfisherman · 10-01-2011, 07:03 PM

Never heard of anyone eating them, but it's a continuous open season on them here in WV. As small as they are I imagine you'd breast them and maybe roast the breasts. I suppose you could breast them and grind or chop the meat to make patties or something like "starling salad" if the meat was worth eating.

dinosaur · 10-01-2011, 11:41 PM

"Four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie" Cut the breasts out and bake them in a pot pie. Excellent.

wvbreamfisherman · 10-02-2011, 07:44 AM

I thought about that rhyme right after I hit "post"... duhhhh.

wvbreamfisherman · 10-02-2011, 11:44 AM

My curiosity was piqued , so I did some research. Aparently Starlings (and House Saprrows) are dying off in Enlgand and are protected now! I'd be happy to ship them a few million of the little pests to restock the species.

Anyhow, there aren't many recipes out there for starling, although they do seem to be the "blackbird" of pie fame. One source says they definitely need to be skinned, so I'd assume that the best way to clean them would be to simply breast them.

Several sources advised to just roast the breasts like you would dove. which seems to be the simplest way to go.

I may pot a few with an air rifle one of these days and give it a try. Lord knows you'd never run out of the little bastards.

Rosie · 10-06-2011, 08:03 AM

My husband cooks all birds he shoots the same way. He skins them and takes out their guts and then just lines them up on a skewer then when they're cooked he just chomps the meat off little bones. I refuse however to take any part in this so I can't tell you they taste good or not.

Lamebeaver · 10-06-2011, 02:23 PM

You'd need a bunch of em to make a mess.

Probably cheaper to buy chicken if you factor in the cost of ammo.

wvbreamfisherman · 10-10-2011, 10:00 PM

Probably the best way (and cheapest) would be to pick them off with an air rifle if you really wanted a mess of them.