Food is subject to fashion in much the same way as many other areas of consumption. Time was when these changing tastes were probably more influenced by our environment, availability and evolving husbandry techniques rather than today's collective personal preferences. Media no doubt pays a role in this and the upsurge in interest in local, quality and welfare resulting in part from this is very welcome. This month in addition to our usual range we have products from farming systems that have been largely missed by the resurgence in foodie interest but were at one time widely adopted and popular.
First up is rabbit. Ours are wild trapped and shot from the farm here. Given the plague proportions that the rabbit has reached at times since the war it not at all surprising that rabbit farming or the creation of warrens has never recovered it's historical popularity, when the ownership of a warren where rabbits were bred was a significant source of food and income, from meat and skins. One reference claims that in the thirteenth century a single rabbit was worth more than a labourers daily wage, but perhaps that says as much about the value of labourers then as it does the meat. Their reign of favour as a farmed species appears to have lasted from large scale Norman introductions through to the eighteenth century when they became food for the poor, not the rich and were increasingly 'wild' harvested rather than farmed. Other countries have been slower to lose their tradition of farming rabbit and on a trip to Italy a couple of years ago we were treated to the enjoyable culinary experience of 'cave' rabbit farming where the rabbits are captive reared but make their own housing (caves), burrowing back into the hillsides behind their pens. No caves here though and the rabbit available this month are wild harvested and for sale oven ready, whole or jointed.
Similar to rabbit, the farming of pigeon was also once a commonplace in the countryside and many signs of this can still be seen in the remnants of doocots (dovecotes). Concentrated mainly in the east of Scotland (widespread throughout Europe) where more arable crops are grown, these buildings, housing in some cases many thousands of pairs, were a source of meat, feathers, eggs and manure (handy for fertiliser and, for a while, gunpowder). Often associated with the larger estates, the more substantial doocots were highly prized and for long periods heavily protected (and encouraged) in laws dating back to the 12th century; death wasn't entirely out of the question for a serial raider of pigeons. The birds themselves were generally free flying, returning to the doocots to roost and breed while foraging in the surrounding fields, a source of much discontent, as the laird's pigeons ate the tenant's crops. The bird in question was not the woodpigeon most commonly eaten today but a semi domesticated rock dove, the wild ancestor of the feral pigeon and the many fancy breeds of pigeon. It is considered by some to have been amongst the earliest of farmed animals. As with the rabbit, the popularity of the doocot waned in the late 1800's/early 1900's in this country but pigeon farming remains a popular business in areas of the continent and the USA. The prime output from the doocot was the squab or young pigeon, taken while still tender and fat, through the summer breeding season. We have available this month a limited number of squabs from our own small doocot (stocked, as many early British doocots were thought to have been, from specially bred French birds). The birds are a little bigger than a woodpigeon with a delicious more tender, richer meat and one will feed two people of average appetite. We also have a few older birds more suitable to cooking with recipes similar to woodpigeon. If you are interested in trying them and would like advice on cooking please ask.
If you are not inspired by historical gourmet's don't despair, we do also have our normal range of pork and lamb and a return for our own Belted Galloway organic beef and local venison, along with Griersons Chickens and our charcuterie range. No need to go hungry. We are open on Thursday 29th, Friday 30th and Saturday 31th this month from 10:00am - 4:00pm with orders going out to Inverurie, Alford, Strathdon, Aboyne, Tarland and Upper Deeside on the Thursday and on the Friday to Banchory and Aberdeen.
