Squab
[4] In the Tierra de Campos, a resource-poor region of north-western Spain, squab meat was an important supplement to grain crops from at least Roman times.
[12] In England, pigeon meat was eaten when other food was rationed during World War II and remains associated with wartime shortages and poverty.
[15] Squabs reach adult size, but are not yet ready to fly (making them easier to catch) after roughly a month; at this point, they are slaughtered.
[10] The Roman cookbook Apicius recommended sauces with a combined sweet and sour flavor to accompany roasted or braised squab.
In 1607, a recipe book from a monastery in Salamanca, Spain, suggested cooking squab with pork fat or bitter limes.
[10] In the 15th century, the Italian friar Luca Pacioli wrote a book of "culinary secrets" which included "How to Kill a Squab by Hitting with a Feather on the Head".
[26] Indeed, squab would serve as a culinary staple in Italy, including in Umbrian and Tuscan cuisine since before the Medieval era.
[10] The meat from older and wild pigeons is much tougher than squab, and requires a long period of stewing or roasting to tenderize.
[21][32] Typical dishes include breast of squab (sometimes as the French salmis), Egyptian Mahshi (stuffed with rice or Freekeh and herbs), Assamese pigeon curry[33] and the Moroccan pastilla.
[citation needed] In the United States, squab is "increasingly a specialty item", as the larger and cheaper chicken has mostly displaced it.
"[36] However, squab produced from specially raised utility pigeons continues to grace the menus of American haute cuisine restaurants such as Le Cirque and the French Laundry,[22][37] and has enjoyed endorsements from some celebrity chefs.
[4] Cantonese-style pigeon is typically braised in soy sauce, rice wine and star anise then roasted with crispy skin and tender meat.
[4]: 213 In Indonesian cuisine, especially Sundanese and Javanese, squab is usually seasoned, spiced with coriander, turmeric, garlic and deep fried in a lot of palm oil.
It is served with sambal (chili sauce), tempeh, tofu, vegetables, and nasi timbel (rice wrapped in banana leaf).
[citation needed] Despite the relative ease of raising pigeons, squab is "not usually considered" in terms of its potential for food security.
[16] In parts of the world, squab meat is thought of as distasteful by some consumers because they view feral pigeons as unsanitary urban pests.
[32] However, squab meat is regarded as safer than some other poultry products as it harbors fewer pathogens,[49][50] and may be served between medium and well done.
