January 29, 2026 • 43 mins
This migrating game bird is a model of quality over quantity. Anney and Lauren go beak to tail with the science and history of the European quail.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Annie and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we have
an episode for you about European quail.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Indeed we do. I guess, my goodness do we Was
there any particular reason this was on your mind, Lauren?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You know, quail has kind of been on the list
for a while. I kept looking at it and going like,
this is too complicated and I don't feel like figuring
it out. But again, the past year or so has
just been a time when I'm like, I guess we should.
I guess I should challenge ourselves. I guess let's do
(00:47):
some weird stuff. And here we are.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Here we are. And this definitely was one of those
things where when I was researching it, I had moments
where I thought, this is my job.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Uh huh, Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Learning about quail reproductive habits for a food show. Yep. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Also, apologies, mostly just to you, Annie, I probably should
have started our quail adventures with the Japanese quails. That's
my bad. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Oh yeah, I mean, no worries. I think I have
learned a lot through this. So when we come back
to the Japanese question.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh, it's going to be smooth heck and sailing. Oh
my goodness, it's going to be. It's going to be
quail shaped clouds the whole way. It's going to be lovely.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Indeed. Indeed, so that's it, you know, future us we're
going to have it easier. Yeah, when we get to
that topic. I believe I've told the story before. My
grandfather was a big game bird hunter and he did
hunt quail. I cannot tell you if it was European quail,
(02:11):
but he one time he brought some home that he
had hunted, and he cooked it for us, and it
was really good. I remember thinking as a kid that
it was really small and kind of hard to eat. Yeah,
and that I think there were still like bebies in it.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Okay, yeah that occurs sometimes, sure.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
But yeah, I liked it. I just remember thinking as
a kid, like, this is kind of tricky to.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It certainly can be, Yeah, I think that my I
think my only experiences with quail have been at like
pretty high end restaurants like Bacchanalia, which is this long
running Atlanta institution of like novelle cuisine, very very nice,
(02:59):
very much the kind of place that serves you like
a quarter of a quail for a course, with like
the drizzle of the sauce and like a nice vegetable.
But you know, you're kind of like, oh wow, I
might be hungry when I leave here. All the food
is amazing, I might be hungry later.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yes, yes, I think I probably had quail at a
nice restaurant as well. But I suppose this does bring
us to our question. Sure, European quail, what is it?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Well? European quail, also known as common quail, are type
of game bird that is also sometimes farm raised and
is used for both meat and eggs. They're small birds,
as it wasn't just Annie's imagination, like smaller than your
average pigeon, So a whole plucked common quail might only
(03:55):
weigh like four ounces. That's about one hundred and fifteen grams,
just to give you a concept scale. They're cooked anyway
that you like poultry, though, you know, roasted, grilled, braised.
Their meat is on the dark and gamey side, like
a little bit rich of very tender. Because they're so small,
they're sometimes prepared and served whole with the expectation that
(04:17):
you might eat some of the bones, which do cook
up soft enough to eat, though they can also be
served at least partially deboned, like usually like the ribs
and stuff taken out. The eggs are also small, no
surprise there really o. They're about an inch ish long,
like four centimeters or so, and often have brown and
white speckled shells. They've got a high yolk content, so
(04:37):
they tend to read it's pretty rich. They can be
eaten raw or cooked anyway that you like eating eggs,
though since they are right like only like a tablespoon
or so of liquid, they're often used for dishes where
volume doesn't really matter. You know, you're going for like
quality over quantity, like a nice or dirve or other
small bite. Eating eating quail meat or quail eggs kind
(04:59):
of feels like you're eating doll food or like you
are a giant. Yes, because because quail is so preciously
small and like just a little richer or in the
case of the meat, more like flavorful and tender than
other poultry. It just feels really special.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
It does it does? I have to say I hadn't.
The quail egg craving was one I was not expecting
out of this episode, and I was like, when was
the last time I had a quail egg? Oh?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
My goodness, I'm not even sure mm hmm anyway, okay.
Taxonomical names Katernix Varietykaternix the The European quail is in
the pheasant family. They are again little buddies compared to
a lot of other birds that we commonly eat, with
(05:55):
a length from beak to tail of up to around
seven inches and a wing span of up to around
fourteen inches that's like seventeen by thirty four centimeters. They
might weigh a whole third of a pound, like one
hundred and fifty grams. They're pretty cute, like they've got
like a round little body and like a short short tail,
(06:15):
so they've got like a kind of cute little rounded butt,
a neck that can stretch out, but they often keep
tucked in like a little beak. Their coloration is stippled
and striped cream to tan to brown to black to
blend in with grasslands, which is where they like living.
Male birds have a black throat. I think they kind
(06:36):
of they kind of remind me of like a fluffy
little Jurassic Park velociraptor with long pointed wings instead. Grassy claws.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, I can see it.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah. European quail are ground dwelling birds, preferring environments with
a lot of like tall grassy cover where they can
go about their quail business uninterrupted. Their quail business being
like building nests, keeping eggs, hunting for insects, and foraging
for seeds. They're known for being heard but not seen
(07:09):
because they're pretty good at hiding, but also fairly talkative,
apparently especially during like mating season. They've got this distinctive
three chirp call, which which I've seen alliterated as wet
my lips and yes. In warm months, they will build
a nest amongst the groundcover and lay some eight to
(07:31):
thirteen eggs and a go. The malebirds don't stick around
once hatched, the chicks can move around and feed themselves
pretty much right away, though they will stick close to
their mom for like a couple months. They reach sexual
maturity within a few months, and wild quails will reproduce
at least two or three times a year, so they
are prolific birds. They can live for up to five
(07:52):
years or so, but their life expectancy is usually shorter
due to human hunting and other predation. They are mytory
and can move all the way from like Norway in
the spring to like southern parts of India and Africa
in the winter, or more rarely might migrate from like
more temperate parts of Africa to the equatorial parts. There
(08:16):
are a few mild climates, like southern Spain to northern
Morocco where you can find them all year long, and
some quails will travel less than others. Depends on the quail.
It's you know, like whatever they want to get up to.
Their native breeding range is huge. It's basically all of
Europe way into Central Asia like Mongolia. Fun with terminology,
(08:37):
there are a number of other genera of birds called quail,
and also the European quail has four extant cousins in
the same species, you know, like with distinct genetic makeups
and territories, but still close enough to interbreed. Most quail
farmed for meat and eggs in most places is one
(08:58):
of those cousins, the Japanese quail, because it has been
really successfully domesticated. But it depends. It's a big world
and people get up to all kinds of things. Also,
I want to note here that people at least historically
have really enjoyed arguing about whether these subspecies within Katurnis
(09:21):
are actually separate species. But I'm neither a biologist nor taxonomist,
so here we are. Yeah, I kind of just wanted
to say Katurnics three times in a row above, so
I got to do that, So I'm happy anyway. In
a few countries along like Southern Europe, European quail are farmed,
(09:43):
not directly for meat processing or for egg collection, but
for sale to hunting preserves a little bit more on
that later on, but yeah, I'm you know, they're birds.
You can cook and eat them anyway that you would
other poultry, except for probably less time because they're they're little. Yeah.
(10:07):
As said above, quail eggs do have more yolk than white,
so they taste and feel richer than chicken eggs. Otherwise, like,
specific flavors of both the eggs and the quail might
depend on what the birds have been eating, but they
taste pretty similar to chicken ish. Especially the eggs taste
pretty much like chicken eggs. I did want to mention
(10:28):
the specialty kitchen device of the episode, which I think
is a first time feature, but I'm kind of excited
about about it. Because I don't know about y'all, but
I am really fascinated by stuff that you could buy
to put in your kitchen that is extremely specific. Back
on good Eats, Alton Brown used to talk about really
(10:49):
disliking those. I'm on the other end. I'm the more
is more kind of person, and I'm like, yeah, sure,
I have a finite amount of space. But do I want,
for example, a quaal egg scissor? Of course I do.
Do I ever anticipate having quail eggs in my house?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
No, but you're ready. You're ready if the occasion comes up.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
And look, the thing is is the quail egg shells
are either can can be like either harder or more
delicate than expected. So either way you're more likely to
smash them then crack them open if you treat them
like a chicken egg. So you really need some qual
egg scissors. It's just logical, This is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
I'm on board, Lauren. Yeah, do you have some? No
to get some?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I only learned about them like today.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Okay, well fix this immediately, we shall, we shall? Okay,
Well what about the nutrition by itself?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Quail meat is pretty good for you, you know, good
punch protein, smattering of micro nutrients, less fat than for example,
bull chicken. Again, their eggs do have that higher yolk ratio,
so they've got a little bit more fat, but also
a good smattering of micronutrients. I mean it depends on.
Like with most things, it kind of depends on what
you do with them. If you if you just like
(12:15):
roll them in flagras, then you know it's going to
be a little different.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yes, choose your own adventure, but be aware of your adventure.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
There you go, Oh, be aware of your adventure. I
like that.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
We try here it savior. We do have some numbers
for you.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
A few. Yeah, so okay. The estimated European quail population
is between fifteen to thirty five million birds as of
twenty eighteen. Their total native range is something like eighty
eight million square kilometers, making them by far the most
(12:58):
widespread species quail. During peak migration, hunters will set out
nets in areas along the Mediterranean coast because you know
they're going to be passing through there. This one study
from twenty eight to twenty twelve found that along the
north coast of Egypt alone, two to three million quail
(13:20):
are captured during the forty five day period of peak
migration every year two to three million quail a year
during a forty five day period. From this one estimate
from the nineteen nineties, the whole Mediterranean region might have
been capturing a billion quail every year.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
A billion quail. Yep, Wait, are you the person who's
scared of birds? Is that Andrew?
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Oh? No, that's me. And Andrew likes birds. I'm a
little bit of free jab. Yeah, I've learned to like
birds a little bit more by knowing Andrew.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Okay, so I feel like three, like a billion is
a big number. That's a large number of quail, and
I could see how it could make anybody nervous.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yep, all right, okay, yeah, no, fine, that's okay. Also,
that was in the nineteen nineties. I mean, you know,
well I wasn't. I wasn't in the Mediterranean during the
nineteen nineties. I was watching X files. I'm sure I'm
positive that I was not. I would remember that. However,
(14:40):
despite all of these numbers, according to the European Union's
Poultry Statistics, which is a thing that they've put out,
I quote, species like quails have minimal statistical relevance.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Wow, I know it feels like very passive aggressive.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
I they're very small. Nonetheless, there are forty two recipes
for quail in the copy of Lari's Gastronomique that I
personally possess, which is the one that was published here
in the States in nineteen seventy seven and originally originally
in nineteen sixty. This version also notes that migrating quail
(15:26):
quote belongs to the highest aristocracy of the bird world,
and they're quoting there from a writer from the mid
eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Oh, okay, quail, higher aristocracy.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah yeah, so so right, so mixed mixed reviews.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Mixed reviews, I think is a good a good amalgamation
of what we're saying right now. Yeah, but we've got
quite a history for you.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
We do, we do, and we are going to get
into that as soon as we get back from a
quick break for a word from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay. So, the evolutionary
history of the early relatives of European quail spans millions
of years, millions of years long time. They first originated
in Eurasia but spread soon after to Europe. This is
(16:35):
another one of those things that it's really hard to
pin down when it comes to specifics, but humans have
been eating birds and possibly their eggs. There's some back
and forth on that one for a long time. I
assume the same to be true for whenever the European
quail was available, that people were eating it at least
(16:57):
to some extent, especially with something plentiful and local like
the common quail, so it was around people reading it.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs from five thousand BCE depicted European quail.
Historians believe that the ancient Egyptians were the first to
domesticate them in fifteen hundred BCE, primarily for the small
(17:20):
eggs that they produced at first, but also for their meat.
Because they could produce a lot of eggs very quickly,
and because their size made them fairly manageable, like they
were easy to keep, they were pretty prized. The Egyptians
were also trapping migrating European quail by two thousand BCE.
(17:40):
A handful of sources I read suggested that the eggs
were viewed as having medicinal properties in Egypt as well,
but I only saw that one source, so hard to say. Meanwhile,
ancient Romans kept European quails specifically for their eggs, and
they ate them boiled with seasoning or salt, or use
(18:01):
them to make other dishes. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Throughout history, it seems that some people had some success
in keeping flocks of European quail on farms, you know,
like semi domesticated at least. But mostly it seems like
wild birds would be caught and kept briefly while being
fattened for meat, and like if eggs happened, maybe that
(18:24):
was a bonus, or maybe the female birds would be
particularly sought out so that they could get the eggs.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Generally speaking, they want to migrate, so they don't do
that well in captivity.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Right. Another thing that I found I wasn't expecting to.
A few early accounts out of ancient Europe described illnesses
that may have been linked to quail consumption.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yes, yes, okay, let's talk about quail poisoning. So this
is not something I knew about either.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
There's a known phenomenon though, of people around the Mediterranean
getting sick from eating quail, specifically during the quail's autumn
migration south for the winter, to the point that modernly
it has a medical name patternism. This illness manifests as
like muscle pain, cramps, and fatigue a few hours after
(19:25):
consuming quail combined with very dark earine output. Patients usually
recover in a few days with bedrest and like medical
help basically just getting enough fluids to flush whatever is
happening out. It is still reported and still not entirely understood.
Best guesses and again, like this has been reported for
like a couple thousand years. Best guesses are that, like
(19:47):
maybe the quail that cause the illness have themselves been
eating toxic things like the seeds from hemlock, hell bore
or wound wart, which contain compounds that can cause convulsions.
Kind of lining up, Yeah, whatever it is, though quail
apparently aren't bothered by it, and also possibly the humans
(20:08):
affected have some kind of like sensitivity to whatever compounds
they are, or maybe those humans were like in a
state of activity and digestion that distributed said compounds through
their body more effectively. It is super interesting, like like
whole families will eat quail and like one person will
(20:30):
get sick, so you have so maybe like only one
quail was eating the wrong kind of seeds or like
maybe I don't know. It's hard to say.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
It is and people are still writing about it today.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. All that being said, uh, you're
probably fine if this isn't probably something you really need
to like high key worry about, like maybe avoid eating
wild caught quail in the Mediterranean and if you're otherwise
vulnerable health wise. I don't think you really need to
(21:07):
worry though. Yeah, I was so glad to go on this,
to go on this side quest. Okay, back to the
food part, though ostensibly a food show. All right. So
there are some medieval European recipes for quail that are
(21:28):
like wildly fancy for the time. One published in England
and like the thirteen to fourteen hundreds called for quail
to be roasted and served in a sauce of wine
and vinegar, seasoned with cinnamon, ginger cloves, saffron and sugar,
thickened with very fine breadcrumbs.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Sounds good to me.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Sounds right, that would be expensive today anyway, love it though.
In France, court chefs we're also working with quail as
like a small game bird. They became a popular feature
at banquets, you know, like it's you know, like you
can serve someone a whole bird, but it doesn't you know,
you've bed saving room for later because it's not that big.
(22:11):
A lot of recipes call for pairing the birds with
stuffings or sauces involving things like like liver, patis, treuffles,
madeira wine, brandy, mushrooms and or grapes. Yeah, just like
you know, all like kind of posh stuff. Later, when
schaud Freud sauces became popular, quails got that treatment. Imperial
(22:32):
Russia also picked up on some of these traditions, with
you know, the whole flow of chefs and culinary know
how from France to Russia. However, less fancy recipes from
around Europe during this time period also explain how to
treat quail. You know, like I get the idea that right,
it was it was a game bird that certainly could
(22:53):
be fancy and like fetch a good price at market,
but you might also just eat because it's what you caught.
A like nice middle class recipe dating from the seventeen
eighties to the eighteen teens from the London Art of Cookery,
which was a cookbook. I couldn't figure out exactly what
addition this recipe stemmed from anyway. It called for a
(23:17):
relatively simple roast of quail stuffed with beef, suet, and herbs,
basted with butter, and served in a sauce of gravy
with anchovy shallat and sour orange juice.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Sour orange juice.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, like a good Seville orange.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Oh, okay, all right, yes, I'm once again in okay,
all right. So carl and ais pinned a formal scientific
description for the European quail in seventeen fifty eight. Later,
in seventeen sixty four, French naturalist Princeoise Alexandro Pierre Dicker
(23:57):
Saltz included the common quail under the genus quaternix, which,
as we said, a lot of discussion and debate around
these different species, but yep, kind of where it stemmed from.
In the late eighteen hundreds, there was an attempt to
establish a population of European quail in some United States states.
(24:22):
About one hundred quail were released in Iowa over a
couple of years in the late eighteen seventies to early
eighteen eighties, but the effort was declared a failure beginning
in the eighteen seventies. This is a I didn't expect
to find this doing this research. But yes, okay. Beginning
(24:45):
in the eighteen seventies, some people started betting on whether
people could eat a quail a day for thirty days.
I couldn't confirm the type of quail that was usually
consumed for these wagers, but since most of the accounts
are from North America, I would guess that the European
quail was involved, at least in some cases.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's hard to say. There are a number of species
that are called quail that exist in North America, so
I don't know. But either way, this is a fun story.
Let's talk about it.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yes, we can't say for sure. And if you're scratching
your head about why this is even a thing, as
Lauren always says, people didn't have netflix bick fen. It
was supposed to be a so called unwinnable bet, a
sure thing. It had a lot of allure to it,
and I learned a lot about betting for the quail episode.
(25:40):
What You never know where the research will take you.
But the understanding at the time was that if you
ate too much of a good thing like quail, your
stomach at some point just wouldn't be able to digest
it anymore. As for the thirty days part, that is
thought to be a reference to the biblical story of
(26:02):
the Israelites journey through the desert in numbers eleven. After
complaining about the lack of meat and saying that they
would have been better off in Egypt, God punished them
with a flock of quail, condemning them to eat quail
for thirty days.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I want to put in here that in numbers that
the story goes that these complainers didn't even get to
eat the punishing droves of quail because they were struck
down with a plague as soon as they started to chew,
and died and were buried there, and the place was
thus named the Graves of Craving.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
No, it's very dramatic.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
I it is so metal heck, anyway, please continue.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yes, okay, So whatever the case, this was a whole
thing for a while that at Yeah, the betting, Yes,
let's be clear. In eighteen sixty six, the New York
Times reported about this bet quote. Time and again has
the experiment been made, but according to the best posted authorities,
(27:14):
failure has been the almost universal result. Many papers wrote
about those who undertook this bet, who tried to eat
the quail a day for thirty days. People talked a
big game about it. To one fellow covered by the
Atlanta Constitution in eighteen seventy six, basically said, not only
(27:36):
will I do it, I'll continue to eat a quail
a day after as long as someone else futs the bill.
Another boasted at the halfway point he'd move up to
two quail a day, and in plenty of the accounts
they did in fact succeed and they won some money
(27:57):
for it. In twenty ten, professional poker player Phil Locke
bet someone ten thousand dollars that he couldn't eat a
quail a day for thirty days. He lost the bet, though,
and wrote on his blog quote lost the quail bet
to leave. Turns out, eating a quail a day for
thirty days is easy. The tricky part is to eat
(28:20):
a freshly killed wild quail, not the frozen store bought ones,
so that was a big waste of time and money.
There's also kind of a legend in the poker world
about someone who used a pair of identical twin boys
to cheat people out of their money by doing this bet.
(28:41):
So essentially they would swap out the twin boys every day,
so okay, Yeah, they were getting space between who was
eating the quail. I don't know if it's true. It
seems kind of like a legend to me. Yeah, but
it's interesting that this became such a a thing. Yeah,
(29:08):
they didn't have Netflix, they didn't. Yeah, but by all accounts,
it seems you can eat a quail a day for
thirty days. It'll be fine.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah. I think as long as you don't get one
of the ones that causes quail sucness, you're probably fine.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yes, I think so.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Mean. Meanwhile, by and stepping back a bit, by the
eighteen eighties, as canning technology improved, places with abundant quail hunting,
like Egypt, we're doing some sturdy business in canning and
exporting quail, like I read, as much as half a
million quail a year, which leads us to in the
(29:52):
nineteen twenties and thirties, concern about the decline of quail populations,
leading to some early work in kind of curtailing quail hunting,
just you know, raining it in a little bit. Domesticated
Japanese quail started being introduced to Europe starting post World
War Two. In the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yes, and in nineteen seventy nine. The decline in some
populations of European quail led to calls for regulations and
conservation efforts in a.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
More widespread and focused way than previously had occurred, which
prompted a few changes in how people interacted with European quail, including.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Commercialized game farming or raising quails specifically for hunting, got
underway in parts of Europe like Spain in the nineteen
seventies or eighties. I also read this is when quail
eggs were sort of a novelty item in UK grocery stores.
Listeners please write in I would love to know.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Oh yeah, yeah, I think they still are today here
but anyway, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
This also led to the annual release of the domestic
Japanese quail in some European countries. Research is still ongoing
about hybridization of these two types of quail and how
it could impact the European quail population at large.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yeah, so very Basically, although there are wild populations of
Japanese quail in their own range, the ones that people
farm and the ones being released in Europe are domesticated,
and migratory behavior has largely been selected out of them.
(31:38):
They're they're they're being released to help bolster the quail population.
But from what I've read, it seems like it's beneficial
to the farmers of Japanese quail to introduce some European
quail genetics into their flocks, especially if they're raising quail
for game hunting and want the birds to, you know,
like fly a little bit, because the Japanese quail won't
(31:59):
really and Theuropean quail will. But it might not be beneficial
to wild populations of European quail to have these domesticated
quail genetics in their mix, because they might lose some
of the special genes and qualities that make them what
they are. They might stop migrating, you know, like they
(32:19):
might their behavior might change in other ways. Currently, European
quail is considered a species of Least Concern by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature, partially due to their
like sheer, range and total population. But when you get
into really specific areas, there can be greater concern based on,
(32:41):
you know, what's going on with like land development and
agriculture and use of insecticides and pesticides, because like quail
can be perfectly happy in farmland and nesting in farmland.
But a lot of what their diet is is potentially
pesky insects and also so the seeds of what we
(33:01):
would consider weeds on these farms. So yeah. Also, climate
change is changing where European quail are willing and able
to overwinter. Also in some places continuingly loosely enforced hunting
regulations are concerned. Basically, the whole thing is really complicated.
(33:22):
It's both very large and very local due to the
migratory nature of these birds. Research is ongoing.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
YEP YEP.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Technology Note in the early two thousands, the proliferation of
MP three technology made the net capture the hunting with
nets of migrating quail more productive because hunters were able
to start setting out MP three players with recordings of
(33:57):
quail calls to attract birds throughout the night. This is
now illegal in some places.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
I have to admit I feel a pang in my
heart at that. Can you imagine you feel? You hear
what you think is a love call?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Oh yeah, you get there and it's a heck and
iPod You know right, it's.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
An MP three. No qualess are better than that.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
They do they do. Yeah, well, this one really, this
one really went places.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
It certainly did, and I do think we are prepared
for whenever it will happen, our next step in our
quail adventures.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Yeah, yeah, we're We're better. We've got a good base, anyway.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
I think. I think so. I would love to hear
from listeners. Oh if you cook with qua.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Oh my goodness, I've never cooked one. How does it go?
You tell me exactly?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yes, please let us know. But in the meantime, I
think that's what we have to say about European quail
for now.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
It is. We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we're going to get into that as soon as
we get back from one more quick break for a
word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes, thank you, And
we're back with a listener yes, okay. So we have
a message from Tyler, who always writes in with questions
(35:51):
that make me think.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yes, so, Tyler wrote, I have to ask. I listened
to the mango episode and I listened to the mangot
episode once upon a time. Are they related? If so,
how are they the same type of fruit just modified differently?
They both have the same name in a sense, you
know mango. Are they both a type of mango? Well,
(36:18):
for one, I forgot we did mango of being on
this show.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
We've done a lot of episodes. You can't keep track
of all of them in your head personally. That's why
we have the internet to look up our own show
on But but yeah, so so I had to look
it up to uh, or I had to look up
the answer to this question as well. But they they
are unrelated. Uh. We got the word mango from a
(36:56):
Portuguese interpretation of a melee word for the mango fruit,
and we got the word mango stein from a Dutch
interpretation of a melee word for the mango stein fruit.
The two words, I believe in Malay are not related,
(37:17):
like the fruits are unrelated. But the reason that the
pronunciation in English is so similar maybe that English speakers
knew about mangoes first, and so it's a possibility that
we took the spelling and pronunciation of mango stein because
(37:38):
it's similar to mangoes, which we already knew about, and
it's another tropical fruits. So we were like, yeah, sure
that's a mango stein.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Great, that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah, I feel
like we have a lot of things like that, where.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Pepper pepper, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yes, exactly where you're familiar with this, so let's just
name it.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, this is a chili pepper similar to black pepper,
but not related literally in any way other than now animologically.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
And now you're confused, but you kind of have an idea.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Of, yeah, what it's gonna do to your face.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
The sensation you might get from pepper.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
But good question, Thank you. Yes, Christine wrote first, Happy
New Year. I think I really enjoyed the vegetable shortening
slash Crisco episode. It's one of those things I read about,
but we don't see it as a product in supermarkets
in Australia. That is, it's available from specialty baking retailers,
(38:43):
though mostly Australia uses COFA, which is derived from coconut oil.
Not sure if I'm saying that currently. Another listener commented
about how they don't like the oily mouth feel vegetable
shortening gives to cake frosting. Cofa is the same. I
really don't like it at all. Still, KOFA has never
been advertised with the slogan It's digestible, which appeared in
(39:05):
the Swedish meat ring made by Everyone's Favorite gave in
to J Baker b Dylan Hollis. Its digestible honestly strikes
me as a sort of slogan you'd find in a
cyberpunk dystopia rather than a mid century aspirational cookbook. Though,
speaking of disturbing advertising trends, I found out about watching
Dylan cook, would it be possible to get an episode
(39:25):
about Caro Corn Syrup and their mascot, the Caro Kid.
This unsettling character appeared on the recipe Dylan cooked for
peanut Pie, dressed as what Dylan described as an infant
male escort. The Carrow Kid traumatized poor Dylan to the
point where he had to cover up the Caro Kid
with a sticky note during the video. When I did
(39:47):
some investigating, I found the infant male escort incarnation of
the Caro Kid was one of the less disturbing ones.
I'd love to know who on Earth thought up this
advertising mascot, though it's rather appropriate for I fruit dose
corn Syrup. I've included a picture of the infant mail
escort Caro Kid, and also a cat tax picture of
(40:07):
ample Wa Samson Snowshoe the Magnificent demanding belly rubs at
the New Year's Day crafter noon. Yeah so yeah, so
attached is this magazine advertisement for Deep South Peanut Pie,
(40:29):
for a Deep South peanut pie recipe made the Caro syrup.
And yeah, and there's like a baby wearing a chip
and Dale's outfit, y'all. I'm sorry, it's that's what's happening,
but that's what's occurring. The peanut pie looks basically like
pecan pie, but with peanuts instead of pecans, which I
(40:53):
don't like the idea of actually, But also attached, Yes,
the Amplea appears is very very happy, curled up, curled
up like a little seal pup on the floor, just
just going like just just just being a being a
happy buddy.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yeah. Yeah, I have to say this Caro kid is disturbing.
It does look like a doll that would kill you
in a horror movie.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Oh absolutely, It's eyebrows are saying a lot and a
lot is all just I'm going to kill you over
and over and over again. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yes, and a lot of choices were made here that
I don't think we're good choices a kid without clothes maybe, but.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
The hat is covering the delicate bits. But but yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Yeah, but even so, I feel other other decisions could
have been made.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Uh, I agree, gonna, I'm gonna gonna gonna gonna hard agree,
I feel slightly threatened, and other decisions could certainly have
been made.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yes, that being said, thank you for alerting us to this. Yes,
because we are on the search always for these kind
of creepy advertising things.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Oh yeah, and and corn corn syrup is a difficult topic, uh,
due to a lot of reasons. But both that in
general and Cara specifically are super fascinating.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yes, yes, and I have to say Swedish meat ring Uh,
it was not something I was expecting uh in a
listener mail.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
But yeah, that's gonna have to be another topic for
another day.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
It is. You've given us a lot to think about
a lot as always on As always, thank you so
much to both of these listeners for writing in. If
you would like to write to us, you can Our
email is hello at saborpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Instagram and blue Sky at saber pod. And we
do hope to hear from You. Savor is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you
can visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you
(43:39):
for listening, and we hope that lots more good things
are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Annie and I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and today we have
an episode for you about European quail.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Indeed we do. I guess, my goodness do we Was
there any particular reason this was on your mind, Lauren?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
You know, quail has kind of been on the list
for a while. I kept looking at it and going like,
this is too complicated and I don't feel like figuring
it out. But again, the past year or so has
just been a time when I'm like, I guess we should.
I guess I should challenge ourselves. I guess let's do
(00:47):
some weird stuff. And here we are.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Here we are. And this definitely was one of those
things where when I was researching it, I had moments
where I thought, this is my job.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Uh huh, Yeah, I'm.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
Learning about quail reproductive habits for a food show. Yep. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (01:15):
Also, apologies, mostly just to you, Annie, I probably should
have started our quail adventures with the Japanese quails. That's
my bad. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
Oh yeah, I mean, no worries. I think I have
learned a lot through this. So when we come back
to the Japanese question.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Oh, it's going to be smooth heck and sailing. Oh
my goodness, it's going to be. It's going to be
quail shaped clouds the whole way. It's going to be lovely.
Speaker 1 (01:45):
Indeed. Indeed, so that's it, you know, future us we're
going to have it easier. Yeah, when we get to
that topic. I believe I've told the story before. My
grandfather was a big game bird hunter and he did
hunt quail. I cannot tell you if it was European quail,
(02:11):
but he one time he brought some home that he
had hunted, and he cooked it for us, and it
was really good. I remember thinking as a kid that
it was really small and kind of hard to eat. Yeah,
and that I think there were still like bebies in it.
Speaker 2 (02:28):
Okay, yeah that occurs sometimes, sure.
Speaker 1 (02:31):
But yeah, I liked it. I just remember thinking as
a kid, like, this is kind of tricky to.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
It certainly can be, Yeah, I think that my I
think my only experiences with quail have been at like
pretty high end restaurants like Bacchanalia, which is this long
running Atlanta institution of like novelle cuisine, very very nice,
(02:59):
very much the kind of place that serves you like
a quarter of a quail for a course, with like
the drizzle of the sauce and like a nice vegetable.
But you know, you're kind of like, oh wow, I
might be hungry when I leave here. All the food
is amazing, I might be hungry later.
Speaker 1 (03:17):
Yes, yes, I think I probably had quail at a
nice restaurant as well. But I suppose this does bring
us to our question. Sure, European quail, what is it?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
Well? European quail, also known as common quail, are type
of game bird that is also sometimes farm raised and
is used for both meat and eggs. They're small birds,
as it wasn't just Annie's imagination, like smaller than your
average pigeon, So a whole plucked common quail might only
(03:55):
weigh like four ounces. That's about one hundred and fifteen grams,
just to give you a concept scale. They're cooked anyway
that you like poultry, though, you know, roasted, grilled, braised.
Their meat is on the dark and gamey side, like
a little bit rich of very tender. Because they're so small,
they're sometimes prepared and served whole with the expectation that
(04:17):
you might eat some of the bones, which do cook
up soft enough to eat, though they can also be
served at least partially deboned, like usually like the ribs
and stuff taken out. The eggs are also small, no
surprise there really o. They're about an inch ish long,
like four centimeters or so, and often have brown and
white speckled shells. They've got a high yolk content, so
(04:37):
they tend to read it's pretty rich. They can be
eaten raw or cooked anyway that you like eating eggs,
though since they are right like only like a tablespoon
or so of liquid, they're often used for dishes where
volume doesn't really matter. You know, you're going for like
quality over quantity, like a nice or dirve or other
small bite. Eating eating quail meat or quail eggs kind
(04:59):
of feels like you're eating doll food or like you
are a giant. Yes, because because quail is so preciously
small and like just a little richer or in the
case of the meat, more like flavorful and tender than
other poultry. It just feels really special.
Speaker 1 (05:22):
It does it does? I have to say I hadn't.
The quail egg craving was one I was not expecting
out of this episode, and I was like, when was
the last time I had a quail egg? Oh?
Speaker 2 (05:34):
My goodness, I'm not even sure mm hmm anyway, okay.
Taxonomical names Katernix Varietykaternix the The European quail is in
the pheasant family. They are again little buddies compared to
a lot of other birds that we commonly eat, with
(05:55):
a length from beak to tail of up to around
seven inches and a wing span of up to around
fourteen inches that's like seventeen by thirty four centimeters. They
might weigh a whole third of a pound, like one
hundred and fifty grams. They're pretty cute, like they've got
like a round little body and like a short short tail,
(06:15):
so they've got like a kind of cute little rounded butt,
a neck that can stretch out, but they often keep
tucked in like a little beak. Their coloration is stippled
and striped cream to tan to brown to black to
blend in with grasslands, which is where they like living.
Male birds have a black throat. I think they kind
(06:36):
of they kind of remind me of like a fluffy
little Jurassic Park velociraptor with long pointed wings instead. Grassy claws.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Yeah, I can see it.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah. European quail are ground dwelling birds, preferring environments with
a lot of like tall grassy cover where they can
go about their quail business uninterrupted. Their quail business being
like building nests, keeping eggs, hunting for insects, and foraging
for seeds. They're known for being heard but not seen
(07:09):
because they're pretty good at hiding, but also fairly talkative,
apparently especially during like mating season. They've got this distinctive
three chirp call, which which I've seen alliterated as wet
my lips and yes. In warm months, they will build
a nest amongst the groundcover and lay some eight to
(07:31):
thirteen eggs and a go. The malebirds don't stick around
once hatched, the chicks can move around and feed themselves
pretty much right away, though they will stick close to
their mom for like a couple months. They reach sexual
maturity within a few months, and wild quails will reproduce
at least two or three times a year, so they
are prolific birds. They can live for up to five
(07:52):
years or so, but their life expectancy is usually shorter
due to human hunting and other predation. They are mytory
and can move all the way from like Norway in
the spring to like southern parts of India and Africa
in the winter, or more rarely might migrate from like
more temperate parts of Africa to the equatorial parts. There
(08:16):
are a few mild climates, like southern Spain to northern
Morocco where you can find them all year long, and
some quails will travel less than others. Depends on the quail.
It's you know, like whatever they want to get up to.
Their native breeding range is huge. It's basically all of
Europe way into Central Asia like Mongolia. Fun with terminology,
(08:37):
there are a number of other genera of birds called quail,
and also the European quail has four extant cousins in
the same species, you know, like with distinct genetic makeups
and territories, but still close enough to interbreed. Most quail
farmed for meat and eggs in most places is one
(08:58):
of those cousins, the Japanese quail, because it has been
really successfully domesticated. But it depends. It's a big world
and people get up to all kinds of things. Also,
I want to note here that people at least historically
have really enjoyed arguing about whether these subspecies within Katurnis
(09:21):
are actually separate species. But I'm neither a biologist nor taxonomist,
so here we are. Yeah, I kind of just wanted
to say Katurnics three times in a row above, so
I got to do that, So I'm happy anyway. In
a few countries along like Southern Europe, European quail are farmed,
(09:43):
not directly for meat processing or for egg collection, but
for sale to hunting preserves a little bit more on
that later on, but yeah, I'm you know, they're birds.
You can cook and eat them anyway that you would
other poultry, except for probably less time because they're they're little. Yeah.
(10:07):
As said above, quail eggs do have more yolk than white,
so they taste and feel richer than chicken eggs. Otherwise, like,
specific flavors of both the eggs and the quail might
depend on what the birds have been eating, but they
taste pretty similar to chicken ish. Especially the eggs taste
pretty much like chicken eggs. I did want to mention
(10:28):
the specialty kitchen device of the episode, which I think
is a first time feature, but I'm kind of excited
about about it. Because I don't know about y'all, but
I am really fascinated by stuff that you could buy
to put in your kitchen that is extremely specific. Back
on good Eats, Alton Brown used to talk about really
(10:49):
disliking those. I'm on the other end. I'm the more
is more kind of person, and I'm like, yeah, sure,
I have a finite amount of space. But do I want,
for example, a quaal egg scissor? Of course I do.
Do I ever anticipate having quail eggs in my house?
Speaker 1 (11:06):
No, but you're ready. You're ready if the occasion comes up.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
And look, the thing is is the quail egg shells
are either can can be like either harder or more
delicate than expected. So either way you're more likely to
smash them then crack them open if you treat them
like a chicken egg. So you really need some qual
egg scissors. It's just logical, This is what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (11:37):
I'm on board, Lauren. Yeah, do you have some? No
to get some?
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I only learned about them like today.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Okay, well fix this immediately, we shall, we shall? Okay,
Well what about the nutrition by itself?
Speaker 2 (11:53):
Quail meat is pretty good for you, you know, good
punch protein, smattering of micro nutrients, less fat than for example,
bull chicken. Again, their eggs do have that higher yolk ratio,
so they've got a little bit more fat, but also
a good smattering of micronutrients. I mean it depends on.
Like with most things, it kind of depends on what
you do with them. If you if you just like
(12:15):
roll them in flagras, then you know it's going to
be a little different.
Speaker 1 (12:21):
Yes, choose your own adventure, but be aware of your adventure.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
There you go, Oh, be aware of your adventure. I
like that.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
We try here it savior. We do have some numbers
for you.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
A few. Yeah, so okay. The estimated European quail population
is between fifteen to thirty five million birds as of
twenty eighteen. Their total native range is something like eighty
eight million square kilometers, making them by far the most
(12:58):
widespread species quail. During peak migration, hunters will set out
nets in areas along the Mediterranean coast because you know
they're going to be passing through there. This one study
from twenty eight to twenty twelve found that along the
north coast of Egypt alone, two to three million quail
(13:20):
are captured during the forty five day period of peak
migration every year two to three million quail a year
during a forty five day period. From this one estimate
from the nineteen nineties, the whole Mediterranean region might have
been capturing a billion quail every year.
Speaker 1 (13:44):
A billion quail. Yep, Wait, are you the person who's
scared of birds? Is that Andrew?
Speaker 2 (13:52):
Oh? No, that's me. And Andrew likes birds. I'm a
little bit of free jab. Yeah, I've learned to like
birds a little bit more by knowing Andrew.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
Okay, so I feel like three, like a billion is
a big number. That's a large number of quail, and
I could see how it could make anybody nervous.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yep, all right, okay, yeah, no, fine, that's okay. Also,
that was in the nineteen nineties. I mean, you know,
well I wasn't. I wasn't in the Mediterranean during the
nineteen nineties. I was watching X files. I'm sure I'm
positive that I was not. I would remember that. However,
(14:40):
despite all of these numbers, according to the European Union's
Poultry Statistics, which is a thing that they've put out,
I quote, species like quails have minimal statistical relevance.
Speaker 1 (14:57):
Wow, I know it feels like very passive aggressive.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
I they're very small. Nonetheless, there are forty two recipes
for quail in the copy of Lari's Gastronomique that I
personally possess, which is the one that was published here
in the States in nineteen seventy seven and originally originally
in nineteen sixty. This version also notes that migrating quail
(15:26):
quote belongs to the highest aristocracy of the bird world,
and they're quoting there from a writer from the mid
eighteen hundreds.
Speaker 1 (15:38):
Oh, okay, quail, higher aristocracy.
Speaker 2 (15:43):
Yeah yeah, so so right, so mixed mixed reviews.
Speaker 1 (15:48):
Mixed reviews, I think is a good a good amalgamation
of what we're saying right now. Yeah, but we've got
quite a history for you.
Speaker 2 (15:59):
We do, we do, and we are going to get
into that as soon as we get back from a
quick break for a word from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you. Okay. So, the evolutionary
history of the early relatives of European quail spans millions
of years, millions of years long time. They first originated
in Eurasia but spread soon after to Europe. This is
(16:35):
another one of those things that it's really hard to
pin down when it comes to specifics, but humans have
been eating birds and possibly their eggs. There's some back
and forth on that one for a long time. I
assume the same to be true for whenever the European
quail was available, that people were eating it at least
(16:57):
to some extent, especially with something plentiful and local like
the common quail, so it was around people reading it.
Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs from five thousand BCE depicted European quail.
Historians believe that the ancient Egyptians were the first to
domesticate them in fifteen hundred BCE, primarily for the small
(17:20):
eggs that they produced at first, but also for their meat.
Because they could produce a lot of eggs very quickly,
and because their size made them fairly manageable, like they
were easy to keep, they were pretty prized. The Egyptians
were also trapping migrating European quail by two thousand BCE.
(17:40):
A handful of sources I read suggested that the eggs
were viewed as having medicinal properties in Egypt as well,
but I only saw that one source, so hard to say. Meanwhile,
ancient Romans kept European quails specifically for their eggs, and
they ate them boiled with seasoning or salt, or use
(18:01):
them to make other dishes. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
Throughout history, it seems that some people had some success
in keeping flocks of European quail on farms, you know,
like semi domesticated at least. But mostly it seems like
wild birds would be caught and kept briefly while being
fattened for meat, and like if eggs happened, maybe that
(18:24):
was a bonus, or maybe the female birds would be
particularly sought out so that they could get the eggs.
Speaker 1 (18:32):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
Generally speaking, they want to migrate, so they don't do
that well in captivity.
Speaker 1 (18:39):
Right. Another thing that I found I wasn't expecting to.
A few early accounts out of ancient Europe described illnesses
that may have been linked to quail consumption.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Yes, yes, okay, let's talk about quail poisoning. So this
is not something I knew about either.
Speaker 1 (19:03):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (19:03):
There's a known phenomenon though, of people around the Mediterranean
getting sick from eating quail, specifically during the quail's autumn
migration south for the winter, to the point that modernly
it has a medical name patternism. This illness manifests as
like muscle pain, cramps, and fatigue a few hours after
(19:25):
consuming quail combined with very dark earine output. Patients usually
recover in a few days with bedrest and like medical
help basically just getting enough fluids to flush whatever is
happening out. It is still reported and still not entirely understood.
Best guesses and again, like this has been reported for
like a couple thousand years. Best guesses are that, like
(19:47):
maybe the quail that cause the illness have themselves been
eating toxic things like the seeds from hemlock, hell bore
or wound wart, which contain compounds that can cause convulsions.
Kind of lining up, Yeah, whatever it is, though quail
apparently aren't bothered by it, and also possibly the humans
(20:08):
affected have some kind of like sensitivity to whatever compounds
they are, or maybe those humans were like in a
state of activity and digestion that distributed said compounds through
their body more effectively. It is super interesting, like like
whole families will eat quail and like one person will
(20:30):
get sick, so you have so maybe like only one
quail was eating the wrong kind of seeds or like
maybe I don't know. It's hard to say.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
It is and people are still writing about it today.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Oh yeah, oh yeah. All that being said, uh, you're
probably fine if this isn't probably something you really need
to like high key worry about, like maybe avoid eating
wild caught quail in the Mediterranean and if you're otherwise
vulnerable health wise. I don't think you really need to
(21:07):
worry though. Yeah, I was so glad to go on this,
to go on this side quest. Okay, back to the
food part, though ostensibly a food show. All right. So
there are some medieval European recipes for quail that are
(21:28):
like wildly fancy for the time. One published in England
and like the thirteen to fourteen hundreds called for quail
to be roasted and served in a sauce of wine
and vinegar, seasoned with cinnamon, ginger cloves, saffron and sugar,
thickened with very fine breadcrumbs.
Speaker 1 (21:49):
Sounds good to me.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
Sounds right, that would be expensive today anyway, love it though.
In France, court chefs we're also working with quail as
like a small game bird. They became a popular feature
at banquets, you know, like it's you know, like you
can serve someone a whole bird, but it doesn't you know,
you've bed saving room for later because it's not that big.
(22:11):
A lot of recipes call for pairing the birds with
stuffings or sauces involving things like like liver, patis, treuffles,
madeira wine, brandy, mushrooms and or grapes. Yeah, just like
you know, all like kind of posh stuff. Later, when
schaud Freud sauces became popular, quails got that treatment. Imperial
(22:32):
Russia also picked up on some of these traditions, with
you know, the whole flow of chefs and culinary know
how from France to Russia. However, less fancy recipes from
around Europe during this time period also explain how to
treat quail. You know, like I get the idea that right,
it was it was a game bird that certainly could
(22:53):
be fancy and like fetch a good price at market,
but you might also just eat because it's what you caught.
A like nice middle class recipe dating from the seventeen
eighties to the eighteen teens from the London Art of Cookery,
which was a cookbook. I couldn't figure out exactly what
addition this recipe stemmed from anyway. It called for a
(23:17):
relatively simple roast of quail stuffed with beef, suet, and herbs,
basted with butter, and served in a sauce of gravy
with anchovy shallat and sour orange juice.
Speaker 1 (23:30):
Sour orange juice.
Speaker 2 (23:32):
Yeah, like a good Seville orange.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
Oh, okay, all right, yes, I'm once again in okay,
all right. So carl and ais pinned a formal scientific
description for the European quail in seventeen fifty eight. Later,
in seventeen sixty four, French naturalist Princeoise Alexandro Pierre Dicker
(23:57):
Saltz included the common quail under the genus quaternix, which,
as we said, a lot of discussion and debate around
these different species, but yep, kind of where it stemmed from.
In the late eighteen hundreds, there was an attempt to
establish a population of European quail in some United States states.
(24:22):
About one hundred quail were released in Iowa over a
couple of years in the late eighteen seventies to early
eighteen eighties, but the effort was declared a failure beginning
in the eighteen seventies. This is a I didn't expect
to find this doing this research. But yes, okay. Beginning
(24:45):
in the eighteen seventies, some people started betting on whether
people could eat a quail a day for thirty days.
I couldn't confirm the type of quail that was usually
consumed for these wagers, but since most of the accounts
are from North America, I would guess that the European
quail was involved, at least in some cases.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
It's hard to say. There are a number of species
that are called quail that exist in North America, so
I don't know. But either way, this is a fun story.
Let's talk about it.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yes, we can't say for sure. And if you're scratching
your head about why this is even a thing, as
Lauren always says, people didn't have netflix bick fen. It
was supposed to be a so called unwinnable bet, a
sure thing. It had a lot of allure to it,
and I learned a lot about betting for the quail episode.
(25:40):
What You never know where the research will take you.
But the understanding at the time was that if you
ate too much of a good thing like quail, your
stomach at some point just wouldn't be able to digest
it anymore. As for the thirty days part, that is
thought to be a reference to the biblical story of
(26:02):
the Israelites journey through the desert in numbers eleven. After
complaining about the lack of meat and saying that they
would have been better off in Egypt, God punished them
with a flock of quail, condemning them to eat quail
for thirty days.
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I want to put in here that in numbers that
the story goes that these complainers didn't even get to
eat the punishing droves of quail because they were struck
down with a plague as soon as they started to chew,
and died and were buried there, and the place was
thus named the Graves of Craving.
Speaker 1 (26:42):
No, it's very dramatic.
Speaker 2 (26:47):
I it is so metal heck, anyway, please continue.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
Yes, okay, So whatever the case, this was a whole
thing for a while that at Yeah, the betting, Yes,
let's be clear. In eighteen sixty six, the New York
Times reported about this bet quote. Time and again has
the experiment been made, but according to the best posted authorities,
(27:14):
failure has been the almost universal result. Many papers wrote
about those who undertook this bet, who tried to eat
the quail a day for thirty days. People talked a
big game about it. To one fellow covered by the
Atlanta Constitution in eighteen seventy six, basically said, not only
(27:36):
will I do it, I'll continue to eat a quail
a day after as long as someone else futs the bill.
Another boasted at the halfway point he'd move up to
two quail a day, and in plenty of the accounts
they did in fact succeed and they won some money
(27:57):
for it. In twenty ten, professional poker player Phil Locke
bet someone ten thousand dollars that he couldn't eat a
quail a day for thirty days. He lost the bet, though,
and wrote on his blog quote lost the quail bet
to leave. Turns out, eating a quail a day for
thirty days is easy. The tricky part is to eat
(28:20):
a freshly killed wild quail, not the frozen store bought ones,
so that was a big waste of time and money.
There's also kind of a legend in the poker world
about someone who used a pair of identical twin boys
to cheat people out of their money by doing this bet.
(28:41):
So essentially they would swap out the twin boys every day,
so okay, Yeah, they were getting space between who was
eating the quail. I don't know if it's true. It
seems kind of like a legend to me. Yeah, but
it's interesting that this became such a a thing. Yeah,
(29:08):
they didn't have Netflix, they didn't. Yeah, but by all accounts,
it seems you can eat a quail a day for
thirty days. It'll be fine.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
Yeah. I think as long as you don't get one
of the ones that causes quail sucness, you're probably fine.
Speaker 1 (29:26):
Yes, I think so.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Mean. Meanwhile, by and stepping back a bit, by the
eighteen eighties, as canning technology improved, places with abundant quail hunting,
like Egypt, we're doing some sturdy business in canning and
exporting quail, like I read, as much as half a
million quail a year, which leads us to in the
(29:52):
nineteen twenties and thirties, concern about the decline of quail populations,
leading to some early work in kind of curtailing quail hunting,
just you know, raining it in a little bit. Domesticated
Japanese quail started being introduced to Europe starting post World
War Two. In the nineteen fifties.
Speaker 1 (30:13):
Yes, and in nineteen seventy nine. The decline in some
populations of European quail led to calls for regulations and
conservation efforts in a.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
More widespread and focused way than previously had occurred, which
prompted a few changes in how people interacted with European quail, including.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
Commercialized game farming or raising quails specifically for hunting, got
underway in parts of Europe like Spain in the nineteen
seventies or eighties. I also read this is when quail
eggs were sort of a novelty item in UK grocery stores.
Listeners please write in I would love to know.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
Oh yeah, yeah, I think they still are today here
but anyway, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
This also led to the annual release of the domestic
Japanese quail in some European countries. Research is still ongoing
about hybridization of these two types of quail and how
it could impact the European quail population at large.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Yeah, so very Basically, although there are wild populations of
Japanese quail in their own range, the ones that people
farm and the ones being released in Europe are domesticated,
and migratory behavior has largely been selected out of them.
(31:38):
They're they're they're being released to help bolster the quail population.
But from what I've read, it seems like it's beneficial
to the farmers of Japanese quail to introduce some European
quail genetics into their flocks, especially if they're raising quail
for game hunting and want the birds to, you know,
like fly a little bit, because the Japanese quail won't
(31:59):
really and Theuropean quail will. But it might not be beneficial
to wild populations of European quail to have these domesticated
quail genetics in their mix, because they might lose some
of the special genes and qualities that make them what
they are. They might stop migrating, you know, like they
(32:19):
might their behavior might change in other ways. Currently, European
quail is considered a species of Least Concern by the
International Union for Conservation of Nature, partially due to their
like sheer, range and total population. But when you get
into really specific areas, there can be greater concern based on,
(32:41):
you know, what's going on with like land development and
agriculture and use of insecticides and pesticides, because like quail
can be perfectly happy in farmland and nesting in farmland.
But a lot of what their diet is is potentially
pesky insects and also so the seeds of what we
(33:01):
would consider weeds on these farms. So yeah. Also, climate
change is changing where European quail are willing and able
to overwinter. Also in some places continuingly loosely enforced hunting
regulations are concerned. Basically, the whole thing is really complicated.
(33:22):
It's both very large and very local due to the
migratory nature of these birds. Research is ongoing.
Speaker 1 (33:32):
YEP YEP.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
Technology Note in the early two thousands, the proliferation of
MP three technology made the net capture the hunting with
nets of migrating quail more productive because hunters were able
to start setting out MP three players with recordings of
(33:57):
quail calls to attract birds throughout the night. This is
now illegal in some places.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
I have to admit I feel a pang in my
heart at that. Can you imagine you feel? You hear
what you think is a love call?
Speaker 2 (34:14):
Oh yeah, you get there and it's a heck and
iPod You know right, it's.
Speaker 1 (34:19):
An MP three. No qualess are better than that.
Speaker 2 (34:28):
They do they do. Yeah, well, this one really, this
one really went places.
Speaker 1 (34:39):
It certainly did, and I do think we are prepared
for whenever it will happen, our next step in our
quail adventures.
Speaker 2 (34:48):
Yeah, yeah, we're We're better. We've got a good base, anyway.
Speaker 1 (34:52):
I think. I think so. I would love to hear
from listeners. Oh if you cook with qua.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Oh my goodness, I've never cooked one. How does it go?
You tell me exactly?
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Yes, please let us know. But in the meantime, I
think that's what we have to say about European quail
for now.
Speaker 2 (35:11):
It is. We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we're going to get into that as soon as
we get back from one more quick break for a
word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsors, Yes, thank you, And
we're back with a listener yes, okay. So we have
a message from Tyler, who always writes in with questions
(35:51):
that make me think.
Speaker 2 (35:52):
I love it.
Speaker 1 (35:53):
Yes, so, Tyler wrote, I have to ask. I listened
to the mango episode and I listened to the mangot
episode once upon a time. Are they related? If so,
how are they the same type of fruit just modified differently?
They both have the same name in a sense, you
know mango. Are they both a type of mango? Well,
(36:18):
for one, I forgot we did mango of being on
this show.
Speaker 2 (36:31):
We've done a lot of episodes. You can't keep track
of all of them in your head personally. That's why
we have the internet to look up our own show
on But but yeah, so so I had to look
it up to uh, or I had to look up
the answer to this question as well. But they they
are unrelated. Uh. We got the word mango from a
(36:56):
Portuguese interpretation of a melee word for the mango fruit,
and we got the word mango stein from a Dutch
interpretation of a melee word for the mango stein fruit.
The two words, I believe in Malay are not related,
(37:17):
like the fruits are unrelated. But the reason that the
pronunciation in English is so similar maybe that English speakers
knew about mangoes first, and so it's a possibility that
we took the spelling and pronunciation of mango stein because
(37:38):
it's similar to mangoes, which we already knew about, and
it's another tropical fruits. So we were like, yeah, sure
that's a mango stein.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Great, that makes sense. That makes sense. Yeah, I feel
like we have a lot of things like that, where.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Pepper pepper, oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (37:57):
Yes, exactly where you're familiar with this, so let's just
name it.
Speaker 2 (38:01):
Yeah, this is a chili pepper similar to black pepper,
but not related literally in any way other than now animologically.
Speaker 1 (38:12):
And now you're confused, but you kind of have an idea.
Speaker 2 (38:14):
Of, yeah, what it's gonna do to your face.
Speaker 1 (38:17):
The sensation you might get from pepper.
Speaker 2 (38:23):
But good question, Thank you. Yes, Christine wrote first, Happy
New Year. I think I really enjoyed the vegetable shortening
slash Crisco episode. It's one of those things I read about,
but we don't see it as a product in supermarkets
in Australia. That is, it's available from specialty baking retailers,
(38:43):
though mostly Australia uses COFA, which is derived from coconut oil.
Not sure if I'm saying that currently. Another listener commented
about how they don't like the oily mouth feel vegetable
shortening gives to cake frosting. Cofa is the same. I
really don't like it at all. Still, KOFA has never
been advertised with the slogan It's digestible, which appeared in
(39:05):
the Swedish meat ring made by Everyone's Favorite gave in
to J Baker b Dylan Hollis. Its digestible honestly strikes
me as a sort of slogan you'd find in a
cyberpunk dystopia rather than a mid century aspirational cookbook. Though,
speaking of disturbing advertising trends, I found out about watching
Dylan cook, would it be possible to get an episode
(39:25):
about Caro Corn Syrup and their mascot, the Caro Kid.
This unsettling character appeared on the recipe Dylan cooked for
peanut Pie, dressed as what Dylan described as an infant
male escort. The Carrow Kid traumatized poor Dylan to the
point where he had to cover up the Caro Kid
with a sticky note during the video. When I did
(39:47):
some investigating, I found the infant male escort incarnation of
the Caro Kid was one of the less disturbing ones.
I'd love to know who on Earth thought up this
advertising mascot, though it's rather appropriate for I fruit dose
corn Syrup. I've included a picture of the infant mail
escort Caro Kid, and also a cat tax picture of
(40:07):
ample Wa Samson Snowshoe the Magnificent demanding belly rubs at
the New Year's Day crafter noon. Yeah so yeah, so
attached is this magazine advertisement for Deep South Peanut Pie,
(40:29):
for a Deep South peanut pie recipe made the Caro syrup.
And yeah, and there's like a baby wearing a chip
and Dale's outfit, y'all. I'm sorry, it's that's what's happening,
but that's what's occurring. The peanut pie looks basically like
pecan pie, but with peanuts instead of pecans, which I
(40:53):
don't like the idea of actually, But also attached, Yes,
the Amplea appears is very very happy, curled up, curled
up like a little seal pup on the floor, just
just going like just just just being a being a
happy buddy.
Speaker 1 (41:11):
Yeah. Yeah, I have to say this Caro kid is disturbing.
It does look like a doll that would kill you
in a horror movie.
Speaker 2 (41:26):
Oh absolutely, It's eyebrows are saying a lot and a
lot is all just I'm going to kill you over
and over and over again. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:37):
Yes, and a lot of choices were made here that
I don't think we're good choices a kid without clothes maybe, but.
Speaker 2 (41:48):
The hat is covering the delicate bits. But but yeah.
Speaker 1 (41:53):
Yeah, but even so, I feel other other decisions could
have been made.
Speaker 2 (42:00):
Uh, I agree, gonna, I'm gonna gonna gonna gonna hard agree,
I feel slightly threatened, and other decisions could certainly have
been made.
Speaker 1 (42:11):
Yes, that being said, thank you for alerting us to this. Yes,
because we are on the search always for these kind
of creepy advertising things.
Speaker 2 (42:28):
Oh yeah, and and corn corn syrup is a difficult topic, uh,
due to a lot of reasons. But both that in
general and Cara specifically are super fascinating.
Speaker 1 (42:42):
Yes, yes, and I have to say Swedish meat ring Uh,
it was not something I was expecting uh in a
listener mail.
Speaker 2 (42:59):
But yeah, that's gonna have to be another topic for
another day.
Speaker 1 (43:04):
It is. You've given us a lot to think about
a lot as always on As always, thank you so
much to both of these listeners for writing in. If
you would like to write to us, you can Our
email is hello at saborpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Instagram and blue Sky at saber pod. And we
do hope to hear from You. Savor is a production
of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, you
can visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
listen to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our
super producers Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you
(43:39):
for listening, and we hope that lots more good things
are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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