Squab ideas?

So we've got 4 squabs in freezer. We have a couple coming for dinner Tues. Alex has never tried a birthyear wine ('61), seems a good time to sample one of my iffy '61 Glorias. I find squab to be a great backdrop to either well matured claret, or middle-aged Burg. Seems to be the time.

Mostly I've had squab in restaurants. A quick tour through our cookbooks and a website or 2 leads to lots of recipes for squab with intense fruit sauces or glazes, not exactly what I'm looking for. B'stilla is one possibility, though maybe too many spices for the older Bdx. I thought I'd ask here for ideas. If nothing clicks, we can do a simple roast squab on risotto or polenta, but thought someone here might have a good recipe. Betsy would be cook, so no need to lower to my level. Any ideas?

Squab with wild mushrooms - You need a fairly deep, heavy, wide casserole or stew pot. Soak a couple of handfuls of dried porcini or morels in about 1/4 cup of port or madeira or rich red wine and 3/4 cup of warm water until completely softened. Drain and retain the soaking liquid, rinse the shrooms and chop them coarsely.

Split the squabs and remove the wing tips, salt and pepper them (I assume they're plucked and gutted). Brown them in butter and olive oil. Remove them and add several chopped shallots, 1 chopped carrot, 2 smashed cloves of garlic and a generous amount of thyme. Cook until softened, then remove, add a little more butter if necessary and add the mushrooms. Cook them several minutes, sprinkle with a tablespoon of flour and a little salt, then deglaze the pan with a combination of the mushroom liquid and the 1 cup white or red wine, stirring to scrape up the good stuff. Add back the veggies, add back the squab, top up the liquid with chicken or turkey or veal stock until it doesn't quite cover the squabs. Reduce heat, cover tightly and simmer gently until the squab is tender (40 minutes?).

Remove and plate the squabs, boil down the sauce some if necessary for concentration, taste and adjust the seasoning. Pour over the squab and garnish with chopped parsley. Save some sauce and shrooms for your polenta, rice or potatoes.

thanks, Christian, sounds great! I've forwarded to the cook!
The other contender seems to be a foccacia-stuffed squab with bean stew in new Food & Wine (from a chef named Drago in LA).
Both sound good enough I may need to order more squab.

[Jenise]

thanks, Christian, sounds great! I've forwarded to the cook!
The other contender seems to be a foccacia-stuffed squab with bean stew in new Food & Wine (from a chef named Drago in LA).
Both sound good enough I may need to order more squab.

I've had squab in restaurants but have never prepared them myself, so I have very little advice to offer. I'm thinking they pretty much stand the same preps as quail, but I don't even know that for sure.

I've had squab in restaurants but have never prepared them myself, so I have very little advice to offer. I'm thinking they pretty much stand the same preps as quail, but I don't even know that for sure.

I like squab very much and have cooked it a number of times. It's much leaner than duck but somewhat denser and tougher than domestic quail. I have found quail to be less forgiving of timing mistakes, being easier to both to burn and to "undersear". Take it from me, gray-skinned, undercooked quail is pretty gruesome. I imagine squab would be even worse, so it's probably better to err on the side of overcooking than undercooking.

If you're getting the squab from an Asian store (my usual source), be careful -- they are sometimes plucked but not cleaned.

Christian's recipe looks great. I've done something very similar where the squab were stuffed with a mushroom/wild rice mix and roasted. IIRC, the stuffing had dried porcini, garlic, shallots, celery, wild rice (mostly precooked), and a couple of ground juniper berries (not 2 berries per squab, 2 berries for the whole batch of stuffing). I think I layered the bottom of the roasting pan with some sliced parboiled potatoes and a little rosemary and duck fat.

Squab is excellent with aged Bordeaux. Keep it simple or you'll muddle the palate. Roast the seasoned and barded birds. you need a good rub of fat to keep the birds moist. I like to use duck fat.

If you're getting the squab from an Asian store (my usual source), be careful -- they are sometimes plucked but not cleaned. .

These were D'Artagnan birds, but yes label said "Confucian style, not eviscerated." Betsy had me take off heads and dress.

We went with CMM's recipe. Excellent, but even though we cut simmer time to about 15 minutes, they were a bit doner than my preference, I like med-rare. But I love squab, and this was a great backdrop to 3 mature Bdx

If you're getting the squab from an Asian store (my usual source), be careful -- they are sometimes plucked but not cleaned. .

These were D'Artagnan birds, but yes label said "Confucian style, not eviscerated." Betsy had me take off heads and dress.

We went with CMM's recipe. Excellent, but even though we cut simmer time to about 15 minutes, they were a bit doner than my preference, I like med-rare. But I love squab, and this was a great backdrop to 3 mature Bdx

Glad you liked it. Sorry for the mis-estimate on the timing, I haven't made it in a while (also, I prefer my squab and duck medium-well). But mellow wild mushroom sauce is a fine thing with old Bordeaux.

the philly restaurant le bec fin was famous for its squab. i think they have a cookbook and there should be an excellant recipe there.