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So perhaps my title is a little bit provocative. But I need advice from people who know about food. Or, more specifically, people who know how to get food.

A friend of mine discovered an old cookbook in the university library, which she promptly borrowed and has been browsing through. Somewhere in it's pages is a recipe for "Peacock with full plume."

Like Barney Stinson, I have accepted the challenge. But the monumental part of the quest is getting my hands on a peacock. It's not something I can really look for around town (no Indian restaurants I know of have them on the menu) and searching via the internet is slow going. I have been informed that there are farms on the mainland that raise and slaughter peacocks, but I have no idea which do, or how to get in contact with them.

I have some leads I intend to follow in real life. A dairy farmer friend of my parents is the most promising one. Hopefully he'll know how to go about it. But I figured I might as well put the call out here as well.

Anyone have any ideas?

try searching for "peafowl". Looking up "peafowl farm" on google turned up a lot of promising US leads.

It'll be an expensive meal. Adult birds go for $120-$200 each.
http://www.leggspeafowl.com/peafowlforsaleadults.htm

"Mr. Burns, I'm yer son."

"...Oh and I stepped on one a yer peacocks. Got a paper towel?"

My great-aunt has a few peacocks on her farm. Those birds are mean. I'd take great pleasure in seeing one of them getting slaughtered. That being said, I don't think she's raised them for that purpose.

Sometimes you get lucky and they just wander up and down your street.

You may do better substituting peasant (err... pheasant) instead of peafowl.

You can go out and shoot one for your own purposes. They are also farm raised for meat. Where peafowl are mostly raised for decoration.

Try getting a peahen, because I'd bet since peafowl are raised for their plumage, a hen should be cheaper to buy.

I'd check out a butcher depending on your city size. My guy stocks croc, kangaroo, snake, pidgeon, etc on a regular basis to say nothing of his special orders. You might have to trek to a larger town, but I'd start calling around.

I approve of your challenge by the way. Nothing like an difficult new recipe to get the blood going.

Hell, try Julia Child's Coq a'Vin (spelling?) Basically take an old rooster (4 years +) and slow cook it until moist and tender. The trouble is finding some one that is ready to sell his rooster.

rabbitgod said:

I'd check out a butcher depending on your city size. My guy stocks croc, kangaroo, snake, pidgeon, etc on a regular basis to say nothing of his special orders. You might have to trek to a larger town, but I'd start calling around.

Click to expand...

Well, this is the thing. My city is only 125,000, and fairly isolated. In order to travel to a larger city, I have to spend 12 hours on the highway, 8 hours on a ferry, and then another 5 hours on the highway again.

I'll definitely be looking into this further though. Thanks for the help.

Also, does anyone know the average size of a peacock? I can't figure that out. I get a bunch of different weights, depending on what sites I look at, and most of them aren't written with a mind for cooking the bird.

I would guess they're a little smaller than your average turkey. Does that sound right?

Yes, they are smaller, in a sense. They are larger in height and length, but are much lighter.

Just in my farm boy ways, I'd say 10 - 14 pounds.

sixpackshaker said:

Hell, try Julia Child's Coq a'Vin (spelling?) Basically take an old rooster (4 years +) and slow cook it until moist and tender. The trouble is finding some one that is ready to sell his rooster.

Click to expand...

Coq au vin. I'm sure that ' will piss off some Frenchman.

Rob King said:

In order to travel to a larger city, I have to spend 12 hours on the highway, 8 hours on a ferry, and then another 5 hours on the highway again.

Click to expand...

I'd still call around that larger city. They may know someone who will ship it to you or maybe you can make a bigger trip out of it. The worst that can happen is they say they don't know.

Although it's probably a lot faster to just hit the internet.

Maybe you should start your own peafowl farm/ranch/themepark.

"Acquire a peacock. There are several ways to get your hands on a good roasting peacock. Sometimes farmers sell their peafowl at livestock auctions. While this may be a hit-or-miss scenario, it may be worth checking out a local livestock auction. Otherwise, check online for peacock or poultry/pheasant dealers. If you can locate a company online, there's a great chance that you can also order a peacock online or by phone."

one of a few hits I've gotten.

A very good and very old friend of mine, Dennis Fett, is one of the leading peafowl experts in the world. I'd send you to him but I think he'd be mortified to have you want to eat them.

---------- Post added at 12:59 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:57 PM ----------

http://www.peafowl.com/

Here you go:

http://louisville.craigslist.org/grd/1370564443.html

Have them deliver to a butcher who will ship them in dry ice for you. Or a 'friend' if you don't want them to know that you are butchering them.

-Adam

These folks would be mortified also, I think.

Man

Everything I find online seems to be people who breed them as pets or whatever. I'll feel really bad buying a peacock from them and then cooking it. And it's looking very expensive. But I'm not quite ready to give up on it. I'll let you know if I manage to do this, especially you, HowDroll.

Why don't you try a recipe with easier to obtain, but still exotic, ingredients?

http://catrecipes.com/recipes/tamales.txt

-Adam

Well, you will need a can of peas, a hammer... and a masochistic male friend...

Have any zoos nearby?

North_Ranger said:

Well, you will need a can of peas, a hammer... and a masochistic male friend...

Click to expand...

That'd be our Bubble181

Rob King;262431][quote=rabbitgod said:

I'd check out a butcher depending on your city size. My guy stocks croc, kangaroo, snake, pidgeon, etc on a regular basis to say nothing of his special orders. You might have to trek to a larger town, but I'd start calling around.

Click to expand...

Well, this is the thing. My city is only 125,000, and fairly isolated. In order to travel to a larger city, I have to spend 12 hours on the highway, 8 hours on a ferry, and then another 5 hours on the highway again.

I'll definitely be looking into this further though. Thanks for the help.

Also, does anyone know the average size of a peacock? I can't figure that out. I get a bunch of different weights, depending on what sites I look at, and most of them aren't written with a mind for cooking the bird.

I would guess they're a little smaller than your average turkey. Does that sound right?[/QUOTE]

Rob, there's a butcher downtown that specializes in 'exotic' meats...I can't remember the place though. There are also a few indian groceries around town...I think there's one across from the Rooms?

That being said, I never knew peacocks were eaten alot.

LittleSin said:

Rob, there's a butcher downtown that specializes in 'exotic' meats...I can't remember the place though. There are also a few indian groceries around town...I think there's one across from the Rooms?

That being said, I never knew peacocks were eaten alot.

Click to expand...

This is useful information. Do you remember where the shop is? I was at a butcher shop a while back which was on Gower st. I asked the guy for loose sausage, and he spent ten minutes telling me he couldn't. Turns out, he thought I was asking for moose sausage. But I digress, and at any rate, that shop didn't seem to have anything special.

Also, I've been to a few international groceries, but none of them are very big. I doubt that's the route to get a peacock.

Rob King;262837][quote=LittleSin said:

Rob, there's a butcher downtown that specializes in 'exotic' meats...I can't remember the place though. There are also a few indian groceries around town...I think there's one across from the Rooms?

That being said, I never knew peacocks were eaten alot.

Click to expand...

This is useful information. Do you remember where the shop is? I was at a butcher shop a while back which was on Gower st. I asked the guy for loose sausage, and he spent ten minutes telling me he couldn't. Turns out, he thought I was asking for moose sausage. But I digress, and at any rate, that shop didn't seem to have anything special.

Also, I've been to a few international groceries, but none of them are very big. I doubt that's the route to get a peacock.[/QUOTE]

Sorry dude, can't remember the place.

I do have a suggestion on how to go about finding it though.

www.thescope.ca, Newfoundlands best independent paper. You can go two routes with them . One, e-mail the Food Nerd and ask her for on where to find the shop or where to get a peacock OR you can ask the forums but beware! A lot of vegans cruise those parts.

Also, there's a place in Trinity with Peacocks, a peeting zoo.. You can always call and ask where they got the peacocks.

Gruebeard;262762][quote=North_Ranger said:

Well, you will need a can of peas, a hammer... and a masochistic male friend...

Click to expand...

That'd be our Bubble181[/QUOTE]

Dammit! Uh, I'll be far far away while you're looking for someone's cock to cook :-P

LittleSin said:

Sorry dude, can't remember the place.

I do have a suggestion on how to go about finding it though.

www.thescope.ca, Newfoundlands best independent paper. You can go two routes with them . One, e-mail the Food Nerd and ask her for on where to find the shop or where to get a peacock OR you can ask the forums but beware! A lot of vegans cruise those parts.

Also, there's a place in Trinity with Peacocks, a peeting zoo.. You can always call and ask where they got the peacocks.

Click to expand...

Good advice. I was considering using the KRock website. Apparently they have an 'ask the expert' section where they find out whatever you care to learn about, but I like the Scope better anyways.

And I think I could take a vegan. God knows I almost have in the past.

I may be less-than-friendly to vegetarians at times. I'm working on it.