It's THAT time of year again......

[lizzie]

Randall- thank you!
And I do highly recommend trying starling for table fare if you shoot them. They are a little bit "tough", but nothing that makes them unpleasant to eat. The meat is a very dark fine-textured meat.

Thanks Lizzie, I will definitely try! I will tenderize (pound it) it to make it as tender as possible as I want my wife to try it and so I’d have to make it tender for her palate!

It really won't take much tenderizing (at least I don't think so)- it's not as tough as most small wild games seems to be. Definitely not like a chicken gizzard, but lightly beating it with a food prep hammer might be a good idea. You could form little "medallions" out of it and bread and shallow fry. In fact, I may try that next time, and make some gravy to put with it, and maybe eggs and biscuits. Thanks for the idea!

[lizzie]

Randall- thank you!
And I do highly recommend trying starling for table fare if you shoot them. They are a little bit "tough", but nothing that makes them unpleasant to eat. The meat is a very dark fine-textured meat.

Thanks Lizzie, I will definitely try! I will tenderize (pound it) it to make it as tender as possible as I want my wife to try it and so I’d have to make it tender for her palate!

Hehe 

[lizzie]

Nice shootin'

I've never heard of anyone eating a starling. I always thought of them as pest and thought they would taste bad (like eating crow). I don't see very many in my yard to try them out, but if I shoot some I will.

Admittedly, I have never eaten crow- at least not literally. Hah!

Starling has a mild taste, and a fine texture, slightly tough, but not terribly so. Imo, it's quite good....good enough that I would like to include MUCH more of it in my diet.

[lizzie]

Looks good Liz! Have you pressure cooked any of them yet? Might make them more tender if you don't want to use marinade with tenderizer.

KB crow is surprisingly good when cooked up right. I saw a guy on tv(sportsman channel) try them and he was shocked to admit they were good. It's been so long I can't remember how they were cooked up though. 

I haven't presure cooked any. If I had enough that I wanted to make a pot of stew or gumbo, I'd just let them tenderize in the pot. I doubt it would take very long.

[ranchibi]

Randall- thank you!
And I do highly recommend trying starling for table fare if you shoot them. They are a little bit "tough", but nothing that makes them unpleasant to eat. The meat is a very dark fine-textured meat.

Thanks Lizzie, I will definitely try! I will tenderize (pound it) it to make it as tender as possible as I want my wife to try it and so I’d have to make it tender for her palate!

It really won't take much tenderizing (at least I don't think so)- it's not as tough as most small wild games seems to be. Definitely not like a chicken gizzard, but lightly beating it with a food prep hammer might be a good idea. You could form little "medallions" out of it and bread and shallow fry. In fact, I may try that next time, and make some gravy to put with it, and maybe eggs and biscuits. Thanks for the idea!

You’re quite welcome! I do most of the cooking so I know her preferences. Slow roasted a pork loin rack roast bone in tonight for the first time...came out better than I expected 👍. I hope the starling medallions come out wonderfully....I know they will 😉.

[ray1377]

Starlings around here are super smart. They try to build nests in the gutters of my garage nearly every year. And yes, early on their is usually a male showing up first to build his love nest and try to attract a female later on. When you shoot one, the other may usually hang around and scream out trying to locate the downed bird. And they are a lot like crows cause once you shoot at them, they will remember where you were when you shot and if you miss they will be watching that location and avoid you if possible. One year I figured out after downing a few that the others around here got to where they would wait until I left for work each day to begin their foraging in the back yard. Figured this out with game cameras and stayed home sick from work one day and sure enough, about 8 am they showed up just like clock work. Never though about eating them though. They can sure take a hit and seem very tightly packed and tough.
Mrs. Liz, glad you found a way to enjoy them even more than shooting them

Ray

[lizzie]

Interesting Ray! I have read that they are pretty observant, but apparently moreso than i had imagined. I know that when i see them on the martin houses, i have to be very sneaky to prep my "blind" from my bedroom window, because if they see movement they take off, and i probably won't see them again that day...if at all.