The suits and the briefcases along Lambton Quay

The title of this post should really be The John Crowley Recipe for Cooking a Mutton-Bird – Step 1 – boiling the bird (twice), but I think Salty is the best NZ album ever, and the album name acts very well as an adjective for the band sakes’ taste.

Mutton-Birds are very interesting; they are otherwise known as Sooty Shearwaters, and migrate every year from New Zealand to the north west side of the Pacific Ocean (sub-arctic) fly east and then come back home again. They breed on Stewart Island and according to Wikipedia are near threatened, but unfortunately for them they also taste good, something like chicken stuffed with kippers.

To be fair, the ones you eat haven’t made the epic flights but killed as chicks before they fly, in a tradition that goes back before my family settled in New Zealand.

To get your hands on one you could try the fish shop on Lambton Quay, it is where I bought mine.

The first stage is boiling, eating a mutton-bird is akin eating a seagull, maybe more than akin, maybe is, and a salty one at that.

In the pot with a potato

The potato is really what makes this John’s recipe, you need a new one each time you boil the bird, and you boil it twice, with a new spud and fresh water in each.

Boiled with the potato

Second boiling ready for grilling.

This bird is now ready for Step 2 – vegetables, ovens and grills.