Neander97 / Historic Trivia: cooking with flamingos- - recipes for roast flamingo, flamingo tetrazinni, flamingo soup, and flamingo potpie. (April 2001)

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COOKING WITH FLAMINGOS: Recipes & Helpful Tips

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Oddly, there is a distinct paucity of flamingo recipes. Upon reflection, it seemed logical that one could take a decent recipe for any waterfowl and simply substitute a flamingo for the bird in question. Here is a recipe for roast flamingo, adapted from a cookbook (Le Ménagier de Paris) dating to the late 14th century:

ROAST SWAN FLAMINGO

Take a swan flamingo and prepare it and put it on to roast until it is all cooked, then make a paste of eggs, as clear as paper, and pour it on the said swan flamingo while turning the spit so that the paste cooks on it, and be careful that no wings or thighs be broken, and put the swan's flamingo's neck as though it were swimming in water, and to keep it in this position, you must put a skewer in its head which will rest between the two wings, passing all other, until it holds the neck firm, and another skewer below the wings, and another between the thighs, and another close to the feet and at each foot three to spread the foot: and when it is well cooked and well gilded with the paste, take out the skewers, except that in the neck, then make a terrace of whole-wheat pastry, which should be thick and strong, and which is one fist thick, made with nice fluting all around, and let it be two feet long, and a foot and a half broad, or a little more, then cook it without boiling, and have it painted green like a grassy meadow, and gild your swan flamingo with a skin of silver, except for about two fingers width around the neck, which is not gilded, and the beak and the feet, then have a flying cloak, which should be of crimson sendal on the inside, and emblazon the top of said cloak with whatever arms you wish, and around the swan flamingo have banners, the sticks two and a half feet long with banners of sendal, emblazon with whatever arms you wish, and put all in a dish the size and shape of the terrace, and present it to whomever you wish.

Source:

Pichon, Jérome, ed. Le Ménagier De Paris, Traité De Morale Et D'économie Domestique Composé Vers 1393, Par Un Bourgeois Parisien; Contenant Des préceptes moraux, quelques faits historiques, des instructions sur l'art de diriger une maison, des reuseignemens sur la consommation du Roi, des Princes et de la ville de Paris, à la fin du quatorzième siècle, des conseils sur le jardinage et sur le choix des chevaux; un traité de cuisine fort étendu, et un autre non moins complet sur la chasse à l'épervier, Ensemble: L'histoire de Griséldis, Mellibée et Prudence par Albertan de Brescia (1246), traduit par frère Renault de Louens; et le chemin de Povreté et de Richesse, poëme composé, en 1342, par Jean Bruyant, notaire au Chàtelet de Paris; Publié Pour La Premiére Fois Par La Société Des Bibliophiles François. Tome Second. A Paris, De L'imprimerie de Crapelet, Rue de Vaugirard, 9. 1846.

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The bird is roasted, the feast is done . . . and now what is too be done with those pesky leftovers?

CHICKEN FLAMINGO TETRAZINNI (feeds about 20)

Ingredients:

1 pound spaghetti, broken into pieces

3 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of mushroom soup

12 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese

6 cups shredded chicken flamingo

1 pound sauteed mushrooms

1 (4 ounce) jar sliced pimento peppers, drained

2 cups reserved chicken flamingo broth

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add uncooked spaghetti (broken into thirds) to the pot and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan, heat soup over low heat. Add shredded cheese (reserve some for topping) and stir together. Then add the cooked shredded chicken flamingo, mushrooms, pimento peppers and cooked spaghetti and stir all together. Add enough of the reserved broth to make it 'sloppy' and mix all together.

Pour mixture into a 9x13 inch baking dish. Sprinkle reserved shredded cheese on top and bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 35 minutes or until bubbly.

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Of course, for those special occasions, a person might want to pull out all the stops and present your guests with something festive and traditional. Here's an old-time recipe that will have Martha Stewart turning green with envy.

FLAMINGO POTPIE

Sing a song of sixpence,
A pocket full of rye;
Four and twenty blackbirds flamingos*
Baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened,
They all began to sing.
Now, wasn't that a dainty dish
To set before the King?

*Note: according to standard conversion charts, one roasting flamingo equals approximately two dozen blackbirds, so season to taste and sit back and bask in the "oohs" and "ahs" as your guests sample this traditional dish.

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back to The Flamingo From Heck. . .

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