Pigeon

Pigeon here is the wild or wood pigeon, Columba palumbus, the large grey game bird shot across the fields and woods of Europe, whose all-dark, iron-rich breast is deeply savoury with a genuine gamey edge. Unlike farmed squab it is a true wild harvest, and because the flight muscle is lean and hard-worked it is cooked hot and fast and served pink, or braised long and slow, but rarely anywhere in between.