I need a new quail recipe

I'd love to get some new suggestions from THF. I've got 15 quail from yesterday's hunt and I need some fresh ideas.

Split quail on mesquite fire. Baste them with garlic butter, honey, salt, and cracked red pepper.

That sounds great, hook. What's a Quail?

Lol. Those little birds you have to pay to shoot now. Ain't got none in my woods.

This is the best;

http://www.texashuntingforum.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1047848/Fried_quail#Post1047848

This is an adaptation of a recipe from East Texas Outdoors writer Luke Clayton. Being married to an Asian woman I could never breast out the birds. So I clean the whole bird without skin. I leave whole body together. I then mix Italian seasoned bread crumbs with added pepper, some cumin, garlic and onion powder and then roll the quail around in some mixed up eggs and then into the crumbs. I get a black cast iron cooker with a top and put butter as needed with fresh chopped garlic, fresh onion rosemary and chives sautéed in the butter first and then put in the breaded quail and pour a good amount of the breading into the pot set oven at 350 for about 35 to 50 minutes depending on number of birds and with stirring one or two times and it is usually great.

1. Fried - Split the whole birds or de-bone the breasts, battered and fried. Garlic mashed potatoes, gravy and jalapeno peppers.

2. K-bobbed - Debone the breasts and place a piece of fresh basil between the lobes. Skewer with bell pepper, onion, squash, etc. and grill for 12 to 14 minutes. Seasoned rice on the side.

3. Quail stew - Make it just like beef stew - only with quail. Excellent on a cold day with loaded cornbread on the side.

4. Quail Parmesan - Debone the breasts and bread with panke bread crumbs. Fry in shallow oil. Serve on fresh angel hair pasta with marinara sauce and fresh mozzeralla on top.

Pinot Grigio or dry Chardonay is also deelish.

Mmmmmmmmmmm........these are my favorites.

Don't cook them on the same day you kill them.

Whats the reason not to cook them the day you kill them Oxman?

yes why not the same day. are they like beef and need aging? The French belive that death by strangulation drives the blood into the meat and make them taste best.

They go through rigor which makes them tough.

Bill, I am 80 years old. I can't buy your BS that a quail you kill today and cook it that same day will be tough because of a rigor it went thru.
I have always had respect of you on the bird hunting knowledge I thought you had.
I just assume when you tryed to eat this same day bird, the bird was old and tough in that reguard.

Plenty of people like to age their birds.
I don't know the science behind it. Its just a matter of preference.

I think they need six hours of chilling. I remember getting some tough chicken breast years ago. I called Pilgrim. They said that the breast probably did not go through the full chill time and sent me a coupon for free chicken.

I've hung pheasant in the walkin at 40 degrees for four days and cleaned them on the fifth day.That is how long it takes for a body to lose its rigor at 40 degrees and start to deteriorate. Believe it or not , makes a big difference in the tenderness and doesn't alter flavor. I can see how it would be the same with quail. We always chilled them, at least overnight soaking in salt water before eating.

I just know many times I have eaten Quail the same day I killed them and never remeber them being tough.
I also know I have went west and killed a number of birds, cleaned them and iced the kill down and days later on eating them never noticed any being any more tender.
I think this is a moot topic and lets just forget it.

Fried quail is like christmas morning.

I like them grilled the best. Season birds with Lawry's Seasoning Salt, Crushed black pepper, and poultry seasoning. Wrap them in regular cut hickory smoked bacon. Place them on a hot charcoal grill. About 3/4 of the way cooked, baste them with a mixture of 1c. raspberry chipotle sauce, 1/4 cup of Dales Steak Seasoning, and 2 tablespoons of liquid smoke. Make sure to baste front and back. If these are not the best things you have ever tasted, I will quit.

Back when we had quail I liked em wrapped in bacon and jalapenos and cooked on the grill..

Butter and salt in a skillet on low heat