Guinea Bird Stew

Some birds just beg to get themselves eaten. We had such a guinea -- he was mean to our chickens who actually manage to pay their way. So that bird was turned into dinner.

My friend killed him quickly, bled him out and skinned him. The meat was darker than store-bought chicken and he seemed a lot tougher.

In a small saute pan I browned gently about 1 1/2 cups of pearl barley as though I were making pilaf. That went into the crock-pot first. Then the guinea bird stuffed with half an onion went in. The other half of the onion went next to the bird.

Because this was my first attempt at cooking guinea I wanted as much of the flavor of the bird as possible so I used water as my cooking liquid. Next time, and there will be a next time, I'll use white wine, and fresh sage and rosemary to season.

I set the crock pot on high for 3 hours then turned it to low. I had about half a pound of fresh mushrooms on hand so I sliced and sauteed those and added them when I turned the heat down. The barley was nearly done then and the bird was getting tender.

Total cooking time was about 6 hours. Guinea bird tastes a lot like home-raised chicken but the flavor is much richer.