Quail Fry

Recently, I tried to search for a quail recipe on the internet that would be simple but tasty.  What I found were long recipes that might require the assistance of sous chef.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m sure these recipes produce master piece meals delightful to the most discriminating palate.  But for me, I just want it simple, easy and tasty enough for my simple taste buds.

So here’s a simple way to prepare quail:

What you’ll need:

A frying pan half full of oil

Quail, skinned, split down the back, and cleaned – two per person

Flour

Salt

Pepper

Here is the simple part.  Take the quail, rinse them, sprinkle with salt and pepper and throw them in a bag of flour.  For those of you who have to measure, I guess one cup of flour plus ¼ cup of flour per bird will do.  Johnny claims you have to use a Thompson’s bag to ensure perfection, but any old plastic grocery bag will do.

Heat the oil over medium high heat.  The oil is ready when a drop of water throw in the pan will sizzle and dance on the top.  Now just place the quail in the oil for a few minutes then turn the quail over with a fork and fry for a few minutes more.  You’ll know the time to turn the quail by the color of the flour.  You want it to just start turning golden.  One note is to make sure you don’t overcook the birds.  Drying it out will ruin it.  For those of you who measure the flour, you can use a meat thermometer to check for doneness.  It should read 170 to 180 F.

In hunting camp, we like to serve the quail with rice and gravy and beans.  For the gravy, just pour out most of the grease, salt and pepper the grease and then add enough flour to make the grease thicken.  Stir over the heat until the mixture becomes think, adding more flour if needed.

Enjoy, and go ahead and use your hands to eat it like you would fried chicken.

Now that’s simple, quick and easy and because the oil cooks it so fast, the quail don’t dry out.