opinions on the edibility or lack thereof of the seagull....

[actaeon277]

This.

As a kid I spent a lot of time on the ocean boating and fishing. Most of the old captains we went out with would say the same thing. If I ever got stranded at sea I'd do everything I could to catch a fish before I even thought about trying to get a gull.

I've seen the garbage those things eat. If I were to ever consider eating one in a survival situation it would be a last, last, last resort.

That said, If you were able to prepare one properly (deep fried) it probably wouldn't be too awful.

You eat bacon, and look at what pigs eat.

 

[Cameramonkey]

In our family, we call them "sh**hawks".

As for all the sailors.... you gotta wonder how many of them have ACTUALLY eaten one, and how many are simply repeating the same thing they have heard. My bet is the latter.

 

[Libertarian01]

To RabbleRouser (et alia),

From my limited surfing on the net there are three (3) basic ideas that come out.

#1) Seagulls ARE edible.
#2) Seagulls taste nasty.
#3) Seagull eggs taste great, were (and still are) considered a delicacy across many European countries.

Regards,

Doug

 

[Colt]

Everything I read on the web indicates seagulls do not taste good and you would only want to eat them if your survival is at stake.

I was thinking the same thing about sand cranes, last month there were thousands of them in my area just passing through. I was told they are protected and that they don't taste good but ......................................

On the other hand, a friend of mine says that sandhill cranes are the best eating bird he has ever had. I found one thread in another forum that supports this.

Sandhill Crane - "Ribeyes in the Sky"?

The thread goes on to discuss the difficulties in hunting sandhill cranes. Pretty interesting.

 

[Kutnupe14]

First thing I thought of, "Unbroken"

 

[Zoub]

I would much prefer to eat a teal over a merganser but........I will shoot both in the exact same spot and eat them. Merganser are a diver and they eat fish.

The difference between a sailor adrift at sea eating gull and a grocery store parking lot gull is fire. Any ducks known as divers or gulls too, are fish eaters. Fish, mollusk or other water born critters are on the diet. They taste much different from those that eat grains, plants and not marine life.

FYI pigeons, rock doves and doves all cook up the same way. Old ladies catching city pigeons are just eating rock doves, which are both bigger then doves.

Crows are omnivores but eat plenty of meat so they don't taste as good as dove but can be cooked up and eaten. Any critter that scavenged meat should be handled with care but don't rule them out.

This is why gardening is so important, there is no so such thing as having too much oregano or basil or too much variety of herbs and spices.

 

[ghuns]

You eat bacon, and look at what pigs eat.

What is it you think pigs eat? Mine eat this...

I've tried it. It's not bad.

 

[actaeon277]

What is it you think pigs eat? Mine eat this...

I've tried it. It's not bad.

YOURS eat that.
But pigs eat almost anything.

 

[ghuns]

They are omnivores, capable of eating pretty much anything. But 99.9% of the bacon you'll ever eat came from a pig that ate what I feed mine.

Honestly, the best tasting pigs I have ever eaten grazed a large pasture and a fenced in woods. They were only fed grain on a limited basis. But you won't find much of that in the grocery store.

As for seagulls, there's lots of winged creatures I would look to consume before I got that hungry.

 

[T.Lex]

As for seagulls, there's lots of winged creatures I would look to consume before I got that hungry.

Pegasus?

 

[ghuns]

Pegasus?

Heck yeah.

Not sure how it stacks up against terrestrial equine, but I have always thought that horses are an underutilized protein source.

 

[T.Lex]

I've heard it is very light. Almost effervescent.

 

[ghuns]

I've heard it is very light. Almost effervescent.

Yeah, I'm guessing it's less gamey than unicorn.

 

[eatsnopaste]

I've heard it is very light. Almost effervescent.

and taste a lot like Unicorn.

 

[Zoub]

Feed the gulls to the pigs, turn them into bacon.

 

[RabbleRouser]

 

[bwframe]

Would you just use the breast of a gull (like a dove) or is there enough meat otherwise to treat as a chicken?

I would think a nice overnight marinate/brining with some good salt, brown sugar, cayenne and garlic might make things more palatable? Maybe then brown the meat and bake in a mushroom soup?

 

[Zoub]

Frankly, for me anyway, even on birds like Geese I just breast them out. I am new to goose hunting and eating them. The baseline rule for cooking goose is if you cook it too fast it will taste like liver. Hence why so many recipes call for using a crockpot and slow cooking. I am not a big liver eater but I didn't mind the first couple of geese I cooked that were more like liver. One guy I know makes a ton of sausage out of them.

I make my own teriyaki sauce and when in doubt, it goes in that for a day!

A true rue shtf cooking skill is knowing how to slow cook outdoors with a pot on fire and of course smoking.

Have to adapt. For me new foods are goose, bear and redhorse/suckers.

 

[actaeon277]

They are omnivores, capable of eating pretty much anything. But 99.9% of the bacon you'll ever eat came from a pig that ate what I feed mine.

Honestly, the best tasting pigs I have ever eaten grazed a large pasture and a fenced in woods. They were only fed grain on a limited basis. But you won't find much of that in the grocery store.

As for seagulls, there's lots of winged creatures I would look to consume before I got that hungry.

Yes. But the people that say, "I'd starve before I eat that" are usually saying that on a full stomach, having eaten that day.
Ask the same person after they haven't eaten for a week.

 

[actaeon277]

Would you just use the breast of a gull (like a dove) or is there enough meat otherwise to treat as a chicken?

I would think a nice overnight marinate/brining with some good salt, brown sugar, cayenne and garlic might make things more palatable? Maybe then brown the meat and bake in a mushroom soup?

I'm wondering if you were at the point of eating a seagull, would you have those spices? Or take the time to marinate?
Don't get me wrong, sounds like a good idea.
But I kinda think by the time you were eating a gull, you might just wolf it down like the sailors in shipwrecked stories.