Star chef Herman Cooijmans has a crow in his kitchen that caused a nuisance in Valkenswaard. “And it will soon be on the plate, I think it would be a shame to throw it in the trash.” The owner of star restaurant Eden in Valkenswaard has been serving crow, a protected bird, for three weeks. Only crows that cause a nuisance may be shot and Cooijmans is now processing them in a unique dish.
The idea of serving crow came about five years ago. “A guest from Scotland thought the dish I made tasted like crow.” Cooijmans reacted in surprise. “She said that it was sometimes eaten in Scotland. If that can be done there, it might be possible here too.”
“Better a second goal than a pointless death.”
Yet that was easier said than done. Crow is a protected bird and so you cannot simply shoot the animal. “They may only be hunted if they cause damage and nuisance,” the chef explains. “They are aggressive animals. When they nest somewhere, they drive away all other small animals that are there. In such a case a hunter may kill the bird.”
“But once they are shot, nothing happens to them anymore,” Cooijmans continues. Normally, a shot crow is left in the wild or thrown in the trash. “The wheelie bin is not okay. Better a second goal than a pointless death. I like to experiment, I want to work sustainably and I want to process everything.”
The chef has been doing business with local hunters for a few weeks. “I can’t just buy crow. It is only there if the crow has caused a nuisance. So it could be that I don’t have a crow in the house for weeks.” Especially now that winter is coming and the crow is less active, the supply is decreasing.
“A lot of eyebrows go up when I tell them we serve crow.”
So it is not the case that crow can always be found on the menu. In three weeks, the owner of Michelin star restaurant Eden processed 35 crows and 70 guests ate the bird’s breast. He receives many surprised reactions in his restaurant. “A lot of eyebrows are raised when I tell them that we serve crow. Guests are reluctant, but then I start a conversation about the how and why.”
In the kitchen, Cooijmans has now removed the wings and head of the crow that arrived. “It has less meat than other poultry,” Herman shows. “A crow has to make an effort for its food and it is a free bird so it has been able to fly a lot.” And the more flight hours, the tougher the meat. After the crow has been in the pan for a minute with a lot of crackling, it goes into the oven. “She keeps the meat nice and tender and pink.”
After fifteen minutes the crow is ready. The intermediate course is served together with a stew of green lentils with some bacon, poultry gravy and parsnip cream.
What does it taste like? “It tastes like game, like venison steak. A tender piece of meat with an aftertaste of liver,” is the opinion of our reporter. “I thought that black bird couldn’t be anything, but it tastes delicious. Especially if you know the story.”
