Vegetarians, you may want to give this one a miss.
If you're wondering what to serve at your next soirée, wave goodbye to cheese and charcuterie and say hello to… pan-seared pūkeko?
While seared swamphen may not be a mainstay on everyone's menu, it's a pretty popular dish in Nelson-based chef Phil Hazeldine's kitchen. According to the restaurateur, our feathered friends are an untapped food source - quite literally in our own backyard.
And before everyone gets up in arms about the (extremely important) need to protect native species, ornithologist Colin Miskelly told The Project that pūkeko - or purple swamphens - are far from the top of the list when it comes to conservation efforts in Aotearoa.
"They are native because they're also shared with Australia and some of the islands in the south-west Pacific, but their cousin, the takahē, is endemic to New Zealand - which means that it only occurs here," Miskelly told The Project on Monday evening.
"It's the endemic wildlife that we're really precious about [conserving] here in New Zealand."
Pūkeko can also be predators to threatened birds, such as New Zealand's rarest waterfowl species, the brown teal, or pāteke - which means controlling the population isn't necessarily a bad thing.
"They're one of our game birds, which some people may not realise. You can't just go shooting willy-nilly unless you have some sort of authority from the Department of Conservation," Miskelly added.
However, the taste of pūkeko can be… acquired, to say the least. Perhaps this poultry is not for the faint of heart.
"The saying goes that you put them in a pot with a rock and boil them for a while - then chuck the bird away and eat the rock," Miskelly joked.
"But I've tried it once and it certainly tasted better than rock to my palette. If someone served it up to me in a restaurant, I'd certainly be willing to give it a try."
That's where Hazeldine comes in; the Nelson chef and game bird enthusiast often cooks up catches donated by local hunters. On Sunday, he hosted 90 diners for his sixth annual Game Bird Feast - a 10-course degustation complete with game stock chocolate and raspberry mallard breast for dessert.
Speaking to The Project on Monday following his Game Bird Feast, Hazeldine spilled the secrets to cooking pūkeko to perfection.
"If you were having a dinner party, I'd probably be [cooking] it fast; little slithers, pan-seared, served with a nice little bit of fresh pear and topping - that would go down well," he told co-hosts Jesse Mulligan and Kanoa Lloyd.
"If you were feeding the family, I'd probably go low and slow; make it into a nice casserole with some nice vegetables.
"Pūkeko is actually a lovely meat to eat. It takes a wee bit of preparation and you definitely wouldn't bother with the legs; I've tried the legs and the sinews are just a nightmare. Leave the legs alone, but definitely take the thighs - thigh meat, cooked slow, break that meat off the bone, just beautiful."
If you're curious what other game bird dishes Hazeldine cooked up on Sunday, the menu included duck-stuffed mushroom and dark peach with game bird on crostini; duck sliders; black swan sausage rolls with cranberry sauce; duck and mandarin; and a traditional stew.
According to the Department of Conservation (DOC), the subspecies of pūkeko, or purple swamphen, found in New Zealand are thought to have landed on our shores around a thousand years ago from Australia.
Pūkeko are a member of the rail family of birds. They look very similar to takahē, although takahē are much heavier. Pūkeko are widespread and are commonly found among pastures, farmland and wetlands; you've probably spotted them driving along marshy roadsides or low-lying open country.
As per the DOC, pūkeko are abundant and widespread and there is currently no threat to their long-term existence. They can be shot for sport - with a licence and permit - during the shooting season and have been culled in the past to protect threatened species, such as the brown teal.
