Quail of a time

Methinks I love you a little too much, little fluttering bird that is not quite game but so much more than mini-poultry. You know who I'm talking about, dainty, cute and so very tasty.

Quail are not so common that you find them everywhere like the omnipresent chook but certainly not rare or as expensive as the elusive grouse, ptarmigan or snipe. You find quails packaged in half dozens on foam trays in specialist providores, at the markets and the odd supermarket.

Quail is a pretty widespread category of game bird but the Aussie version is a true quail, as opposed to imposters like the heroically named buffy-crowned wood partridge of Guatemala (and yes it took me a long time to find that fact).

We see the native quail often out here at Murrumbateman in the pasture and vineyards. As they flutter away at the last moment when disturbed, I can't help but have the immediate reaction of reaching for my Wolfberg 485 turkey gun with the fine 12-gauge quail shot, but quickly realise that I don't even know what that is and did in fact just make it up.

Also, for me, hunting quail with a shotgun would seem like an activity with severely diminished returns, much like harpooning sardines or growing miniature pigs for bite-sized jamon.

So the quail you buy is presumably farmed and the cool thing about farming quail is that all you need is a sturdy chest of drawers and a heater. Seriously, you could pull this off in your bedroom and your spouse wouldn't be the wiser except for that chirping all night.

In Tasmania, we used to buy our quail direct from a quail farm on the Tasman Peninsula. I remember my first time going there to pick them up, expecting a minigolf-like set up with little fences separating tiny fields filled with roaming quail. But it was a shed filled with stainless-steel cabinets where the owner pulled out a drawer that was full of little speckled eggs under lights and other drawers holding bigger and bigger quails until they got to full size.

The farm was right next to an emu farm so you had to make sure you took the right container to bring them back in.

Free ranging such birds would seem impossible as you'd spend most of your time trying to catch them. But I'd love to discover a free-range quail farm and be able to leap on a little horse and get involved in the round-up.

The good news about cooking quail is that if you are up to speed with cooking a chook, then you have all the information you need. Obviously, cooking times need to be adjusted.

High temperatures seem to be the best method, although confit works a treat. The go-to method is to simply roast heavily buttered and seasoned birds in a hot oven for 10-15 minutes.

Unlike the quail's temperamental cousins, grouse and snipes, you don't have to worry about serving them rare. The birds remain tasty and tender when cooked through.

Another method is to wrap them in slices of pancetta and pan sear them in lots of olive oil and butter, garlic and herbs. Once sealed and crispy, finish them in a hot oven for five minutes. This is a favourite at our house, served with risotto.

You can flatten quail and barbecue them over hot coals, basting with them with my new favourite Asian condiment, red dragon sauce. This is like a Korean version of sweet chilli sauce but with the great intensity that ssamjang gives everything it touches.

The only way to eat them is to use your fingers and pull them all apart. So this falls into the list of foods that you shouldn't have on a first date, like chilli crab or corn on the cob. There's nothing scarier than seeing your intended with corn stuck between his or her teeth. Even 20 years into a relationship requires commitment therapy to find this remotely agreeable.

Bryan Martin is a winemaker at Ravensworth and Clonakilla, bryanmartin.com.au

Barbecue quail with red dragon sauce

6 quails

100g sugar

150g ssamjang sauce (from Asian grocers with a Japanese/Korean focus)

2 tsp soy sauce

2 tsp sherry vinegar

grapeseed or light olive oil to barbecue

Bring 120 millilitres of water to the boil, add the sugar and dissolve. Stir in the ssamjang, soy and vinegar. Reduce this to a thickish texture over low heat.

For each quail, cut down either side of the backbone and remove. Flatten out and use two long skewers to pierce diagonally, each through one breast and the opposite thigh.

Drizzle with the oil and barbecue over hot coals, basting with the sauce.

You'll never go back to sweet chilli sauce once you've tried this.

Pan-roasted quail with pancetta, garlic and prunes

6 quails

6 tea-soaked prunes (see below)

2 tbsp olive oil

2-3 tbsp butter

6 slices fatty pancetta

3 cloves garlic, flattened

8 small sprigs fresh rosemary tips

4 eschalots, peeled and quartered

½ cup dry white wine

½ cup reduced chicken stock

To prepare the quail, cut off the neck and pull out the tiny wishbone. Cut off the wing at the first joint. Put a prune and a sprig of rosemary inside each quail. Wrap a slice of pancetta around each quail and secure with a skewer.

Heat an ovenproof frypan until it just starts to smoke, add a splash of oil and brown the wrapped quail to crisp the pancetta. Keep them rolling so they brown all over. Add the garlic, the eschalots, the quail bones (the nick and wing tips) and rosemary.

Preheat the oven to 200C. Bung the quails in the pan into the oven and roast for 10 minutes.

Remove the pancetta and push it to the side in the pan. Add half the butter and roll the quail in the sauce. Put the pan back into the oven to brown for another eight to 10 minutes. Baste a few times while roasting.

Remove from the oven. Wrap the quail in foil to keep warm. Deglaze the pan with the wine, reduce and add the stock. Cook down to a sauce and taste for seasoning - it shouldn't need much salt, given it has pancetta. Strain. Stir in the rest of the butter off the heat and serve with the quail and a salad.

Tea-soaked prunes

500g prunes with their stones in

1 tea bag, jasmine or another flavour

Pour a cup of boiling water over the prunes, add the teabag and leave for at least a week.