The usual recipe for cooking rooks (that is the baby rooks that have just fledged after being fed a diet of insects from cow pats) is to take off the two breasts and throw away the rest. Never try to eat a fully grown bird...
Then marinate the breasts in milk overnight, discard the milk and marinate again overnight with fresh milk. Then they can be pan fried or stewed as you prefer. They apparently taste like a very gamey pigeon. The full recipe is in the Wal Winfer rook rifle books.
I believe that rook shooting was really just an excuse to have a day out shooting before the tennis and horse racing season began, and after the end of the pheasant season on 1st February. The traditional date is the first weekend of May.
The Scots used to eat puffins too, but times were hard in the Hebrides!
HB
I’m not inclined to try Puffin hunting…..or eating!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=5EJBSOXpzs4&pp=ygUccHVmZmluIGh1bnRpbmcgZmFyb2UgaXNsYW5kcw%3D%3D
