rkillings Mar 11, 2011:

Somewhat available in the US after all … thanks to a (seemingly unacknowledged) subsidiary of France's Groupe Grimaud in Stockton, CA. The farm raises mainly ducks and geese, but also guinea fowl, and it does sell parts (breasts and thighs) by mail order under that name. It *is* on the menu at some restaurants in California as Pintade Fermière or Chapon de Pintade Fermier, and no doubt as guinea hen/fowl at some others. We'll see which name prevails.
In any case, Pintade Fermière is just shy of being a brand name; see http://www.pouletdugers.com/nos-volailles/pintade-fermiere-d... And for a recipe (as opposed to a menu!), is it crucial to specify that the bird must be free-range or pasture-raised? (Maybe the cooking time is longer if it is.:-))

rkillings Mar 10, 2011:

Common name in the US? If Numida meleagris ever becomes *common* on menus in the US, who wants to bet me that it will be called guinea fowl rather than pintade? :-) (Or possibly gallina faraona, from the same country that gave us arugula (UK rocket) and zucchini (UK courgette).)

Cristina Talavera Mar 10, 2011:

http://www.gayot.com/blog/red-medicine-vietnamese-canteen-be...
http://gridskipper.com/archives/entries/239842/239842.php

yes, Americans know what pintade is and if not they ask (thank you Julia Child)

Mark Nathan Mar 10, 2011:

OK But are you sure that "pintade" is the common name for guinea fowl in the US? Could anyone else confirm this?

rkillings Mar 10, 2011:

Pintade It's an African bird, Mark. Like ostrich (rather more common here than pintade, I'd say). The logic is the same consideration that applies to Patogonian toothfish and Chinese gooseberry, better known as Chilean sea bass and kiwifruit respectively. Shed the slave name and go for one with more market appeal. Furthermore, the name of the food need not be the name of the animal; cf. veal/calf, mutton/sheep, etc. See also the first line of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domesticated_guineafowl.

Mark Nathan Mar 9, 2011:

@rkillings Surely there is a gap here in your logic. Guinea fowl may not be available in the US, but then neither is pintade! So calling it pintade does not really solve anything, except maybe an association with guinea pigs... What about all the foodie Americans who have seen guinea fowl on the menu in Europe/European cookery books? Are you saying that Americans will know what "pintade" means? Or should Judith add a note along the lines of "a quaint European bird, not related to guinea pigs, that we no longer eat". I guess the lesson here is that you really have to know your target audience/market.

rkillings Mar 9, 2011:

Pintade Ignore the very old recipes. In the American cookery books in our library, I found only two with indexed recipes for guinea (or guinea hen/chicken) -- and those are later editions (from 30+ years ago) of long-running standbys such as Fanny Farmer (1896) and Joy of Cooking (1931).

The reason is simple: publishers have little reason to include recipes for non-game animals that most consumers here can't buy in the market. Squab, quail, pheasant and pigeon are not easy to find, but they are available commercially. Someone in the US tempted to make your recipe will probably have to substitute one of them -- or buy a guinea live from a breeder.

Save 'guinea […]' for a subtitle, or put it in brackets. Don't feature it in the title. It sounds like guinea pig, and it isn't appetising.:-)

judithr (asker) Mar 9, 2011:

Famous last words I'm now having second thoughts, having discovered a very old US recipe using Guinea Fowl .. think I'll sleep on this one:
Transportation Library Menu Collection, 1928-present
- [ Traduire cette page ]
... Medallion of fresh goose liver; Supreme chicken in a Noilly sauce ..... Brill fillets in champagne sauce; Guinea fowl breast with truffled mousse ...
findingaids.library.northwestern.edu/.../inu-ead-trans-001 - En cache

judithr (asker) Mar 9, 2011:

Pintade Well I've made up my mind to keep Pintade at least in the title. As for Fermière I'm not too sure. I don't like Free Range, sounds too much like eggs from Sainsbury's or Wall Mart, so I may go with Farmhouse ... although it sounds a bit silly to me - as though the hens had a bed in the farmhouse!! Who's Colonel Sanders, by the way?

Cristina Talavera Mar 9, 2011:

definitely stay with the French...'pintade'

rkillings Mar 9, 2011:

American/UK Yep, and some of the US recipes date back to 1850.

Wendy Streitparth Mar 9, 2011:

Yes, was referring to Kudoz. But maybe it was XXX fermière and therefore does not come up.

judithr (asker) Mar 9, 2011:

Fermière I've checked the kudos gastronomy glossary and it isn't in there - were you talking about that glossary or another one?

Wendy Streitparth Mar 9, 2011:

Have you checked the glossary for the best translation of "fermière"? I think we've had this discussion before.

Mark Nathan Mar 9, 2011:

Country style actually sounds a bit downmarket to me, like something Colonel Sanders might say rather than what you would expect in a fancy gourmet recipe.

judithr (asker) Mar 9, 2011:

Guinea fowl etc Yes Mark, it seems from the US colleagues' entry that they are not really considered a gourmet item under that title. That's why I also wondered about Country Style in the title as Farmhouse or Free Range sounds very technical and not very gourmet ...

Mark Nathan Mar 9, 2011:

American/UK There are over 600,000 hits for guinea fowl recipe, but it is true that a lot of them (but not all!) seem to be of UK origin.

judithr (asker) Mar 9, 2011:

Coutnry Style? And do you think Country Style is better than Farmhouse or Free Range?? for a fancy title?

judithr (asker) Mar 9, 2011:

Go with Pintade .. follow up That corresponds to my gut feeling. I did wonder about keeping pintade in the title and translating it guinea fowl in the recipe content so that they at least know what they are as it is a very French dish for an American audience .. What do you think??

rkillings Mar 9, 2011:

For American users? Go with 'pintade', definitely. That sounds more like something you'd see on the menu at a fancy French restaurant.
Guinea fowl (which Wikipedia insists should be 'guineafowl') seem to have become barnyard pets here. Like, say, peacocks. Plenty of poultry breeders in the US raise them, but they don't seem to sell them to be eaten!
Yes, guinea fowl is correct, but Patagonian toothfish is correct too -- for the so-called "Chilean sea bass" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patagonian_toothfish). Ever see a recipe for Patagonian toothfish?