Vanslow Smith Talks About Boorsron

It was our practice to catch hedgehogs for eating, of which there was a plentiful supply if you knew where to look. Now I have heard many unfounded stories about the cooking of these boorsron (which is the Romany name for a hedgehog – sometimes also called a hotchi-witchi), and so I consider it time to put the record straight!

We would catch about six, and around our fire at night would draw them, (Romany for preparing meat), and making a wooden skewer, would open up the belly, using the skewer to do this. They would then be singed until their spikes were almost burnt off, then scalded in a bath of boiling water. At that stage they could be skinned, washed in salt water, then impaled on a hazel stick, just like a kebab, and slowly roasted over the embers of the fire. We also prepared moorhens and dabchicks (small black water birds similar to moorhens) in the same way all through the winter months.

If we had pheasants, they were plucked and gutted, washed in salt water and then boiled. Mother had a large pot, and two pheasants boiled in this way were about right. When the pot had stood overnight, a large quantity of yellow fat would be lifted off and then two rabbits also put in the pot. This was then all stewed together with plenty of onions, vegetables, lentils and dumplings!