Cooking pheasant.

EricTheWeary

WezV said:

The butchers down the road had a load hanging outside so I couldn’t resist getting some.  I did opt for dressed birds, out of laziness

I am thinking I want to fry up some bacon and onions, Brown the birds in the pan and put it all in the slowcooker for the afternoon with some cider.

I have never cooked them before, any good suggestions?

so , you’re not a pheasant plucker. 

WezV

EricTheWeary said:

WezV said:

The butchers down the road had a load hanging outside so I couldn’t resist getting some.  I did opt for dressed birds, out of laziness

I am thinking I want to fry up some bacon and onions, Brown the birds in the pan and put it all in the slowcooker for the afternoon with some cider.

I have never cooked them before, any good suggestions?

so , you’re not a pheasant plucker. 

Nah, normally leave it to my dad.

57Deluxe

You should only cook a pheasant if well hung...

WezV

mgaw said:

careful with the bacon, quince jelly is a superb addition to a pheasant dish, either on the side or tirred into a good gravy.

regarding the gravy, heres what i would

use the legs, detach fron bird leaving breasts intsct on the bone i.e. the crown..this is what we will poach.

finely chop raw legs
brown in hot pan 
add finely cubed carrot, onion, garlic, celery thyme and bayleaf
cook the veg with the legmeat until lightly browned
add wine? a medium glassd full   reduce until it has coated the veg and legs, add another glass and repeat then add stock from poaching to cover by 1 inch and cook for say 20 mins, taste, if nice balance between booze and bird flavours set aside to infuse

to finish sauce, pass through a fine sieve pressing HARD to extract all juice from bones etc

reduce until lightly coats back of spoon, fuinish by adding spoonful of quince jelly until it tastes nicely sweet, not too much but to taste, whisk in good knob of butter add salt and pepper to taste serve

Thanks @mgaw, i followed that pretty closely  and it turned out well.

I did par boil some thickly sliced charlotte potatoes  in the stock after the pheasant had been poached - they made bloody good roasties

I have just made myself a little pie with the left over meat and gravy - even better the next day

mgaw

@WezV no problem  happy to pass on my experience of some 20 years cooking with the likes of messrs  Roux, Ramsay and Pierre White...we should start a weekly recipe or an "any questions thread for all the keen cooks in FB land

mgaw

did the breasts stay moist?

WezV

i went a bit over, but as a first attempt i was happy - think i could get it spot on next time

mgaw

good to get a timer involved, thing is it doesnt matter if they are under a bit..you can always rectify that if needs be...make sure the poaching is indeed that..no movement of the stock..i.e. no boiling or simmering, the gentler the better, Freeze the remaining sauce or stock and defo reuse the stock next time...

mgaw

how did the sauce work out

WezV

the sauce was great - even better in the pie i have just eaten 

hywelg

Next up then @mgaw how about roast lamb with pears? I had it once in Greece cooked by a 70 year old Greek grandma. It was divine but their meat has much more flavour than ours. I've tried cooking it a few times and the flavours are never as intense. 

I've promised my son I'll do it for Christmas dinner so I need to up my game. 

chillidoggy

 Two pages on how to cook a pheasant. This forum is posher than the Queen.

WezV

chillidoggy said:

Two pages on how to cook a pheasant. This forum is posher than the Queen.

i thought we might get that response. 

I am certainly not posh, i just like good food.  The area i live in isn't posh either.   The butchers is definitely not posh,  its the end building in a row of terraces.  Not nice terraces a creative estate agent would call "cottages", just ordinary industrial midlands town terraces.     

Phil_aka_Pip

Pheasant isn't so posh when you pick it up off the road

mgaw

@hywelg ; i have seen it done,  so 2 things  you can try mutton to give you that depth of flavour.

other wise the other thing is will it be a roast Leg or a braised dish?

hywelg

Leg  I reckon. I have done mutton before (rack cooked with apricots with a raspberry glaze. Posh bollocks for raspberry jam and balsamic!) but I'm a little unsure whether it might turn out too tough roasted. Probably needs a slow cooking with a lid on. Inexperience with mutton tells me to stick with a large leg of lamb (we will be having a glazed ham as well)

mgaw

@hywelg find a proper mutton supplier get a leg and roast it, there will be a trade off between tenderness and flavour, if you dont want that get hogget which is older lamb, if you can get female, always nicer tasting....apricots and raspberry glaze sounds terrible...invest in some sensible cook books!

Dominic

Myself and the other local Lords haven't roasted a Peasant for years .........hard to catch the blighters these days !