This is a bastardised version of a Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe for pot roast pheasant which I tried out at the Northern Scotland Glen Tanar meet this weekend. It was a resounding success, so I'm sharing it here.
We adapted the recipe in order to take into account of what we had, and what we could easily (cheaply) obtain. The original recipe is here:-http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/jan/26/foodanddrink.recipes
Our recipe
Ingredients
3 tbsp cooking oil
2 pheasants (Or 4 quail, 1 chicken, ½ of a turkey etc, etc, you get the picture)
150g chorizo
4 cloves garlic (More if there have been confirmed vampire sightings. Probably an idea to whittle a stake just in case while the meal is cooking)
2 onions
Salt (Although it is bad for you. But you need some in order to keep your body working properly, your call basically)
Pepper
4 Chicken stock cubes (Unless you know where to get Pheasant stock cubes, Ill bow to your greater knowledge)
1 bottle White wine (Buy the cheapest you can, so you wont be tempted to guzzle it before youve made the meal. Ours was £2.40 from LIDL, A decidedly appalling English vintage known as copper beech. Buy it now before the Governments minimum price for alcohol makes it even poorer value for money.)
1 or 2 tins Butter Beans
Dried Parsley. (Lots if you like parsley, none if you dont. I dont mind. Its your dinner. Just dont come crying to me )
Stoke the fire up, using the accredited Livingstone method of chucking half of the remaining woodpile on it and coughing violently until it really kicks off. Get the Dutch oven nice and warm. You could keep it in your sleeping bag if you like, this wont work. We put ours on the fire.
Sling the cooking oil into it.
Chop the onions and garlic and bung them in before the oil catches fire. Let them sweat down / burn to a crisp depending on the heat of the fire.
Check the interior of the pheasants for plastic bags of innards, childrens toys etc and drop them into the pot. Turn them every 5 mins or so to brown the outside, on account of how this is what proper chefs on the telly do. You can swear violently while youre doing it if that makes it feel more authentic. Or if youre using your fingers because you forgot the tongs. When you do your last turn, throw the chorizo in. Cook for 5 mins, then add the rest of the ingredients.
Cook in a nice pile of embers with some in the lid, it will boil like mad, so keep an eye on the level of the liquid, and add water if its looking a bit low. Keep them in the fire for an hour and a half to 2 hours. Or until the pheasants disintegrate to such an extent that you cant believe that there is a single piece of them which could be described as dangerously undercooked. Dont forget to whittle your vampire killing stick.
There was enough here to feed 4 gluttons, or 10+ bushcrafters whod already eaten a huge pot of waggoners stew.
I didnt lose a single pound in weight over the weekend. Not one. I cant imagine why.
We adapted the recipe in order to take into account of what we had, and what we could easily (cheaply) obtain. The original recipe is here:-http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/jan/26/foodanddrink.recipes
Our recipe
Ingredients
3 tbsp cooking oil
2 pheasants (Or 4 quail, 1 chicken, ½ of a turkey etc, etc, you get the picture)
150g chorizo
4 cloves garlic (More if there have been confirmed vampire sightings. Probably an idea to whittle a stake just in case while the meal is cooking)
2 onions
Salt (Although it is bad for you. But you need some in order to keep your body working properly, your call basically)
Pepper
4 Chicken stock cubes (Unless you know where to get Pheasant stock cubes, Ill bow to your greater knowledge)
1 bottle White wine (Buy the cheapest you can, so you wont be tempted to guzzle it before youve made the meal. Ours was £2.40 from LIDL, A decidedly appalling English vintage known as copper beech. Buy it now before the Governments minimum price for alcohol makes it even poorer value for money.)
1 or 2 tins Butter Beans
Dried Parsley. (Lots if you like parsley, none if you dont. I dont mind. Its your dinner. Just dont come crying to me )
Stoke the fire up, using the accredited Livingstone method of chucking half of the remaining woodpile on it and coughing violently until it really kicks off. Get the Dutch oven nice and warm. You could keep it in your sleeping bag if you like, this wont work. We put ours on the fire.
Sling the cooking oil into it.
Chop the onions and garlic and bung them in before the oil catches fire. Let them sweat down / burn to a crisp depending on the heat of the fire.
Check the interior of the pheasants for plastic bags of innards, childrens toys etc and drop them into the pot. Turn them every 5 mins or so to brown the outside, on account of how this is what proper chefs on the telly do. You can swear violently while youre doing it if that makes it feel more authentic. Or if youre using your fingers because you forgot the tongs. When you do your last turn, throw the chorizo in. Cook for 5 mins, then add the rest of the ingredients.
Cook in a nice pile of embers with some in the lid, it will boil like mad, so keep an eye on the level of the liquid, and add water if its looking a bit low. Keep them in the fire for an hour and a half to 2 hours. Or until the pheasants disintegrate to such an extent that you cant believe that there is a single piece of them which could be described as dangerously undercooked. Dont forget to whittle your vampire killing stick.
There was enough here to feed 4 gluttons, or 10+ bushcrafters whod already eaten a huge pot of waggoners stew.
I didnt lose a single pound in weight over the weekend. Not one. I cant imagine why.
Got any pics?
