Pheasant........ideas please

[Cyclingrelf]

I like pheasant, apples and cider casserole.

I don't really follow a recipe, but the general gist is as follows:

Fry onions (plenty) in a casserole dish large enough to put the pheasant down inside and at least half cover the pheasant with liquid, preferably more. Fry the pheasant whole just to brown the outside a little - I fry them in the casserole with the onions. Add fairly chunky slices of 1 large or 2 medium tasty apples (Bramblies?). Tip over about 1pt of cider. Stir in a bit of stock - enough liquid to at least half cover the pheasant. If you want vegetables in the casserole, add them now, but I often cook them separately and roast the potatoes to make a really tasty and artery-hardening meal. Lid on and casserole for a few hours - 2 or 3 on a low heat. If the pheasant is only half covered, turn it half way through the cooking time.
Remove the pheasant from the rest (you can bone it at this stage if you want and just serve up meat) - keep it warm but separate. Reduce the remaining liquid (if it needs it) to make a sauce. Stir cream into the sauce, then serve everything up...yummy!!!!

 

[Cyclingrelf]

Ooo - I forgot to say - I don't hang them, don't like the hung flavour.

 

[gowersponger]

how much is a whole pheasent to buy these days

 

[Toddy]

One bunnet relined, in my case

cheers,
M

 

[eel28]

how much is a whole pheasent to buy these days

the local butcher has them for £6.99 a brace - all plucked and cleaned ready for the oven

 

[Overlander30]

my favourite way is put a deep pan on the heat til its smoking hot. add a tbsp of groundnut oil. put the bird(s) in (make sure the skin is on) and leave them a few seconds to brown all over (ie move them around after a few seconds).

pour in a glass of whisky/bourbon and flame it (if you have an extractor hood pull the pan away from it, the flames go quite high). when the flame goes out add about 3 chopped carrots, a chooped onion and half a pint of chicken stock, couple of sprigs of thyme, 3/4 fresh bay leaves, salt and pep.

lid and simmer for 30 mins.

remove the birds and the veg, and add half a small pot of dbl cream. reduce the liquid until it coats the back of a spoon. taste and adjust seasoning. pour over the birds and the veg.

 

[bushwacker bob]

how much is a whole pheasent to buy these days

You dont BUY pheasants

 

[MartiniDave]

Toddy,

I don't like to hang them very long, 4 days max.
My tribe are quite fond of pheasant stir-fry.
We also only use the breast and thighs.
A good demo of removing these was on last night's Countryfile, which may be on i-player.

Bon appetite!

Dave

 

[Bushwhacker]

I just don't get the hanging thing where feather is concerned, you wouldn't do it with a chicken.

 

[fred gordon]

Ah, got you

I don't eat meat. I just cook it for HWMBLT, and the cat
I kind of rely on others and the Scottish Women's Rural, *cookbook* and a few family receipts. It very rarely fails thankfully.

Okay, I think I'm going to open up the skin tomorrow and strip out the breast meat, and since this is a young looking hen, I think I might remove the thighs too.
If I slice them in 5mm slices and fry them in butter, put them in an ashet and just cover them with seasoned red wine, put it into the oven and poach until throughly cooked (HWMBLT does not eat 'pink' meat ) Roast the parsnips and serve it with potato hedgehogs and some damson jelly.
Do you think that would do ?

cheers,
Toddy

Yummy, Is there enough for two?

 

[fred gordon]

You dont BUY pheasants

At the moment we are feeding about 25 along with our hens> Not our pheasants though but very tempting!:AR15firin

 

[locum76]

This came up on BCUK a couple years ago when pheasants were *nicking* our very expensive layers pellets. After some debate I decided they were on my land, not bred for a shoot and they quickly became Sunday lunch. The same will happen this year if they choose to forage in the chicken coup.

 

[leon-1]

Hi Mary there is a cookbook by Marcus Harrison that may interest you [FONT=arial, verdana, helvetica][SIZE=-1]The Essential Rabbit, Venison & Pheasant Cookbook, well worth looking at.

Strictly speaking I shouldn't post about this as Marcus is a friend, but it's very much relevant to Toddy's question.
[/SIZE][/FONT]

 

[Toddy]

Ah no worries Leon, Marcus has a good rep Might look for that one though, sounds useful.

Thanks again folks
HWMBLT ended up doing the seperating and he only took the breasts.
They ended up browned in butter and cooked as a casserole with cider and apples for a change
Happy man

cheers,
M

 

[bigbear]

I have a clay brick ( also called Roman pot) - you know, the sort where you soak it in water before cooking in the oven.
Now, pheasant can dry out if roast the traditional way, but in the clay brick with a covering of bacon, butter and a splash of white wine.......delicious !

 

[Toadflax]

This is a recipe we got from a farmer's wife about 20 years ago. We tried it again recently and it was, to my mind, the best pheasant recipe I've had.

I couldn't be bothered to retype it, so here's the original from my wife's recipe book.

Geoff

 

[jamin]

i have tryed this found it in the wild gourmet cook book.
using the breast cut up and wrap in bacon with a dryed apricot piece on the meat like a pig is a blanket pan fry in butter for 3-4 mins. was very nice makes a nice gravy syrup as well. tasty

 

[Woodlark]

We've always eaten stacks of pheasant - useful having a gamekeeper Buddy!!! Anyway, I've spent the last 19 years making "game" acceptable to my kids and their mates - heres a couple of quickies:

Pheasant twizzlers!
Breast the pheasants, cut lengthways into pencil sized strips. Mix some fine breadcrumbs with a little salt, pepper, brown sugar (whatever to taste really!). Dip the strips of breast into veg oil and then roll through the breadcrumbs. Bung in a hot oven for 15 minutes or so!

Also, don't waste the thighs - they are easy to remove, have a good bite of meat on them and haven't got the ligaments of the drumstick! I cut any yellow fat off as its quite bitter and has a strong taste. Either slow cook thighs and serve when tender, or do as per the twizzlers and bake for 20 minutes. I like them best cold - great for a finger buffet!

Whilst I'm here, the following is great for any game meat and kids love it: cook any meat until tender, let it go cold. Then break/tear it into uneven bits. Flash fry these in a little oil, sprinkle with Chinese 5 spice and continue to fry until the oil is absorbed. Then add a good spoon of runny honey, cook a little longer whilst the meat absorbs the honey, then turn off heat. Whilst the meat rests, add a little salad, grated carrot, spring onion and mayonaise to a tortilla wrap. Add the moist yet crispy meat, wrap up and ..... well, you tell me, but I'd bet on you loving it!!! This is good for drier meats like pheasant and rabbit.

Good luck - hope ur kids love it and ask for more!!

 

[Arvensis]

I made a pheasant curry last year - it was very nice. If I manage to get hold of some pheasants in the next 2-3 months then I'll make another.