First up, the point of 'gore warnings' was raised in a recent thread I put up. So, although I wouldn't necessarily put up a warning for this (anymore than I would for a butcher's shop or supermarket shelf stacked full of meat), it seems fair to mention there are pictures of dead animals and animal guts. If that is something you don't want to see, probably best not scroll down any further.
The pheasant hunt is still in full swing. There are many opinions about it as a whole which I'll avoid going in to, but one thing I do like is that the beaters dish out a lot of free, non farmed meat to the local community. I find it satisfying to process in feather/fur game, growing up in a city I never found much opportunity to do that in my early years. It's important to me to have that relationship to the meat I consume.
We got given six in the last batch, so yesterday I got them prepped and ready for the kitchen.
I'm sure there are many different ways to prepare them, and no doubt there are many more experienced hands than mine on the forum. This is just the way I do it. I try to create as little waste as possible and all the leftover bits will find themselves in a place where they can either be scavenged or rot down into the ground.
Any input on technique etc is always gratefully received.
Firstly I remove the head at the top of the neck.
I then slice the skin at the leg joint (ankle equivalent), break and pull. All going to plan, it should pull out the tendon running through the upper part of the leg.
With the wing, I cut from above down to the elbow joint, twist and break off the forearm.
I make an incision in the skin on the breast. Then peel the skin away from the flesh. If the crop is full, I'll carefully pull it away from the carcass without breaking it open.
To remove the guts, I cut an opening below the breast, run my fingers along the inside of the ribcage and scoop out the contents.
Give it a rinse and all done. Six pheasants ready to go to the kitchen.
The pheasant hunt is still in full swing. There are many opinions about it as a whole which I'll avoid going in to, but one thing I do like is that the beaters dish out a lot of free, non farmed meat to the local community. I find it satisfying to process in feather/fur game, growing up in a city I never found much opportunity to do that in my early years. It's important to me to have that relationship to the meat I consume.
We got given six in the last batch, so yesterday I got them prepped and ready for the kitchen.
I'm sure there are many different ways to prepare them, and no doubt there are many more experienced hands than mine on the forum. This is just the way I do it. I try to create as little waste as possible and all the leftover bits will find themselves in a place where they can either be scavenged or rot down into the ground.
Any input on technique etc is always gratefully received.
Firstly I remove the head at the top of the neck.
I then slice the skin at the leg joint (ankle equivalent), break and pull. All going to plan, it should pull out the tendon running through the upper part of the leg.
With the wing, I cut from above down to the elbow joint, twist and break off the forearm.
I make an incision in the skin on the breast. Then peel the skin away from the flesh. If the crop is full, I'll carefully pull it away from the carcass without breaking it open.
To remove the guts, I cut an opening below the breast, run my fingers along the inside of the ribcage and scoop out the contents.
Give it a rinse and all done. Six pheasants ready to go to the kitchen.
