Hi All, My husband went pheasant hunting today and got 2 birds. The
guide dressed them and I have 2 beautiful breasts. (Hush Sheldon). I
have them marinating in an Italian dressing. Question is, how do I
cook them? I was thinking on the grill, but for how long and how will
I know when they are cooked through? Or do I roast them in the oven?
Thanks for any advice. Jan

"Jan" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi All, My husband went pheasant hunting today and got 2 birds. The
guide dressed them and I have 2 beautiful breasts. (Hush Sheldon). I
have them marinating in an Italian dressing. Question is, how do I
cook them? I was thinking on the grill, but for how long and how will
I know when they are cooked through? Or do I roast them in the oven?
Thanks for any advice. Jan


Why marinate them? Do they have a strong taste you need to disguise?

"Jan" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hi All, My husband went pheasant hunting today and got 2 birds. The
guide dressed them and I have 2 beautiful breasts. (Hush Sheldon). I
have them marinating in an Italian dressing. Question is, how do I
cook them? I was thinking on the grill, but for how long and how will
I know when they are cooked through? Or do I roast them in the oven?
Thanks for any advice. Jan


My experience cooking any wild bird - be it grouse, pheasant, goose or
duck - it that the breast meat is lean. I've gotten good results wrapping
the breast meat in bacon and roasting it until barely 'done' (size
dependant - bigger breasts take much longer to cook). Just be careful not
to over-cook them because the meat is very lean compared to a domestic bird.

MJB

On Oct 8, 11:13 pm, "MJB" wrote:
"Jan" wrote in message

oups.com...

Hi All, My husband went pheasant hunting today and got 2 birds. The
guide dressed them and I have 2 beautiful breasts. (Hush Sheldon). I
have them marinating in an Italian dressing. Question is, how do I
cook them? I was thinking on the grill, but for how long and how will
I know when they are cooked through? Or do I roast them in the oven?
Thanks for any advice. Jan

My experience cooking any wild bird - be it grouse, pheasant, goose or
duck - it that the breast meat is lean. I've gotten good results wrapping
the breast meat in bacon and roasting it until barely 'done' (size
dependant - bigger breasts take much longer to cook). Just be careful not
to over-cook them because the meat is very lean compared to a domestic bird.

MJB

Thanke, they are very lean, so I will wrap bacon around them and roast
in the oven. Thanks so much. Jan

"Jan" wrote in message
ups.com...
On Oct 8, 7:48 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Jan" wrote in message

oups.com...

Hi All, My husband went pheasant hunting today and got 2 birds. The
guide dressed them and I have 2 beautiful breasts. (Hush Sheldon). I
have them marinating in an Italian dressing. Question is, how do I
cook them? I was thinking on the grill, but for how long and how will
I know when they are cooked through? Or do I roast them in the oven?
Thanks for any advice. Jan

Why marinate them? Do they have a strong taste you need to disguise?

This is what the guide told hubby to do. I have never eaten pheasant
so I don't know about the gamey taste. Jan


Well, I've never had pheasant, but intuitively, it seems wrong to treat a
new food with a heavy handed flavor like Italian dressing. And, compared to
the number of people in this newsgroup who've eaten chicken, those who've
had pheasant may represent a very small number. So, I'd check for recipes at
sites like this, too:

http://www.starchefs.com/recipe_search.php

and

http://www.epicurious.com/tools/sear...easant&x=0&y=0

Jan wrote:
Hi All, My husband went pheasant hunting today and got 2 birds. The
guide dressed them and I have 2 beautiful breasts. (Hush Sheldon). I
have them marinating in an Italian dressing. Question is, how do I
cook them? I was thinking on the grill, but for how long and how will
I know when they are cooked through? Or do I roast them in the oven?
Thanks for any advice. Jan


As mjb notes, pheasant is lean, so benefits greatly from cooking by a
wet method. I alway braise pheasant in a mushroom gravy. Make up a
nice espagnole sauce with added fresh mushrooms and braise in sauce pan
for an hour or two till meat is tender. Yum!

nb

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

Why marinate them? Do they have a strong taste you need to disguise?

Usually they taste strong, some people dislikes them for theyr
"kind-of-liver-ish" taste, which is a little less intense than in pigeons.
They are usually a bit sour.
For breasts I'd tend to a ragout, ideally to serve on pappardelle.
--
Vilco
Think pink, drink rose'

"notbob" wrote in message
...
Jan wrote:

As mjb notes, pheasant is lean, so benefits greatly from cooking by a wet
method. I alway braise pheasant in a mushroom gravy. Make up a nice
espagnole sauce with added fresh mushrooms and braise in sauce pan for an
hour or two till meat is tender. Yum!

nb

I agree about braising pheasant, provided I have the whole bird and not just
the breast. The tough thighs and legs benefit from the long, slow cooking a
couple of hours of brasing provide - breasts, not so much which will
over-cook pretty quickly IMO. The one thing I don't recommend is using any
sauce that is tomato-based with wild fowl. I've never had good results
making a fricasse or anything similar.

MJB

"Jan" wrote in message
ps.com...
On Oct 8, 11:13 pm, "MJB" wrote:

Thanke, they are very lean, so I will wrap bacon around them and roast
in the oven. Thanks so much. Jan


Good luck. And if you've never eaten wild fowl before DO NOT CHEW BIG
BITES. Take small portions and before you risk your teeth, press the piece
hard against the roof of your mouth to make very certain no birdshot is
trapped in the flesh. Or shred it on your plate with a fork like you would
fish, searching for bones. Chomping down on a piece of steel shot is not
like the old lead birdshot we used when I was a boy - lead will conform
under pressure, steel shot will not...

MJB

MJB wrote:
"notbob" wrote in message
...
Jan wrote:

As mjb notes, pheasant is lean, so benefits greatly from cooking by
a wet method. I alway braise pheasant in a mushroom gravy. Make up
a nice espagnole sauce with added fresh mushrooms and braise in
sauce pan for an hour or two till meat is tender. Yum!

nb

I agree about braising pheasant, provided I have the whole bird and
not just the breast. The tough thighs and legs benefit from the
long, slow cooking a couple of hours of brasing provide - breasts,
not so much which will over-cook pretty quickly IMO. The one thing I
don't recommend is using any sauce that is tomato-based with wild
fowl. I've never had good results making a fricasse or anything
similar.

What would you use?

"Ophelia" wrote in message
...

I agree about braising pheasant, provided I have the whole bird and
not just the breast. The tough thighs and legs benefit from the
long, slow cooking a couple of hours of brasing provide - breasts,
not so much which will over-cook pretty quickly IMO. The one thing I
don't recommend is using any sauce that is tomato-based with wild
fowl. I've never had good results making a fricasse or anything
similar.

What would you use?

Wild meat is so strong-tasting that you either like it's 'gamey' flavor or
you don't. Growing-up in Montana, I always ate much more elk, deer and
antelope than I ever did beef , so acquired the taste for wild meat at a
very early age. I think a strongly-flavored tomato-based sauce serves only
to disguise the wild taste, but only partially and never successfully IMO.
I much prefer a chicken or even veal stock as my braising liquid, with the
sliced pheasant/grouse/goose meat served with either a milk / cream gravy
(mushrooms optional) strongly flavored with sage and black pepper OR with a
bright fruit sauce that is heavy with cranberry or orange. Or even cherry,
if you've got sour dried cherries available. In both cases (white gravy /
fruit sauce) I like garlic in my meat.

But that's just me and how I was raised to handle game we killed. If you
like tomato sauces, try it... people's tastes are so varied, especially with
wild game.

MJB

MJB wrote:
Wild meat is so strong-tasting that you either like it's 'gamey'
flavor or you don't. Growing-up in Montana, I always ate much more
elk, deer and antelope than I ever did beef , so acquired the taste
for wild meat at a very early age. I think a strongly-flavored
tomato-based sauce serves only to disguise the wild taste, but only
partially and never successfully IMO. I much prefer a chicken or even
veal stock as my braising liquid, with the sliced
pheasant/grouse/goose meat served with either a milk / cream gravy
(mushrooms optional) strongly flavored with sage and black pepper OR
with a bright fruit sauce that is heavy with cranberry or orange. Or
even cherry, if you've got sour dried cherries available. In both
cases (white gravy / fruit sauce) I like garlic in my meat.

Excellent, thanks)) I like garlic in my meat and mushrooms too. I think
I might try the cranberry or orange sauces.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message . com
from Jan contains these words:

On Oct 8, 7:48 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:
"Jan" wrote in message

oups.com...

Hi All, My husband went pheasant hunting today and got 2 birds. The
guide dressed them and I have 2 beautiful breasts. (Hush Sheldon). I
have them marinating in an Italian dressing. Question is, how do I
cook them? I was thinking on the grill, but for how long and how will
I know when they are cooked through? Or do I roast them in the oven?
Thanks for any advice. Jan

Why marinate them? Do they have a strong taste you need to disguise?

This is what the guide told hubby to do. I have never eaten pheasant
so I don't know about the gamey taste. Jan

Pheasant is traditionally hung in a cool place for a few days before
plucking and cooking. The (harmless) start of decomposition tenderises
the meat, and that's what causes the gamey taste to develop. Very fresh
pheasant meat like yours may still be a little firm and dry which is
probably why a marinade was suggested, to tenderise it .

In case you ever get another, I recommend a marinade of red wine, olive
oil and a spoonful of sherry.

Crumb some white bread and fresh herb such as parsley in the
processor, (or, grate and chop them) season, pick the meat out of the
marinade without drying it, and and roll it in the crumbs to coat it.
Then pan-fry in butter hot enough to sizzle; until gently golden,
turning once. Good with fried fresh mushrooms (same pan) and very thin
french fries, aka, "game chips".

Janet.

Tell me again how I find your house, please. :-) I'll bring my
not-yet-famous cardamom cake.

Jan wrote:
On Oct 8, 7:48 pm, "JoeSpareBedroom" wrote:

"Jan" wrote in message

groups.com...


Hi All, My husband went pheasant hunting today and got 2 birds. The
guide dressed them and I have 2 beautiful breasts. (Hush Sheldon). I
have them marinating in an Italian dressing. Question is, how do I
cook them? I was thinking on the grill, but for how long and how will
I know when they are cooked through? Or do I roast them in the oven?
Thanks for any advice. Jan

Why marinate them? Do they have a strong taste you need to disguise?


This is what the guide told hubby to do. I have never eaten pheasant
so I don't know about the gamey taste. Jan

If you have the chance to cook pheasant again, try using a good port
wine for the marinade (for Faisan a l'Alcantara marinate for 3 days) and
then cook en casserole then reduce the marinade and cook some mushrooms
in the marinade while it is reducing by about half for use as a sauce
with the bird.

There is also faisan a la georgienne which cooks the pheasant en
casserole with walnuts, the juice of white grapes, juice of 4 oranges,
malmsey wine and strong green tea.

Faisan a la Normandy is a pan saute in butter just to colour the
pheasant, sauted with sliced apples which are then transferred to a
baking dish, a bit of cream added and baked.

Faisan Titania uses black grapes, segments of oranges & pomegranate
juice in the cooking of the pheasant.
--
JL

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message . com
from Jan contains these words:

Pheasant is traditionally hung in a cool place for a few days before
plucking and cooking. The (harmless) start of decomposition tenderises
the meat, and that's what causes the gamey taste to develop. Very fresh
pheasant meat like yours may still be a little firm and dry which is
probably why a marinade was suggested, to tenderise it .

All wild game benefits from being 'seasoned'. Elk and deer carcasses were
allowed to hang in the unheated garage during hunting season, gutted and
minus their heads but with their hides still-on, for a week or so before
being butchered. Geese and ducks for a few days, grouse and pheasants for
at least overnight. I don't think that's when the 'gamey' taste develops -
white-tailed deer that forage in the farmer's grain-fields along the
Missouri river are notably less gamey than 'brush-buck' mule-deer that live
and eat in the pine and sage-filled high-ground. It also matters to taste
how the animal was killed - a deer dropped in it's track with a head-shot
tastes noticeably different from one gut-shot and tracked-down an hour
later....


In case you ever get another, I recommend a marinade of red wine, olive
oil and a spoonful of sherry.

Sherry always goes well with any wild game. If I've got it handy, I like it
in my brasing liquid. I also like 1/4 sherry and 3/4 cream poured-over
browned fowl that is then baked.


Crumb some white bread and fresh herb such as parsley in the
processor, (or, grate and chop them) season, pick the meat out of the
marinade without drying it, and and roll it in the crumbs to coat it.
Then pan-fry in butter hot enough to sizzle; until gently golden,
turning once. Good with fried fresh mushrooms (same pan) and very thin
french fries, aka, "game chips".

I've cut thin elk steaks into strips and done 'elk fingers' exactly like
that. With the exception I used dried bread crumbs instead of fresh.

MJB