I am "about" to cook (and taste) pheasant for the first time. Can any
of the subscribers offer me a "simple" method of cooking such a dish
please.

Thanks.

Rick.

Rick wrote:

> I am "about" to cook (and taste) pheasant for the first time. Can any
> of the subscribers offer me a "simple" method of cooking such a dish
> please.

Brine for 12 hours (1 gal water, 3/4 cup salt, sprig rosemary, 1/4 cup
minced onion, tablespoon sugar), roast at 300 until a quick-read
thermometer in the thigh reads 165. Pull, let rest for 20 minutes, carve.

Seasoning should be minimal, garlic powder, white pepper and maybe
seasoning salt all over the skin. A small onion, a sprig of thyme and
half a lemon in the cavity, loosely.

Pastorio

Rick > wrote:

> I am "about" to cook (and taste) pheasant for the first time. Can any
> of the subscribers offer me a "simple" method of cooking such a dish
> please.

Here is a very nice recipe for pheasant braised with celery. Braising
with added fat is a good way to deal with meat that is often on the dry
side. There are quite a few steps to follow, but they are simple and
straightforward. The recipe appeared in The Spectator, in 1995. It is
by the late Jennifer Patterson.

Victor

Pheasant with celery

1 young, tender roasting pheasant
2 oz streaky salt pork or unsmoked bacon
3 oz butter
4 fluid oz dry white wine
1 large head of celery
2 tablespoons of olive oil
small glass of brandy, Armagnac or Calvados

To cook the pheasant it is best to have an oval casserole in which
the bird just fits. Melt 1 ounce of the butter in the pot, add the
diced pork or bacon and start to sweat them. Work the second ounce of
butter with a little salt and freshly ground pepper and place it within
the pheasant. When the fat from the pork starts melting, put the bird
in on its side and let it cook gently until golden brown, before turning
it over and adding the heated wine. Let the wine bubble for a few
seconds, then turn the heat down very low, cover the pot and cook gently
for 40 to 45 minutes, turning the bird over at half time. Scrape the
cleansed celery (try to get some good celery with taste, usually the
dirtier the better), removing the strings from the outer stalks, trim
off the leaves and cut into 1/2-inch chunks. Melt the third ounce of
butter and the olive oil in a large, heavy frying-pan. Put in the
celery and stir it around to coat with the fat, sprinkle a little salt
over it, cover and let it simmer gently for ten minutes. Take a
tablespoon of the juices from the bird and stir into the celery, then
cook for another five minutes. Transfer to fine, hot serving dish,
large enough the hold the pheasant as well. Place the bird in the
centre and, if convenient, carve for serving at this stage. Surround
with the little bits of pork or bacon. Keep the dish warm and covered
while you reduce the juices in the pot by boiling rapidly for a minute
or two. Add the brandy or whatever and cook a minute longer. Transfer
to a hot sauce-boat and serve with the pheasant. Celery goes very well
with game birds and this makes a handsome dish needing but a few little
potatoes to accompany it.

On 14 Feb 2004 13:15:39 -0800, (Rick) wrote:

>I am "about" to cook (and taste) pheasant for the first time. Can any
>of the subscribers offer me a "simple" method of cooking such a dish
>please.
>
We have had success braising a pheasant in a closed pot. It may be
possible to roast it but I haven't succeeded to my satisfaction.

Specifically, I believe Pastorio can do it the way he said, but I
would feel safer with Victor's method, which is approximately what I
have done. I have had roast pheasant that was unpleasantly dry on the
tongue.

Also, after you have eaten the breast meat and leg/thighs, put it all
back in the oven and roast it dark. It will make a glorious stock,
which you then can use to make risotto, farrotto, or whatever else you
might use a brownish stock for.



Rodney Myrvaagnes NYC J36 Gjo/a


The sound of a Great Blue Heron's wingbeats going by your head

Rodney Myrvaagnes wrote:

> On 14 Feb 2004 13:15:39 -0800, (Rick) wrote:
>
>
>>I am "about" to cook (and taste) pheasant for the first time. Can any
>>of the subscribers offer me a "simple" method of cooking such a dish
>>please.
>>
>
> We have had success braising a pheasant in a closed pot. It may be
> possible to roast it but I haven't succeeded to my satisfaction.
>
> Specifically, I believe Pastorio can do it the way he said, but I
> would feel safer with Victor's method, which is approximately what I
> have done. I have had roast pheasant that was unpleasantly dry on the
> tongue.

And that's a definite hazard with wild birds. Domesticated pheasants
are typically fatter, so, more moist.

I'll amend what I said about dry-roasting them if they're wild birds.
I generally slide bacon (that I've blanched by dropping into boiling
water for a minute or so) under the skin over the breast and down into
the legs. If it's a larger bird with very little body fat, I'll take
it a step further by injecting warm fat into the meat with a kitchen
hypodermic before cooking. Either commercial lard or chicken fat
reserved from some prior stockmaking episode, because they're fairly
neutral flavors. Could use goose fat.

> Also, after you have eaten the breast meat and leg/thighs, put it all
> back in the oven and roast it dark. It will make a glorious stock,
> which you then can use to make risotto, farrotto, or whatever else you
> might use a brownish stock for.

I often cheat by adding a chicken carcass and maybe a veal knuckle for
the gelatin so I can get more stock from whatever birds I roast. We
get wild ducks (several varieties), geese, doves, pheasant, and feral
chickens and guinea hens around here.

> The sound of a Great Blue Heron's wingbeats going by your head

We also see herons. I live on the banks of the Shenandoah river and
within short distances to some sizable ponds. We see big birds rather
often in the warm months. They're magical creatures, looking like some
pterodactyl in flight with their long necks and trailing feet. Even
though they're rather common, when one alights at the edge of a pond,
passing traffic slows to watch the majestic bird stride in its stately
fashion as it goes about its way of making a living.

Pastorio