Chuck,
I know of only two recipies for pheasant (fagiano) dishes that are very Italian. First one is from the South/Sicily, where the bird is roasted for a short while, then allowed to soak one hour in a pot of hot sweet wine (moscatello), then for another hour in hot milk, then stuffed with a preserved fruit mustard (mustarda di Cremona) before being finished off in a very hot oven. It seems like a very old/medieval recipe, given the contents of the stuffing – plums, apricots, figs, cherries, mustard,wine – I’m not sufficiently motivated by the probable flavor to try it!
Second recipe is also used on partridge (pernici) and before roasting, the birds are stuffed with cooked finely diced ham, tongue (lamb, but ox will do) mushrooms (porcini) and a few juniper berries. This one is good, but go easy on the juniper.
In Ireland we also have home-cured pork products. My main point is that smoke contains more than 200 components, including alcohols, acids, phenols, and many toxins, several of which are carcinogenic. It works as a preservative because the toxins prevent microbe growth, the phenolic compounds and acids prevent / delay the oxidation of fats, etc.
“Artificial “ smoking is taking the least harmful of the "real" products and dipping/soaking the meat product in the “slurry.” BBQ sauce contains essentially the same stuff. Take your pick, there is not much going for either one. The Surgeon General is right!
I also agree with Dick-dup who posted above, much more scary is the use of antibiotics in meat, particularly farmed chicken and pork (almost 100% of produce) and in beef, probably about 50-60%. Another big difference between US and Europe is the use of hormone growth promoters – they are outlawed here but are still used widely in the US.
Less than four weeks to the opening of our pheasant season and some real meat.(Nov.1)
Regards,
Km.
