doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Dressing pheasants

No, before any wisecracks, I don't mean with clothes!! After seeing Lloyd's post in the North Country with his hanging pheasants I thought about his statement "...ready for processing soon..." or words to that effect. That brings me to a question about WHEN is the best time to clean pheasants after harvesting. I have only been hunting pheasants since I came to New Mexico 32 years ago and I have always plucked (or simply skinned) and dressed my birds on the day I shot them. I have always carried them in my vest back to the truck and placed them in a cooler or a cool spot and cleaned and dressed them that evening after the hunt. I have never hung them up for days before doing anything to them. So, my question is if you hang them do you clean out the insides first? I realize this may sound strange to some but I am genuinely curious. Since I have never hung mine for days after shooting them, have I missed anything in the taste of texture of the birds. As I said before, I have always dressed mine the day of harvesting them and either kept them on ice or froze them after completely washing and cleaning. Help me out here?!

In Arizona, I doubt you can follow the same regimen Lloyd does.

You are looking for “100 hours of aging at 40 degrees”. The aging I attempted before meeting Lloyd involved a refrigerator, which, is a bit too cold. What I have discovered is right around now, the floor of the shop, a concrete slab, is pretty darn close to 40 degrees-the heating season hasn’t kicked on in earnest in my shop, the furnace doesn’t typically start cycling out there until we see consistent 20 degree temps.

You have to stay on top of insects and mice, of course. But, the aging, combined with Lloyds brine before cooking improves the birds like nothing else I’ve ever tried.

Best,
Ted

https://www.gundogmag.com/editorial/why-you-should-age-game-birds/462439

I've never hung pheasants, nor did any of the guides I've met in South Dakota. The problem IMHO is guaranteeing that the bird has no pellets in the abdomen ie gut shot and spilling intestinal contents into the abdomen. And if a dog has to chase a cripple, they almost always give the bird at least one bite.

I did once leave a quail in my hunting coat for a few weeks. I didn't try to cook it.

In my youth we always pulled the entrails with an old-time button hook for lady's shoes as instructed by our family doctor. Later years most bird knives include a "gut hook." Our base of hunting was an old gas station/cafe along old U.S. 10 that included living quarters in the back. It had a walk-in cooler where we hung the birds. In those days my father always plucked the pheasants and ducks and we roasted them. In my retirement years I have just cleaned them after the hunt, skinned, filet the breast meat for cooking hot and fast under the broiler while the boney parts get cooked low & slow in Lutheran sauce.

After watching the Tele-series, Shogun back in the 1970s, starring Richard Chamberlain, I decided to dry age some pheasants. I mean, after all, a set of characters on that television show had to be executed because the Englishman wanted his pheasants to be nearly rotten before they were served.

Now I have aged many. Drawn, and undrawn.

I do not care for the flavor. YMMV of course.

Dry aging a drawn carcase will intensify the flavors for sure.

I’ve not detected any increase in tenderness around the joints. (Which is why I age them in the first place)

The flavor concentration may appeal to some.

My preferred route is evisceration, wipe out the cavity, dry pluck hot, and hang them.
Perforate them, brine them, inject them, protect the breast, and smoke them.

It’s not a chicken. If you don’t preserve or add moisture, it’s going to be dry.
There is no Intra muscular fat to rely on.

No doubt Parabola will correct me, but here in England pheasants were hung for about four days, intact, and only then plucked and drawn.
Most of the big estates had a purpose-built Game house somewhere downwind of the Manor. There is a very smart octagonal one to this day just a mile from here, built by the local millionaire (who made his fortune selling shovels to the Australian Gold Rush miners in 1855)
But that was before global warming.

Now I hang them for only two days before plucking and drawing. As I have rather big hands my wife has to do the drawing bit...

HB

why is aged pheasant ok an not aged chicken...

rotten is rotten...

makes no diff how much you pepper hit...

Dr. Drew: Hard hit or "wet" birds do not get aged for exactly those reasons but I've lost very few to problems. I tend to age most of my game now, after reading Rebecca Grey's cookbook on the subject, even ruffed grouse.

Aging roughed grouse is an interesting proposition.

I used to always age ducks and pheasants. After reading, LLBean's cookbook. LL was a huge advocate of aging and discusses it pretty extensively, including historical european traditions. But over the years, I have decided it really doesn't do anything that I like. Now, I generally clean my birds on the tailgate, especially when I am far from home, and vacuum seal them on the tailgate also, then, drop them in a cooler on ice. Either wet or dry.

It does fly in the face of most American sensibilities but I'm simply determined to make the best possible meals of any gamebirds I take and this almost always seems to improve them as tablefare at our home. Having tried them side-by-side with unaged or even fresh-killed birds, the aged and then brined (after freezing) versions are always more-tender and with a much better flavor.

Try it for yourself sometime. It's science, not voodoo.