doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com OT: The care and handling of pheasants

Pheasant hunting opened here last week. Several questions, have I. Best way to cook pheasant?

II. Is it best to field dress or hang the bird? If hung, how long?

Any high quality ideas would be appreciated.

Well I...sorry. "High quality ideas"!

One of my favorite restaurants serves a fried chicken that I really get fired up for. Last year, I asked how they fixed it and if I could get some of the "batter". Well they gave me this large cup of powder. It seems it consists of the traditional flour and cornstarch along with some distinct seasoning. I dipped the phez in buttermilk and rolled in the mix then fried. This is one of my favorite ways to eat phez.

I also found a "shake-n-bake" style box mix that was a kind of cajun style mix for baking. Luzianne, I think was the name. http://www.luzianne.com/template_category.cfm?ID=20&

I have shot, cleaned and cooked many hundreds, maybe thousands, of pheasants. So, here is a short take from my point of view.

First, pheasant is a delicate white meat that should be seasoned VERY little. It IS NOT gamey and should not be cooked with cherry sauce or any such thing like some big game animals or duck. Here is a simple recipe in light gravy that was basically how my dear old grandmother and mother cooked it, God rest both of their lovely souls. I have refined it a bit but it is pretty simple.

First, it doesn't hurt to hang them for a few days in a cool place. However, if they have been shot in the guts then the enteric content can taint the meat. It is best to at least draw them first in my opinion. The French hang them till the heads fall off but I guess they like rotten meat.
Most people skin the birds. And truly, plucking them is probably more trouble than it is worth. So, with your cleaned and skinned bird proceed as follows:

First filet the meat off of the bird. Breasts, thighs are pretty straight forward. The lower leg has lots of pin bones and thin hard tendons. you can get some pieces of meat off them by stripping the meat up off the tendons. Set aside the meat for now. (Careful, the dog may get it while your back is turned. ;-))
Put the carcass, with what is left of the lower legs and wing bones into a stew pot, cover with some chicken broth, white wine, throw in an onion, carrot and some celery and a little salt and pepper and simmer to make a stock while you work on the bird.

In a frying pan melt some butter with some olive oil and throw in a diced onion or two. A stalk of celery, diced, won't hurt. A little salt and pepper and cook till the onion is soft and translucent. Remove the onion (and celery) from the pan and set aside while you turn up the heat. You can add a bit of oil if you need to. And, you can add some peanut or canola oil if you want to get it a little hotter without smoking the oil.
I think it is best to split the breasts if they are very thick. Hold them flat on the surface of a cutting board with one hand and using a sharp knive split them to 1/2 thickness. You can do this with the thighs if you want. Now lightly flour them, again with a little salt and pepper. Put them in the hot oil and JUST brown them. (This is critical. Most people overcook pheasant and then think it is too dry. It is a VERY lean meat. If you overcook it you will ruin it. It will be tough and dry.)
Now throw back in the onions and strain the stock and add it. You want to make a gravy so you can thicken with flour (or roux)adding just a little at a time.
DO NOT COOK IT ANY LONGER. JUST GET IT HOT ENOUGH TO BUBBLE AND MAKE THE GRAVY. THE MEAT MUST STAY JUST COOKED OR IT WILL BE DRY. I PROMISE.
Serve it with rice or noodles. A lightly chilled dry white wine with a hint of fruit in it.
You will be a hero, I promise.

Best Regards and let me know how you make out.

Jake

Thanks, Jakearoo. I'll print the instructions. I am most familar with ducks and fish. With fish we first bleed the fish, hang the fish, and then clean the fish within 30 minutes of when we catch it, it makes a great difference in taste. But pheasants are new to me.
jas

jas,
The hanging thing is controversial. As I said, the French believe it makes the meat much better and they hang the birds for a long time. They hang ducks and geese and other fowl too. Most of the time I have hung birds it was when I was younger and, in all truth, mostly out of laziness. You can clean them right away and it sure won't hurt.
The recipe above is a little more elaborate than most would do. You don't have to make the stock. You can just use canned chicken broth. But, simmering the bones will make it better and it is quite simple. You don't have to cut up the onion or carrot or celery. Just toss them whole or halved into the stock pot.
When I was young, we used to just filet the breasts and thighs off the birds and throw the rest away. But now, to me, it is kind of like shooting an old double gun when hunting. It is not the most expedient thing to do. But it is better and it is nice to squeeze all the best out of this fast disappearing life.
I do have lots of other ways to prepare pheasant (and I could possibly be talked into typing them out) but the above is a classic. You can add a little sour cream or plain yogert at the end to get a kind of stroganoff effect. But, try it straight up at least once. Pheasant is great fare if it is done simply and not screwed up. Even most restaurants treat the meat like it is gamey and serve it with dark or fruity sauces. Heck, if you just flash fry some pheasant meat with a bit of salt and pepper it is great.
Best Regards, Jake

I buy chicken from a farm that has a storefront and sells tons of chicken each day. I requested a fresh killed chicken and got an earfull from one of the owners. She said if they did not let it sit overnight in ice water it would be tough when we cooked it. I insisted and she sold it to me. It was tasty but real tough when cooked. I don't do that anymore. I imagined that this was their equivalent to hanging it for a day before selling it. Thoughts?

We've been soaking most of our poultry in a brine overnight, including the Thanksgiving turkey, for a number of years now. The turkey brine we do comes from some cookbook my wife found. It includes cut citrus and other things in addition to the salt. It seems to make the meat more moist and tender. If anyone is interested, I can dig up the brine contents.

Sounds like a couple of good recipes...I cant agree more with the "dont cook em too long" part. I often just filet the breasts, slice em im half the broad way to get them thinner and then Saute them in Garlic butter, with whatever spices one likes, serve with noodles or rice. We generally keep the legs till we have a bunch and then grill them for appetizers........For shot up or chewed up birds, salvage what you can, chunk em up, and deep fry the chunks in a good batter for nibbles......

Basic brine is 1 cup of kosher salt to 1 gal of water. Better, though, to add aromatic herbs and sometimes some sugar, bring to a boil, strain and chill. I make a gallon at a time and save it in glass bottles.

You only need about 2 cups for each bird, put the bird in a ziploc and add enough brine so that when you remove the air in the bag the bird is surrounded. A 3-4 pound bird needs about 8 hours in the brine, in the fridge.

BTW, if you take the time to pluck a bird and cook it butterflied on a grill you'll be amazed at how much more taste you get from the skin.