Home > Recipes > Cooking Pheasant Without Tears

Search

By keyword recipe member

By Course By Cuisine

By Occasion By Special Requirements

What's in My Fridge?

Cooking Pheasant Without Tears

3 stars based on 1 reviews Rate this Recipe

Method

Now we are into September, and (sorry about this) Christmas is getting nearer, the game-butchers refrigerators will again be groaning under the weight of pheasant. Although these birds are prolific in the winter and sold usually as a brace, due to the popularity of pheasant-drives, sadly they are often bought and roasted like chicken, and due to a much lower ratio of breast-fat they turn out bone-dry and disappointing, and rejected from the shopping-basket thereafter.

I use two foolproof methods of cooking pheasant, both of which avoid the pointless use of foil or wrapped bacon as the bird will still dry out regardless.

The casserole method is simple, cut the pheasants straight down the middle and follow the recipe for coq-au-vin.

To roast pheasant, firstly find the smallest pot or casserole that the birds will just fit into side-by-side, brown them in a non-stick pan or sauteuse, and put them face-down or sideways into the pot with both touching the bottom, drain the juices from the browning over them.

Add salt, ground black pepper, a bay leaf, and if you have them some juniper berries, then add a 125g (4oz) of softened unsalted butter, top up with white wine until the pheasants are just covered. Cook in the oven at 175c for about 1 ½ hours (If you are doing this with your Christmas dinner you can prepare this the night before and cook it and keep it aside for the final stage). Remove the pheasants carefully, put them breasts up on a baking tray, baste with the pan juices and put them back in the oven for about ten minutes, remove and serve. Not only will the pheasants be moist and succulent, the strained pot-juices can be carefully thickened with cornflour* and used for the sauce!.

* Cornflour will turn to lumps if added straight into hot liquid, cool a little of the sauce in a separate jug, add two heaped tablespoons of the flour, mix well, then return it to the strained liquor.