Roasting Pheasants

[Tempest63]

I shot on a 20 gun Pheasant Shoot yesterday, whilst the wife worked two of our English Springer Spaniels. Total bag was 93 birds, of which I dropped a few brace round to friends and neighbours. We kept back a couple of young hens which I will prep and roast today, not overly keen on hung game, fresher the better in my book. I’m looking at a (Saint) Delia Smith recipe for today but would be interested in any tried and tested recipes you guys and gals have for young roast pheasant.

[weinoo]

Here's a good web site you might enjoy...Hunt Gather Cook pheasant recipes.

[Tempest63]

2 hours ago, weinoo said:

Here's a good web site you might enjoy...Hunt Gather Cook pheasant recipes.

Thanks for that, I’ve had a few of their recipes in the past which have turned out well, this time I want to pot roast so I am going to cook them in a cast iron Dutch oven on top of a bed of veg. I’ve just finished prepping and stuffing them and once they are slathered in butter and have some bacon over the breasts are going in the oven.

 

My daughter cropped some squashes from our allotment this morning so I think roast potatoes, roast squash, something green and a port sauce.

 

[Tempest63]

I roughly followed this recipe https://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/type-of-dish/sunday-roast/roast-pheasant-with-chestnut-stuffing-and-port-and-chestnut-sauce and was really happen with the results. Birds were young season, good for roasting so still very moist. Will definitely do this again.

 

[Tempest63]

As they were just before going into the oven. Covered in bacon and butter.

[Tempest63]

I do find it really strange that people in the U.K. will comment on how dry their roasted pheasant is and you look at their post which is late season.

The roasting window is quite short so towards the end of mid season, I.e., mid to late November, think casserole, curry and stew and forget roasting.

[Smithy]

8 hours ago, Tempest63 said:

I do find it really strange that people in the U.K. will comment on how dry their roasted pheasant is and you look at their post which is late season.

The roasting window is quite short so towards the end of mid season, I.e., mid to late November, think casserole, curry and stew and forget

 

I'm trying and failing to remember how my mother prepared pheasant when my father brought it home (from California hunting trips). I think she probably did something along the lines of high heat and short cooking: frying, essentially. 

 

Why do you think the roasting window is so short? Is it because it only works on young pheasant and they're too old after a few months?

 

[gfweb]

Dryness comes from cooking too hot.

[Tempest63]

3 hours ago, Smithy said:

Why do you think the roasting window is so short? Is it because it only works on young pheasant and they're too old after a few months?

The older the birds, the tougher they get, the longer they need cooking. I have tried roasting older birds, I have spatchcocked them and cooked them on the stove, but they are better in a casserole when shot during the second half of the season. In the U.K. that is 1st October to 1st February.

[gfweb]

try cooking sous vide at 145 or so for a few hours

[rotuts]

@Tempest63 

 

what happened to that lovely bacon , pic # 2 0f the pheasants ?

Edited October 30, 2023 by rotuts (log)

[Tempest63]

2 hours ago, rotuts said:

what happened to that lovely bacon , pic # 2 0f the pheasants ?

It comes off the birds for the last 15 minutes, goes on a plate at the bottom of the oven and is then served with the rest of the meal. 

[Tempest63]

We took the eldest grandson on the shoot last Saturday. He did a bit of beating, bit of picking up and looked after one of the Springers when I was on the peg. Finally he helped distribute the 18 birds we brought home.

We are shooting again tomorrow but unfortunately we won’t have his help as he is fishing.

Edited November 17, 2023 by Tempest63 (log)

[Smithy]

They are beautiful birds. Who does/did the plucking and cleaning? Your grandson doesn't look happy at the prospect, but that might be the camera fooling us. 🙂

[Tempest63]

Yesterday was a good day on the shoot with a little under 100 birds in the bag.

We brought home 6 brace, 12 birds, gave 3 brace away to neighbours and kept 3 for ourselves.
 

 

Mrs T63 plucked the three hen birds, and I did the rest. Feet off, wings off, heads off and gutted.

 

The cocks I just breasted, so we have three roasting hens and six cock breasts for future dinners. 

 

 

One of the birds had a bit of dog damage, i.e., a couple of teethe mark from a hard mouthed retrieve, and one of the hens had been taken too low so had more pellets in it than necessary, but all are still edible.

 

Not shooting now for another two weeks so we will eat all these before then. I need to as we have a 60kg fallow deer coming mid week so I need the room in the freezer.

[rotuts]

@Tempest63 

 

why do you only use the breast on the males ?

[Tempest63]

4 hours ago, rotuts said:

@Tempest63 

 

why do you only use the breast on the males ?

I don’t always use only the breasts, but the cock birds invariably are tougher and harder to pluck. At the moment the hens are good for roasting. Later in the season they will toughen up and need to go into a casserole. Then all the birds are skinned portioned and casseroled. At the moment I don’t have any much room in the freezer or I would have skinned and jointed the cocks.

[rotuts]

@Tempest63 

 

have you ever sous vide'd the meat ?

 

makes tough tender @ 130 f    med rare.

[Tempest63]

34 minutes ago, rotuts said:

@Tempest63 

 

have you ever sous vide'd the meat ?

 

makes tough tender @ 130 f    med rare.

I have never sous vide’d anything. Following some of the threads on here, and I’m very much a newbie, sous vide seems very popular in North America, but it barely gets a mention here in the U.K. 

I think if I bought another kitchen gadgets Mrs T63 would likely hit me over the head with it.

[Smithy]

I wonder whether pheasant would lend itself to confit. Have you ever tried that?

[KennethT]

4 hours ago, Smithy said:

I wonder whether pheasant would lend itself to confit. Have you ever tried that?

The problem is that pheasants have almost no fat on them. Maybe confited in a neutral fat?

[gfweb]

6 hours ago, Tempest63 said:

I have never sous vide’d anything. Following some of the threads on here, and I’m very much a newbie, sous vide seems very popular in North America, but it barely gets a mention here in the U.K. 

I think if I bought another kitchen gadgets Mrs T63 would likely hit me over the head with it.

 

Sous vide will tenderize the tough meat and yet retain moisture because the temp is kept lower.