Cooked first pheasant - tough as an old boot!

[Houseplant]

My Mrs cooked the first pheasant that I shot last night. It was roasted. Lovely recipe, tasted good, but tough as an old boot! The legs were the worst bit. I think the diagnosis was overcooking. Any other thoughts/tips? Cheers.  

[washerboy]

Old cock birds can put you off pheasant for life, yellow fat ??

[rimfire4969]

I guess this has been frozen for a while.

I would normally stick and old cock in the aga or slow cooker for a long slow cook. 

[Houseplant]

Yes, it was frozen, but hopefully have some fresh ones coming soon ?

Yep, slow cooker is the next move I think.

[Dave at kelton]

Take the breaststroke off and cook in a casserole dish in cider with apples mushrooms and baon, add cream at the and of cooking

[panoma1]

15 minutes ago, Houseplant said:

Yes, it was frozen, but hopefully have some fresh ones coming soon ?

Yep, slow cooker is the next move I think.

Alternatively, mince the meat, mix with minced belly pork, add breadcrumbs, add burger mix, salt and pepper, an egg to bind.......shape em into a burger.........bang em on the barbie!......

[Old farrier]

The key to success is to choose the right bird to start with ?

i rarely take a cock bird as it seems there’s always more hens on the racks 

if you pick a cock bird check it’s spurs and legs you can usually tell a younger one 

although to be fair most keepers choose good ones for the Guns 

cant give much advice on the actual cooking as that’s a bit alien to me 

all the best 

of 

[ditchman]

hang the bloody thing for 2-3 days somewhere nice and cold let it relax......hen birds are best...roast with foil ontop to begin with take foil off and finish ...add water and sherry to the fat in the pan make gravy pour off oil...serve with mashed sherried carrots roast pots and nice greens......when you take the guts out fry and boil the gizzard lungs lights etc add water to the gravy...chop the lights up (not the gizzard) and make a small ammount of stuffing (fresh) and use nice fresh herbs and stuff it....

 

jobs a gooden..

[GingerCat]

Just give it 50 mins at 180.c and rest for 10. You can brown the bird first if you like but I don't bother. Salt and pepper when you pop it in and a drizzle of olive oil. 

[Houseplant]

Some things to try  for next time. Thanks. 

[Zapp]

An alternative idea that works well.

Take your pheasant, breast it and remove the legs and thighs after hanging for 2-3 days.

Place each breast between two triple sheets of cling film and bash to the thickness of a pound coin, maybe a little thinner if you think the bird is really old - remove the little mini fillet and place it alongside the main one before you bash them, aiming to get as square a finished shape as you can.

Remove all the meat from the legs and thighs and mince it either with a machine or a heavy knife.  Mix this with a handful or breadcrumbs or powdered crackers, a medium onion that has been chopped small and sweated in butter, dried thyme, dried sage and a pinch of salt and pepper.  Mix this well with an equal amount of sausage meat to the original volume of leg/thigh meat.

Form the stuffing into sausage shapes and place on the middle of the flattened breasts.  Roll the breast meat around the sausage meat - it doesnt matter if it wont go all the way round.  Now flatten out streaky bacon, stretching and thinning it with the back of a knife and completely and tightly wrap the stuffed breasts.  If you can get the bacon to look a bit like butchers caul (thin and lacy) you'll get the best results.  Place onto a roasting dish and give them a press to flatten them a bit.

Roast in a medium oven (gas 6) until the bacon is well browned and crispy.  Check that the centre of the stuffing is piping hot with a thin knife or skewer.

Use the pan juices to make gravy, and serve with steamed greens and mash, boiled or roasted potatoes.

Using this method I've never had meat that has been too tough.

One bird done this way will feed two generously.

[Fuddster]

check out jamie oliver youtube vid for 12 hr rabbit ragu-substitute one pheasant and you can make enough pasta sauce to feed 8-10 and damn tasty-i've done it using just legs-sometimes adjusted timing to 16 hrs overnight-still a great ragu.

 

f.

also 'the game chef' on FB has a rather nice sounding recipe  just using pheasant thighs tonight-worth a  gander-battered flat and seared in goose fat with garlic and fennel seeds over a salad.

 

f.

 

[ditchman]

reading zapps post...that is an ideal way to deal with a bird.................pheasant is by nature roasted, a dry meat...and should be cut thinly.....but what really makes a roast pheasant dish is the quality of the gravy....done right it is unbelieverbly tasty..........

if you pot cook/slow cook/casserole.....you end up with a moist succulent meal...but it wont taste like a roast pheasant...

[snow white]

We breast of then flaten them with wooden mallet put on our own cured backon pepper salt and dry sage onion stuffing roll up put in oven cook for about 30 minutes.

Eat them with any veg of you likeing but we let them go cold eat with half dozen diffrent chesses and a small glass of red wine.

[ditchman]

1 hour ago, snow white said:

We breast of then flaten them with wooden mallet put on our own cured backon pepper salt and dry sage onion stuffing roll up put in oven cook for about 30 minutes.

Eat them with any veg of you likeing but we let them go cold eat with half dozen diffrent chesses and a small glass of red wine.

now that sounds nice............road kill here we come...

[Houseplant]

Some great sounding recipes there ?

[Vince Green]

I rarely cook pheasant because my OH doesn't like it much but when I did I used to use a roasting bag to good advantage with some onion, herbs and wine or cider, then cook it slow. We didn't have a slow cooker back then but I guess its much the same principle.  

[Blackpowder]

Take the breast fillets slightly flatten them .   Take 4 bacon rashers and stretch them out on a chopping board lay one fillet on the bacon lay sliced haggis on the first breast lay the second breast on the haggis, fold over the bacon and pin with skewers.   Hot oven for  at 180 C for 30 minutes , remove and allow to stand 15 -30 mins.  Serve with whatever you fancy.   Always works for me , tender and moist.  Like others here I always opt for hen pheasants whenever possible, makes a difference.

 

Blackpowder

[harkom]

Blackpowder, that sounds a tasty recipe. ..are there any recommendations on the haggis ....brand/butcher

[Blackpowder]

I just use supermarket stuff, some of it comes ready sliced.   Also used haggis mixed with bought sage and onion stuffing mix in stuffing balls, certainly lifts the standard packet mix.

 

Blackpowder

[simonm]

Some great ideas, thanks all ?

[thepasty]

take the breasts, legs off and braise them for a few hours...