# Any pheasant recipes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 20, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183 "2007-11-20T15:10:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/1 "2007-11-20T15:10:19Z")
My father in law bagged a few pheasants this past weekend. I’m charged with the task of some Friday or Saturday preparation of said pheasants. I’m thinking of pheasant cacciatore, or some kind of straight-forward grilled pheasant. Or both. Does anyone know anything particular to this bird that might make indicate an optimal way to cook it, or the best kind of preparation of it. I’m treating it pretty much like I’d treat a chicken or a duck. If I grill it, I’ll probably try to add some fat with bacon strips laid on it, or stuffed in it. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/2 "2007-11-20T16:18:04Z")
I’d knock up a stuffing of some sort - breadcrumbs, assorting flavourings, bacon bits, onion, mushroom, that kind of thing - and stuff the pheasants with it, bard the outside with rashers of bacon, and oven-roast, removing the bacon to brown the outside. Pheasant is low-fat meat so you have to keep it from drying out. Or casserole it with onions, mushrooms, red wine, that kind of thing. Normally pheasant is hung for a while - a week or so at cool room temperature - before plucking (or skinning) and eviscerating. It tenderises it and gives it more flavour. If you over-hang it, chances are it will smell none too good when dressed - the remedy, if it’s a bit rank, is to wash it well in vinegar and water; it is likely still to be perfectly edible. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/3 "2007-11-20T16:55:53Z")
Preheat oven as hot as it will go. Wrap pheasant in bacon, then in tin foil. Put in oven for short period of time depending on size of bird (20 mins or so). Eat. Enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/4 "2007-11-20T19:46:35Z")
Pheasant is low in fat and dries out easily, so low and slow is the way to go. I’m making it for Thanksgiving, and I’m using [this recipe](http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=167), modified slightly for use here in the U.S. (no Bramleys are available to me here, for instance, and I’ll be using pancetta as my bacon of choice). ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/5 "2007-11-20T19:48:51Z")
Thanks all. Some good points. I think we actually have 4 pheasants, so I have some options. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/6 "2007-11-20T21:08:09Z")
**King:** Pull! :fires: **Peasant:** Aaaaaagh! **King:** Dropped like a stone! ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 20, 2007, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/7 "2007-11-20T21:17:40Z")
Some fantastic pheasant ideas at [BBC Food](http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/food/recipes/queryengine?templatestyle=refine_by_1_gg&orig_kw=pheasant&config=db&scope=recipes&page=1&pagesize=15&attrib_26=keywords&oper_26=eq&val_26_1=%2Bpheasant&search.x=83&search.y=18&search=search). ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 12:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/8 "2007-11-21T12:33:12Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Some fantastic pheasant ideas at [BBC Food](http://www.bbc.co.uk/apps/ifl/food/recipes/queryengine?templatestyle=refine_by_1_gg&orig_kw=pheasant&config=db&scope=recipes&page=1&pagesize=15&attrib_26=keywords&oper_26=eq&val_26_1=%2Bpheasant&search.x=83&search.y=18&search=search). [/QUOTE] BAM! Just what I needed. I printed out 4 of those recipes. The pheasant “coq au vin” is something I can do with my eyes closed. “Braised in cider” looks good, as does “warm pheasant salad with wild mushroom dressing” and “pheasant wrapped in bacon with orange and sage stuffing and rosti”. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/9 "2007-11-21T12:40:50Z")
Glad it helped. I love that site. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/10 "2007-11-21T15:06:26Z")
I understand that a good hanging and aging of pheasant and other game birds used to be standard practice for the best gustatory experience. They would hang the gutted and desanguinated pheasant by the neck in a cool place and when the body seperated from the neck, it was ready to be eaten. This method of hanging and dry aging game birds in general is actually called [faisander](http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=fr&u=http://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/faisander&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=3&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3Dfaisander%26hl%3Den) in French and derives from the French term for pheasant and the common practice of aging pheasants. Not that I recommend it, necessarily, but I think it is an important step that most hunters overlook nowadays. Maybe brining the pheasant would also be a nice alternative. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/11 "2007-11-21T15:13:32Z")
While I wrote in the OP that I was cooking the pheasants he shot, that might not be entirely accurate. He went to one of those shooting “farms”. . .like what Dick Cheney made famous. I think that if you shoot 4 pheasants, then when you leave, you get 4 pheasants. These are pheasants they’ve already cleaned that someone else presumably shot the day before or something. Hopefully, that farm has done the proper thing with the pheasants. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/12 "2007-11-21T15:24:49Z")
Here’s a very helpful and informative article about [dry aging game birds](http://www.wildeats.com/journal/?p=17). ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2007, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-pheasant-recipes/427183/13 "2007-11-21T15:42:18Z")
[QUOTE=Trunk] While I wrote in the OP that I was cooking the pheasants he shot, that might not be entirely accurate. He went to one of those shooting “farms”. . .like what Dick Cheney made famous. I think that if you shoot 4 pheasants, then when you leave, you get 4 pheasants. These are pheasants they’ve already cleaned that someone else presumably shot the day before or something. Hopefully, that farm has done the proper thing with the pheasants. [/QUOTE] It’s safe to say that the pheasant will be safe and nutritious to eat, but it may not have been matured - they may well err on the side of caution (a strong gamey flavour isn’t to everyone’s taste). Shouldn’t matter as long as you choose a recipe that tenderises the flesh. I saw at least one of those BBC recipes mentioned overnight marinating to cover this, in case (as they said) you have a “wise old bird” on your hands. As for brining, I’ll refrain from _ex ano_ pronouncements on that.