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The cooking of Pheasant |
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The more simply pheasant is cooked the better. The most
popular way to cook a pheasant is to roast it. As pheasant lacks fat
in its flesh it should be basted during cooking with butter or oil,
the bird can also have fat bacon placed over the breast prior and
during cooking to protect the meat from drying out and becoming tough.
If it has been killed from a shotgun blast by a hunter
watch out for the shot when you eat it.
As with most game, pheasant is hung until the
putrifaction process begins, this can be as little or as long as
individual taste dictates, however as soon as the tail feathers come
out easily when pulled, the pheasant can be carefully plucked, taking
care not to damage the skin, and drawn ready for cooking.
If you are buying pheasant from a butcher, you can ask
him to hang it for the specified time, and supply it plucked and drawn
on the required day you wish to cook it. If you are given a whole
unplucked pheasant, you can hang it yourself in a dry, airy place for
3-10 days by the neck, without being plucked or drawn
Pheasant is best eaten young, and if choosing a fresh
bird, the plumage is a guide as all young birds have soft, even
feathers. A young pheasant will have long wing feathers which are
V-shaped, as distinct from the rounded ones in older birds. The flavor
in a young bird is usually much more delicate, and the flesh is more
tender than that of older birds.
"Tread the Earth Lightly" & in the
meantime
may your day be filled with... Peace, Light, and Love, Arlene Wright-Correll www.learn-america.com
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