What is the best way to prepare a pheasant?

Place into a close-fitting roasting pan. Pour herb oil over pheasant. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, then cover with aluminum foil and continue baking until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh, near the bone, reads 180 degrees F (82 degrees C), about 1 hour more.

Do you have to soak pheasant before cooking?

While soaking will make the meat juicier, it will also add extra saltiness, so don't soak it for longer than necessary. Since younger birds are more tender, they don't need to soak for as long as older birds .

What are three methods of cooking pheasant?

A dinner party favourite, this bird can be cooked in classic roasts, casseroles, pies or made into meatballs .

Why do you soak pheasant in milk?

I did some reading on how to get the best tasting results from a wild pheasant, and learned the following helpful tips (all of which I can vouch for!) Soak the meat in saltwater or milk to remove any gamey taste : Some people don't mind the “wild” flavor in pheasant (or duck or deer or what have you).

How do you get the gamey taste out of pheasant?

The distinct game flavor of either birds or animals will be milder after soaking the meat overnight in the refrigerator in either a salt or vinegar solution . 2. Vinegar solution - 1 cup per quart of cold water. Use enough solution to cover the game completely.

How long does it take a pheasant to cook in the oven?

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan, add the meat and brown on all sides. Transfer to a casserole dish, add vegetables and stock of your choice, cover and cook for 50-60 minutes in the centre of the oven. Cook thoroughly until the juices run clear when pierced with a fork and there is no pink meat.

Can pheasant be cooked pink?

Do not be alarmed if the thigh meat is pink. As long as the internal temperature is at least 154° and the meat is not translucent, the thighs will be perfectly safe to eat and much tastier than if overcooked ! Farm-raised or wild pheasant can be treated more as a red meat rather than a white meat in the kitchen.

Why do you soak pheasant in salt water?

Roberts said prior to cooking the bird, the gamey taste can be pulled out by soaking it in milk and the blood can also be extracted. "I normally soak them (pheasant) overnight in a salt water ... it pulls the blood out," Roberts said.

Are pheasants good eating?

Pheasant is known for its light-colored breast meat—much like chicken—and its mild flavor is ideal for introducing new and non-hunters to wild game . Still, pheasants are easy to overcook. One complaint I hear often is that pheasant meat can be dry and tough.

How soon should you clean a pheasant?

Many hunters and wild game chefs recommend aging their birds for 3-5 days prior to plucking , but they can be plucked the day of if necessary. 2Begin by plucking each individual leg above the joint and work up towards the body: 3Don't forget the wings.

How do you clean a pheasant for cooking?

How to Clean a Pheasant First, remove the wings by cutting them off as close to the body as possible. ... Remove both wings. Remove the head by cutting thru the neck as close to the body as possible. The next step is to remove the legs. ... Remove the leg by cutting at the “knee” joint. More items...

How to Cook Pheasant (2024)

by Robert Gooch January 21 2020

Subtly gamey, tender and succulent, pheasant cooked well is a taste to savour. Want to know how? Just follow our expert advice!

Pheasant is a wonderfully versatile meat that can be used in place of chicken or turkey in a wide range of recipes – so long as you follow a few simple rules.

Active life, leaner meat

An indoor-raised chicken or turkey won’t have moved a great deal in its lifetime. Unless you choose slow-reared free-range chicken, the chances are the chicken in your supermarket has lived its life in a shed with thousands of other birds, never venturing far from the feeder trough. A pheasant, on the other hand, will have spent its days in woods and fields, foraging for seeds, grains, berries and insects, and running or flying away from any signs of predators. This is why the meat from a pheasant is leaner and denser than that from an indoor-raised broiler bird – and why care needs to be taken to prevent it drying out during cooking. It’s also why older pheasant’s legs are best slow-cooked or casseroled. Pheasants develop strong leg muscles from running – slow cooking breaks down these muscle fibres for tender, melt-in-the-mouth meat.

Our top tips for cooking pheasant

If you’re roasting an early season bird or cooking pheasant breast fillets, our top tips are to add plenty of fat and ensure you don’t cook them for too long. Follow the guidelines below and invest in a digital cooking thermometer to check when the meat is cooked to perfection. End of seasonbirds, meanwhile, are best slow-cooked, so our third top tip is to cook these low and slow.

How to roast a brace of pheasants

The pheasant season begins on 1st October and early season pheasants are delicious roasted and served with game chips (thinly sliced deep fried potatoes), bread sauce and gravy.

We recommend taking your bird out of the fridge for an hour before cooking. Preheat the oven to 200ºC, gas mark 6 and then heat your choice of fat in a large ovenproof frying pan over a medium heat. Raymond Blanc recommends 50ml of rapeseed oil with 20g unsalted butter, while Tim Maddams prefers pork, goose or duck fat. When the fat is hot, place the pheasants in the frying pan spine side down to brown for 3–5 minutes before turning over to brown the breast side for 2–3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper before transferring to the oven for 15 minutes. When the time is up, use your cooking thermometer to check it’s cooked through. The leg should read 80-82ºC and the breast 63ºC – cook them slightly longer if they haven’t reached these temperatures. If they have, cover and leave them to rest for around 30 minutes before serving.

Boned pheasant, ballotines, roulades and three-bird roasts

Along with whole birds, our butchers prepare boned and stuffed pheasants for easy cooking and carving. We recommend roasting these in oil or fat for one hour at 180ºC.

How to slow cook pheasants

As the season nears its end on 1st February, there’s nothing better than a full-flavoured pheasant slow cooked in a casserole.

One-pot pheasant dishes are ideal winter warmers that you can leave in a low oven or slow cooker while you brave the cold outside. Try our pheasant and red cabbage recipe from Jean-Francois Mallet, BBC Good Food’s pot-roasted pheasant or Good Housekeeping’s slow cooker pheasant casserole. Onions or shallots, vegetables, herbs and cider or wine are key features in all these recipes. Brown whole or quartered pheasants in a pan with your base ingredients before adding your liquid and herbs and transferring to an oven or slow cooker.

Cooking pheasant breast fillets

For a quick and flavoursome midweek meal, we love pan-fried pheasant breasts. Serve them with celeriac mash and a gravy made from the juices for a seasonal treat or warm yourself up by marinating pheasant breasts in spices and serving in curries or with salsa verde and a warming saffron mash.

Pheasant breasts only need a few minutes in a pan so keep a close eye on the clock to make sure you don’t overcook them. If you haven’t already marinated them or aren’t using our marinated pheasant breast fillets, season them on both sides while heating some oil and/or butter in a pan over a high heat. Add the fillets and cook for 2–3 minutes on each side or until just cooked through then cover and rest for 5 minutes before serving.

To stir-fry pheasant breasts, slice them into strips and cook in a hot wok with oil for around 3 minutes until cooked. Set aside in a warm covered dish while cooking vegetables and other ingredients before returning the pheasant and stirring through.

Sous vide pheasant

To ensure lean pheasants remain perfectly plump and moist during cooking, many restaurants cook pheasant with the sous vide method. This involves vacuum-sealing pheasant breasts or portions in a bag and cooking them at a precise low temperature in a water bath. Anova, the makers of a sous vide machine, recommend 62°C for 45 minutes. If you don’t have a machine, instructions or DIY sous vide water baths can also be found online!

Pheasant recipes

For more recipe ideas take a look at our pheasant recipe collection or blog archive or head straight to our pheasant range.