Pheasant Stew Recipe - How to Make Pheasant Stew (2024)

Home | Wild Game | Pheasant, Grouse, Quail | Pheasant Stew

4.90 from 28 votes

By Hank Shaw

December 27, 2018 | Updated June 16, 2020

Comment

Jump to Recipe

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Pheasant Stew Recipe - How to Make Pheasant Stew (2)

When you decide to make pheasant stew you can go in any number of different directions. But you might as well go classic French and make your pheasant stew a real-deal coq au vin.

Coq au vin simply means “rooster in wine,” and it has historically been made with an old, usually troublesome rooster chicken. And when I say historically I mean it: This recipe has been around since Roman times.

Most people make coq au vin with a store-bought chicken, and this is OK, but nothing like the real dish, which needs an old bird. A stewing hen is a good option for non-hunters, but a pheasant is better. After all, it’s a rooster, a coq.

Yes, you can make this stew all at once, but it’s better if you marinate the bird in de-alcoholized wine for a day or three. What’s that mean? Wine you bring to a simmer, then cool. Why bother? Fully alcoholic wine as a marinade can impart a weird, tinny flavor to the meat. It’s not so huge that you’ll hate your pheasant stew if you don’t do this, but it is noticeable enough to make the extra effort worth it.

What wine? Something you’d drink on a Tuesday, which is to say decent enough to drink, but not that $100 bottle of Châteauneuf du pape you have hidden in the cellar.

What if you don’t have a pheasant? Any white meat works. I’ve use grouse of various species, partridges, rabbits, even quail. Wild turkey would be OK, too, as would the aforementioned stewing hen, which if you’re looking are best bought in Latin markets.

This pheasant stew, unlike some of my other recipes on this site, is easy-peasy to make and needs only your time to be wonderful. Be warned: If you are actually using really old chicken roosters, as I’ve done before, they can take a powerful long time to get tender. I once made this with a five-year-old chicken rooster that took nearly 7 hours to get tender. Your pheasant should take about 3 hours.

And keep in mind this is a hearty stew, where the broth is cooked down to make a sort of hybrid broth/sauce. Serve it in shallow bowls.

Serve your coq au vin with a nice red wine, crusty bread, maybe a salad.

4.90 from 28 votes

Pheasant Stew

This is a simple pheasant stew based on the French coq au vin, which means rooster in wine. Make it on a lazy weekend day in winter. Serve with more wine, lots of crusty bread and a big green salad.

Save RecipePin RecipePrint Recipe

Course: Soup

Cuisine: French

Servings: 6 people

Author: Hank Shaw

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours hours

Total Time: 3 hours hours 20 minutes minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 or 2 whole pheasants, skin-on or skinless
  • 1/3 pound diced bacon
  • 1 pound mushrooms
  • 1 large sweet onion, sliced thick
  • 2 large carrots, sliced into coins about the thickness of your pinky finger
  • 1 head garlic, cloves peeled but whole
  • 2 tablespoons flour
  • Salt
  • Black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon dried thyme
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced fine
  • 1 bottle decent red wine, something you would drink
  • ½ cup brandy
  • Pheasant or chicken broth

Instructions

  • Marinate the pheasant in wine, bay leaves, and thyme for a day or two in the refrigerator.

  • When you’re ready to cook, cook the bacon over low heat in a heavy, oven-proof pot, ideally a brazier or a Dutch oven. When it’s crispy, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon. Turn the heat up to medium.

  • Pat the pheasant pieces dry and brown them in the bacon fat. Take your time, and do this slowly but surely. It could take 15 minutes. Remove pheasant pieces to a bowl as they brown.

  • Brown the onion and mushrooms. Once they’re just turning color, add the carrots and garlic. Cook another 2 minutes.

  • Sprinkle the flour over everything and stir to combine. Cook this, stirring often, until the raw-flour taste cooks away, about 10 minutes.

  • Pour in the brandy, and stir it in to incorporate. The stew will become very thick. Add the wine from the marinade, and stir that in, too. Return the pheasant to the pot, along with any juices that accumulated. If you need it, add enough broth to cover everything by an inch or so. Stir in the herbs and add salt to taste.

  • Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for at least 90 minutes, then start checking to see if the leg/thighs are tender. You want them almost to the point of falling off the bone.

  • When the meat is tender, remove it, along with the mushrooms and onions, and put them in a bowl. Put foil over them to keep them warm.

  • Turn heat up to high in the pot. Boil down the liquid by half or until it thickens to the point of being a sauce or loose gravy. I like to put everything through a food mill’s medium plate for a smooth and silky sauce, but that's not strictly necessary. You could strain it to get the loose bits out if you wanted.

  • Return the vegetables and meat to the sauce and serve at once.

Nutrition

Calories: 434kcal | Carbohydrates: 15g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 19g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Cholesterol: 60mg | Sodium: 231mg | Potassium: 538mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 3625IU | Vitamin C: 9mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Tried this recipe? Tag me today!Mention @huntgathercook or tag #hankshaw!

Categorized as:
Featured, French, Pheasant, Grouse, Quail, Recipe, Wild Game

You May Also Like

Recipe

Wild Rice Salad

A fresh and bright wild rice salad recipe that mimics Crisp and Green’s “wild child” salad. I use grouse, wild rice and dried wild berries.

Pheasant, Grouse, Quail

Spanish Quail with Paprika and Onions

A Spanish recipe for quail stewed with paprika and onions. You then strain off the liquid and serve that with pasta. it’s a great date night dish.

American Recipes

Green Chile Chicken Soup

A recipe for Southwestern style green chile chicken soup, with roasted green Hatch chiles, white beans, greens and a rich broth.

British

British Game Pie

How to make hand-raised pies with game. This one is a huntsman’s pie, an English classic hand pie made with a hot water crust.

About Hank Shaw

Hey there. Welcome to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, the internet’s largest source of recipes and know-how for wild foods. I am a chef, author, and yes, hunter, angler, gardener, forager and cook. Follow me on Instagram and on Facebook.

Read More About Me

Pheasant Stew Recipe - How to Make Pheasant Stew (2024)

FAQs

What is the best way to prepare a pheasant? ›

Roasting the bird whole is probably the easiest and most popular way of cooking pheasant. It makes an excellent Sunday lunch with the usual sides, from braised red cabbage and roast parsnips to comforting boulangère potatoes.

Do you have to soak pheasant before cooking? ›

I personally like a little bit of the natural flavor, so I only soak for 12 hours before cooking. Leave as much of the skin on the meat as possible: Pheasants typically have very little fat on them, especially around the breast meat, so they can dry out quickly during cooking.

What are three methods of cooking pheasant? ›

Get your game on with our pheasant recipes. A dinner party favourite, this bird can be cooked in classic roasts, casseroles, pies or made into meatballs.

How to cook pheasant stew in slow cooker? ›

Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 2min, then gradually stir in the hot stock and the cider and bring to the boil, stirring frequently. Carefully pour the mixture over the pheasant pieces in the slow cooker, season well, then cover and cook on Low for 6-7hr until the pheasant is tender.

How do you cook pheasant so it isn't dry? ›

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.

What are two preparation techniques would you use to cook pheasant? ›

While pheasant meat is versatile, it has less fat than other meat, so care must be taken during the cooking process to ensure that the meat stays moist, otherwise it will dry out and overcook quickly. Pheasant can be prepared in many ways, but roasting and grilling are the most popular cooking methods.

Why do you soak pheasant in milk? ›

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.

Should pheasant juices run clear? ›

To test when the pheasants are cooked pierce the thigh with a fine skewer, the juices should run clear. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with game chips (or use good quality crisps), bread sauce and a gravy made with the onion flavoured juices.

How do you boil pheasant meat? ›

1) Start by slow boiling the pheasant legs in water for roughly 15 minutes / or slow cooking in a crock pot for an hour. 2) Remove the legs from the broth and let cool. 3) Reduce the remaining broth to simmer.

What pairs well with pheasant? ›

Ideal flavours for pheasant
  • Fruits: apples, red currants, prunes,
  • Herbs: bay, sage, thyme.
  • Spices: cumin, coriander, paprika, juniper.
  • Alcohol: cider, port, madeira.
Jan 7, 2016

Can pheasant be eaten 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.

What do you eat pheasant with? ›

For perfect pairings, think of other fruit and vegetables that are in season now, such as chestnut mash, sticky honey-roast parsnips, spiky apple chutneys or celeriac purée.

Do you need to brown stew before slow cooker? ›

While this step isn't essential, and you'll still get a perfectly good meal at the end, browning your meat and veg beforehand is a complete slow cooker game changer. Why? This simple step intensifies the flavour of a really amazing stew or casserole.

Is stew better in crockpot or stove? ›

Slow Cooker vs.

While high heat may cook the potatoes and meat quickly, only low, slow cooking can create the tender morsels of meat and flavorful broth that we seek. The stove (hob) will create a thicker broth/gravy for the stew because more liquid will escape during cooking in the form of steam.

Can you overcook stew in a slow cooker? ›

Can you overcook something in a slow cooker? Slow cookers are specially designed to cook food for long periods of time, but yes, you can still overcook in a slow cooker if something is left on the wrong setting for longer than it's supposed to be.

What do you soak pheasant in? ›

For wet brine, add sugar and salt to water. Stir until dissolved. Add peeled, smashed garlic cloves and smashed ginger, along with peppercorns. Completely submerge one pheasant in brine and soak overnight, approximately 12 to 14 hours.

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.

How long to soak pheasant in water? ›

Soak grouse, pheasant, quail, and partridge carcasses in cold water for one to two hours to remove excess blood.

Are pheasants good eating? ›

Light and Mild: Pheasant

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.

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Rueben Jacobs

Last Updated:

Views: 6190

Rating: 4.7 / 5 (57 voted)

Reviews: 88% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Rueben Jacobs

Birthday: 1999-03-14

Address: 951 Caterina Walk, Schambergerside, CA 67667-0896

Phone: +6881806848632

Job: Internal Education Planner

Hobby: Candle making, Cabaret, Poi, Gambling, Rock climbing, Wood carving, Computer programming

Introduction: My name is Rueben Jacobs, I am a cooperative, beautiful, kind, comfortable, glamorous, open, magnificent person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.