It's the time of year when the season has begun to offer us some of life's best ever culinary treats. Game, in my humble opinion, is what the land wants us to eat, and saving those earthier, fuller flavours for this colder turn in the weather seems simply perfect.
We started with the sadly over worked and over priced grouse shooting season in August, and now we hit the time of year when the pheasant has made it's way into our butchers. They'll keep going on through until February, but now is the moment before they truly toughen up for the winter, so when I talk about gentle roasting, don't leave it too much longer.
I'm passionate about drawing as much of my food supply from the land as possible, so if there's a hunter in the family keen on sharing his bag this season, hopefully here's a helping hand on preparation.
I'm applying the 80-20 rule on this one, 80% preparation, and 20% doing; this is key to most of my cooking, and no more so with game.
Even in it's prime, the bird can be very lean, and needs a lot of extra care during roasting. The extra care will surely result in a juicy, tasty treat. An average sized pheasant will serve two adults who haven't been hunting all day and are not ravenously hungry. If you've been out on the hills foraging, a whole bird all to yourself is allowed here; otherwise, sharing is caring.
What will be important is to cook at high temperature, so get your oven on good and hot well in advance. Start with a room temperature bird - make sure it's not too fridge cold. While the oven is preheating, lightly rinse and dry the bird. Season the cavity with salt, pepper and something aromatic of your choosing. Bruised rosemary sprigs, grated lemon zest, crushed juniper berries are all perfect partners. A few slices of onion inside the cavity also work nicely. Remember not to pack the cavity over tightly; you're using these elements to help flavour the bird, not to act as stuffing.
Rub the outside of the bird with either butter or olive oil and bard the breast and legs. Barding is covering the breast and legs of the pheasant with bacon to keep the meat from drying out. If this is all too much like hard work, a good butcher may just offer this service for you. Place strips of bacon across the breast and legs, trimming as necessary to keep them neat, then secure with toothpicks. Do make sure this is done, though; there's nothing chewier and drier than an exposed pheasant breast, with the exception of my Uncle Jack's sense of humour, that is.
Place the pheasant in a roasting pan on its side and put it straight into your oven at 450°F/230°C for 6 minutes, then turn the bird onto the other side for a further 6 minutes. Searing the bird like this at a high temperature helps lock in the moisture. Now decrease the oven temperature to 325°F/160°C and breast side up cook for a final 8 minutes. The ideal scenario is to achieve an internal temperature of 155°F/70°C, but if you pierce the joint between the thigh and drumstick and the juice comes out anything other than bloody, you're all good.
Remove the bird from the oven and cover the roasting pan with foil for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. This is crucial to allow the flesh to recover from the trauma of the oven heat and to keep juices from running out when the pheasant is carved.
When ready to serve, remove the foil, carve the bird, and serve. Check your meal very carefully for bird shot pellets. It's one of the things you need to be aware of when eating wild game. The meat may have tiny bloody holes where the bird shot entered.
Simple side dishes complement pheasant the best: roasted potatoes, and a peppery salad maybe with watercress, along with the saved pan juices would be more than enough . Pair with a lightly acidic white or light red wine that won't overpower the bird and you've made a simple, elegant meal.
Once this is mastered, here are a couple of pheasant-like recipes worth looking at.
Recipes
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