THE FIELD FROM THE ARCHIVES
The care and cooking of a pheasant. Taken from The Field, 19 October 1935
Ihave heard many men say they never want to see a pheasant again after shooting it, and this probably is due to eating roast pheasant early in October before it is properly hung and when even the youngest bird is very tasteless. Pheasants are undoubtedly at their best early in November, by which time they are plumper and have the gamey flavour which can only be acquired by hanging.
A pheasant should hang from four days to a month, according to the game larder and the weather, and though all good sportsmen like shooting high birds, they do not all like eating them. There is a good, old-fashioned idea that when the tail feathers pull out easily, the bird is ready for cooking. “You can hang it by the tail and eat it when it falls,” I have often heard said. Then you can promise yourself that the gamey flavour is there and has not fallen out in the cooking.
When giving away pheasants, cocks are often far more acceptable than hens, but as far as I am concerned I should be overjoyed to receive hen birds, as they are infinitely more succulent. I imagine it is the gorgeous plumage of a cock pheasant which makes him more expensive to buy, and in consequence people imagine he is better to eat.
It is essential to understand how game should be plucked and dressed at home. Every feather and stump of feather must be removed and the bird singed with a taper or piece of lighted white paper; never use newspaper, as the ink throws off a peculiar flavour which can taint your bird. Cut off the head, slip the skin back from the neck and cut the neck off close to the body; the flap of skin which remains is to fold over the back. Now remove the windpipe and the crop, a little bag of skin lying close to the neck. Put your first finger down the neck and loosen all the inside; you will feel some ligaments, but they break away easily.
Now turn the bird round and cut the skin across the tail-end, again insert your finger and loosen from this side. You then take hold of the gizzard and everything draws out quite easily. Remove the lungs and any soft fat, and cut away the oil bag found at the back. Look carefully inside to see it is all perfectly clear of internal organs and wipe inside and out with a damp cloth. Inside the gizzard you will find a bag of stones which must be pulled out, and take the gallbladder from the liver. Put the neck, liver and gizzard on one side and use them for stock.
Next place the pheasant on a board and cut through the skin 2in below the leg joint; crack the bone by bending the leg at this cut, pull out the tendons and the claws, which come together if you twist them. Turn the bird on its breast, pull down the flap of skin left on the back and cross the ends of the wings over this; turn over again and push the rump through the slit in the skin. Do not push the legs forward towards the wings as in the old type of trussing. Have your trussing needle threaded with fine twine and sew through the right wing and the top of the leg, push it right through the body and catch the leg and wing on the other side; turn over again and sew the points of the wings to the skin of the neck, tying the ends of the twine together, and leaving several inches at both ends. Bring down these ends and tie round the rump, press the legs down and tie them. Your pheasant is now ready for roasting, boiling or one of those many more modern dishes where the bird is cooked in a casserole.
Ayoung bird should always be chosen for roasting. Cover the breast with a slice of really fat home-cured bacon and roast in an oven, basting frequently with butter for about half to three-quarters of an hour. Remove the remains of the bacon and all traces of the trussing twine. The pheasant can now be cut up into neat pieces, a wing from each side, pieces off the breast, and the legs each in two pieces. It can be sent whole into the dining room and carved as required. Potato chips or straws, and braised celery or chestnuts, make the best accompanying vegetables. Claret or Burgundy are considered as the best wines to drink with roast pheasant.
For pheasant cooked in a casserole, the following recipe is useful. Stuff a pheasant with about half a pound of sausage meat well flavoured with sage, place in a fireproof casserole with small carrots, onions, some rolled slices of bacon and a little stock. Cook slowly for half an hour on a small fire, then add a little more stock and keep it cooking for two hours. Cook some mushrooms in butter. Remove the pheasant from the casserole and crush all the vegetables through a sieve, put the bird back in the casserole, add the gravy obtained from the vegetables, put in the mushrooms and let the whole lot simmer for half an hour longer.
Pheasant croquettes make an easily packed dish for a picnic lunch and can be served either hot or cold. Chop up half a pound of cold cooked pheasant with a little ham or tongue, and add about half a pint of white cream sauce, two or three chopped mushrooms, and a pinch of mace or nutmeg. Enclose in a covering of thin pastry similar in shape to a sausage roll, brush over with egg, dip in crushed vermicelli and fry in hot fat.
There is no greater compliment when you entertain friends, than to remember what dish they are fond of. Those who shoot a great deal get tired of eating a pheasant unless it is cooked in a way that is varied and out of the common.