What would you do with Pheasant breasts??

[Frank Deis]

This past weekend we visited my brother-in-law and his wife in Maryland. Larry is a hunter, and had gone on an expensive hunting trip to South Dakota for pheasant. He didn't get any of his own birds but they provided birds for all the hunters, and he wanted to see what I could do with it. What I had turned out to be 2 double breasts and 4 long thin legs. They hadn't included the carcass or wings, not much point really.

I followed the recipe in the URL below. Having cooked my way through Julia Child's "Mastering" books, I recognized it as similar to "suprèmes de volaille au blanc" which I made many times. Chicken breast with a mushroom cream sauce. Heavenly. What is different -- 1) the pheasant breasts are cleaned to "suprèmes" i.e. just meat no bone, but they are breaded with flour, egg, and buttermilk, which was nice. 2) the sauce instead of 1/4 cup of broth and 1/4 cup of wine has THREE CUPS of broth, and this really screwed things up for me because the breasts were ready and I was reducing, reducing, reducing, reducing for the better part of an HOUR. If you try this use Julia's proportions.

http://www.netplaces.com/wild-game/upla ... adeira.htm

Something that was a real success, from the same website, was a cranberry and golden raisin relish suggested as a side dish. I kept waiting for the last cranberries to pop, which never happened, so I kind of overcooked it, but the Grand Marnier, yum yum yum!!!

http://www.netplaces.com/wild-game/sauc ... relish.htm

We also found a mix of wild and brown rice which made a tasty and substantial starch dish. I made the pheasant legs into a really nice clear broth to cook the rice with. The flavor of the broth really COULD have been chicken, they are quite close, and the breasts had no "gamey" liver flavor like pigeon breast does.

SO -- I wonder what you guys would do with pheasant breast? I have been given 4 more packages, i.e. 4 double breasts meaning 8 singles.

My mother, in response to compliments for her cooking, would often say "Well, it isn't Pheasant Under Glass!" so naturally I am a little fascinated by Pheasant Under Glass, which in fact is not THAT different from what I did with the breasts in Maryland. The creamy sauce includes cognac, and the glass keeps the cognac aroma contained until the dish is revealed.

Also, as a sometime Persian cook, I like the sound of Pheasant Fessenjan, and that might be a great use for the legs...

Have you cooked pheasant? What did you do with it?

[Chris Blum]

They have zero fat so imagine a leaner chicken breast. You need to cook it fast and hot or alternativeley substitute some fat (bacon) or use a sauce to add moisture. What technique sounds best?

[Mel Hill]

Mostly, try and not over-cook it! What you have done sounds great. Most of the pheasant I've had involved some fruit and the leg meat done In a confit style .

[Chris Blum]

PM mark mason. He's probably cooked more pheasant than I have

[Frank Deis]

Mel, I am thinking of the fruit as a side dish.

Pheasant under glass has a somewhat similar sauce to the mushroom cream sauce that I made on Saturday -- but you want to PUNCH up the fragrance so 1) Cognac 2) truffles if they can be found 3) maybe reconstituted dried morels and 4) a cover which will release all the odors at once when lifted. A dish to be served "sous cloche."

Not drying out the breasts is really tough, these are WILD birds and the breasts are thin. Farmed birds are a little different. My B.I.L. said the reason he didn't get a bird -- they go up a few feet in front of you, you shoot, they drop to the ground -- you go to the spot, nobody home. These tough birds RUN AWAY after being shot out of the air. The dogs help but they aren't perfect...

[Paul Bacino]

Bacon..

[Chris Blum]

On a guided trip to the land of many roosters, with trained dogs, it just seems really strange. Was it raining the whole time, cuz otherwise missing broken wing birds should be the exception especially with trained dogs?

I think my favorite is pan fried pheasant nuggets, maybe because the mushroom cream sauce brings back memories of ubiquitous cream of mushroom soup wild game recipes.

[Frank Deis]

I don't think my B.I.L. explained in much detail. It's possible that he didn't even hit a bird. He said that when you shot and the bird dropped, you would throw your hat at the spot where the bird went down, and that was the starting point for the dog to search. I imagine most of the shot birds were retrieved.

I think that French chefs have been making mushroom cream sauces since before Campbell's started putting soup in cans. But I take your point about the similarity of flavors.

[Bob Wood]

Motorboat.

[Chris Blum]

I've also done a good "Pheasant taco" with sweet/spicy asian thing going on... Basically stir fry in a tortilla. The quick stir fry works well with the lack of fat in the meat.

[Eric LeVine]

Motorboat.

He said Pheasant and not peasant.

[Corey N.]

Motorboat.

Bob Wood is awesome in ways that I'm not even sure that he understands.

[Bob Wood]

Motorboat.

He said Pheasant and not peasant.

Oh. Damn.

[Truett W e l c h (Online)]

Bacon..

Can't spell Bacino without it.

[C h r i s B e r n s e n]

i know I might get trashed for this unconventional take, but I am not a good timer of foods and pheasant breasts have almost always been ruined by me...too dry. Until, that is, I flattned them, generously mainaded them in a brightish balsamico-based thing I can't remember and grilled them verys quickly at a high temp, and they were divine.