A Few of My Favorite Pheasant Recipe’s
In Angelo’s words
In my 45+ years of experience in the field, I have not only taken my fare share of game – but also accumulated tons of recipes, experience and advice. I love to listen to hunting stories and like to think most of them to be true. Of course there’s always that one that got away.
I especially remember one time when I was hunting pheasant with some friends. We didn’t have a dog at the time and we were walking through a field trying to flush some birds we saw land in this particular field. We would get close and they would run but not flush. Not being able to see the colors in the brush, we couldn’t shoot them on the ground (1) because you couldn’t verify the sex, and (2) because it was considered un-sportsmen like. My buddy Joe was about 15 feet to my right when I heard him shout obscenities of frustration at the top of his lungs – summing it up with “What the hell is the matter with these things? Don’t they know they are supposed to fly?”
The point is pheasant you take from the field, are not farm raised and extremely physical and active. They are a favorite food source of many predators including man. Un-like their farm raised cousins that are served in fine restaurants around the world, their flesh is going to be on the tougher side. This must be considered when preparing the meat for the table. Needless to say they are not candidates for the elaborate gourmet “Pheasant under Glass” dish served in five star restaurants worldwide.
There are however, many recipe’s available and easily available on the internet as well as libraries. I find that like myself, people who hunt Pheasant also hunt Grouse (Partridge), Dove and Woodcock (where allowed), I haven’t hunted Woodcock or Dove (which are migratory game birds) for awhile so I don’t know the rule for taking them anymore. When I was hunting them, you had to have a duck or migratory bird stamp to hunt them, and even then they were out of bounds most seasons. Be sure to check your State’s hunting syllabus. Hunting violations can be costly, and ignorance of the law is no defense.
The birds mentioned above are all similar in nature and any pheasant recipe can be used interchangeably for any of the birds listed. Water fowl is not included in this group. We’ll cover the preparation of water fowl for the table at another time.
Recipe 1
Cooking Info
1 pheasant will generally serve 2 to 3 people
The largest rooster I ever took was a few ounces short of 3 lbs. but I’ve heard stories of some birds as large as 5 lbs., but then they are stories. As far as I know for sure roosters go somewhere between 2 ½ to 3 lbs. and hens a little smaller at 2 to 2 ½ lbs. Think of them as about the size of an average fryer. The size of the bird and serving size will determine the number of side dishes and the recipe to use for best results. Unfortunately game birds are not like super market poultry where if you need more you can just add another from the freezer. You need to learn to work with what you have. Like wise:
2 Grouse (partridge) will generally serve 2 people
2 Woodcock or Dove will serve 1 person
When dressing your take for the day, it’s a good idea to open the crop and see what your game has been feeding on. This will give you a good idea of what the flesh will taste like. I have found hazel nuts in pheasant crops and wild grapes in partridge crops, and the flesh was tainted likewise. I have also taken deer from pines where the meat from the animal tasted like it was marinated in turpentine.
Method
General cooking instructions
Some of these recipe’s call for wine, if using wine in a recipe I like to use a good high quality wine. Any good chef will tell you if you wouldn’t drink it don’t use it in a recipe where you would like to sit down and enjoy with family and friends. The cooking wine you buy off the super-market shelf next to the vinegar is of poor quality. A wine that didn’t make the grade for table use at the winery and is labeled for cooking. To add to the insult they add salt to it. You are better off to by-pass the cooking wine and grab the vinegar and cook with that.
When cooking with wine, the advice I got was to use a dry wine. Dry wines are higher in alcohol as the sugar content has been mostly converted to alcohol in the fermentation process leaving a full body flavor. You needn’t worry about the alcohol in your recipe as the alcohol is burned off (completely evaporated), leaving the full flavor to enhance and bring out the flavor of the spices and herbs used in your recipe. If you are not familiar with cooking wines, I have listed some of the leading wines used in cooking:
The Dry white wines are:
Sauvignon Blanc – known for its herbaceous quality as a wine, in a dish highlighting herbs used in the recipe
Chardonnay - The Chardonnay grape is thought to have originated in Lebanon, and in France Chardonnay became the only grape allowed to be grown in Chablis, Burgundy. These white Burgundy wines were well enjoyed, and the grape is also used in sparkling wines and Champagne.
Chenin Blanc - Arguably the most versatile of all wine grape varieties. Crisp, dry table wines, light sparkling wines, long-lived, unctuous, nectar-like dessert wines, and even brandy are all produced in various areas of the wine world, all of chenin blanc.
Riesling - is a variety which is highly “ terroir-expressive”, meaning that the character of Riesling wines is clearly influenced by the wine’s place of origin.
Some of the leading red wines are:
Zinfandel – Made into both red and white wines the red is known to reduce cholesterol. A dry wine high in alcohol adding exuberance to any recipe
Cabernet Sauvignon - The green bell flavor of this wine is not considered a wine fault but it may not be desirable to all consumers’ tastes, however when used in recipe’s using vegetables it’s a great wine.
Bordeaux – There are four different classes of Bordeaux which all come from the Bordeaux region of France. Each has a distinct flavor and will change the flavor of a recipe. If you intend to use a Bordeaux in a recipe, it’s best to ask Liquor Store and tell the clerk the flavor you ate looking for.
Pinot Noir - well-suited to pair with poultry, ham, lamb and pork. Its flavors are reminiscent of sweet red berries, plums, tomatoes, cherries and at times a notable earthy or wood-like flavor, depending on specific growing conditions.
Grignolino - Is a purple grape variety commonly grown in the Piedmont region of Italy. It makes light red wine and roses with very fruity aroma and strong acid and tannins.
Côtes du Rhône - Are the basic AOC wines of the Rhône region, and exist as red, white and rosé wines, generally dominated by Grenache (reds and rosés) or Grenache Blanc (whites).
All of the recipe’s I present in this article can also be used with domestic fowl such as Chicken, Cornish game hens and even Turkey if you wish. The flavor will be lighter in taste but similar. Also for obvious reasons will be more tender in nature and you will have to adjust for cooking times. Wild game is generally cooked for longer periods cooking thourougly and should never be served rare. Always cut into the flesh and make sure the juices flow clear with no signs of blood.
Recipe 2
A Great Pheasant Recipe
Ingredients
Method
Instructions
The Crock-pot method is preferred. The long slow cooking enhances the tenderness and flavors better. This dish goes well served with wild rice or white rice. The flavor is a rich delicious flavor I’m sure you will enjoy.. Serves 6
Recipe 3
Pheasant under Glass
Ingredients
Method
Instructions
Recipe 4
Pheasant Cacciatore
Recipe 5
Roast Pheasant
Ingredients
Method
Instructions
Recipe 6
Breast of Pheasant with Grapes and Pine Nuts
Angelo said this came from the internet: “here are a few good ones obtained from the internet. The same identical recipes are listed on dozens of sites, so I don’t know who to give the credit to.”
And here are a few good ones obtained from the internet. The same identical recipes are listed on dozens of sites, so I don’t know who to give the credit to. The point is game recipes are as readily available as the common recipes on numerous fine sites.
Ingredients
Method
Instructions
Recipe 7
Pheasant Normandy
Angelo said this came from the internet: “here are a few good ones obtained from the internet. The same identical recipes are listed on dozens of sites, so I don’t know who to give the credit to.”
Ingredients
Method
Recipe 8
Pheasant Normandy 2
Angelo said this came from the internet: “here are a few good ones obtained from the internet. The same identical recipes are listed on dozens of sites, so I don’t know who to give the credit to.”
Ingredients
Method
Family notes
None yet. Notes from the family will appear here, signed and dated, and kept apart from Angelo’s words.
From the archive
Restored · 2009 capture- Originally published
- , on angelobiondo.com by Angelo Biondo (post No. 77)
- Filed under
- Wild Game Recipes
- Restored from
- Internet Archive capture of — view the original page
- Also captured
- Transcription
Angelo’s words are unchanged, spelling included.
- Transcribed from the April 2009 front page, which shows the post in full. The posting time isn’t shown there. The captures are from before the site’s dashes were typeset, so some hyphens stand where later copies of other posts show dashes.
- The byline “By: Ang Biondo” is not repeated.
- “Cooking Info” and “General cooking instructions” are shown as a preparation card: Angelo’s serving guide above, his four cooking times as steps, and his notes on wine below. The words are unchanged.
- The Pheasant Normandy method was one paragraph; it is split into steps at sentence boundaries. No words were changed.
- The degree sign was typed as a superscript “o” (350o); shown as “°”.
- Open questions
Left exactly as published, for the family to confirm.
- Three recipes (Breast of Pheasant with Grapes and Pine Nuts, and both Pheasant Normandy recipes) are ones Angelo says he found on the internet. They are kept as he published them; the family may prefer to hide them.
- Some wine descriptions (for example Chenin Blanc, “Arguably the most versatile of all wine grape varieties…”) read as if quoted from a reference source, but the post gives no source.
- Breast of Pheasant with Grapes and Pine Nuts lists 4 Shallots, but the method adds “the onions”.
- Pheasant Normandy 2 ends at “Bring to boiling point but do not allow to boil.”, with no serving or finishing step.
- Pheasant under Glass finishes with a strained sauce of brandy, wine, cream and meat glaze, with “the remaining lemon juice, butter and cayenne” added, and Angelo says every recipe here “can also be used with domestic fowl such as Chicken”. It is noted in docs/RECIPE-RECOVERY.md as a possible lemon sauce, not confirmed.