Pot roast pheasant (gypsy style) recipe for Christmas Eve
Comments(88)
A Cottage Smallholder Christmas tradition is pot roast pheasant on Christmas Eve. Partly because it’s in season and is a treat but mainly because it’s bunged in the oven for a good hour an a half whilst I get on with another task such as helping Father Christmas with packing the stockings for the household. F.C. usually stops for a sherry early evening to swap recipes, although it’s awkward manoeuvring the sleigh in the back since we fenced the kitchen garden and shortened the runway (Heathrow take note).
Cooking game can be tricky. A lot of recipes assume that you know the sex and the age of the bird. This is hard to discern unless you have been presented with the bird complete with feathers. If you buy it from a supermarket, go for the smaller bird. This should be a hen or a young cock if you are lucky. These can be roasted open in the oven for 30-40 minutes and should be delicious. More often than not you will be cooking a cock over a year old. Open roasting these will have you chewing into the next decade. I cook most game assuming that I have been given a wise old bird. This works well.
This recipe came about in a desperate effort to tempt Danny back from the edge.
I was very proud of my original recipe until we were planning a supper party and Danny said the fatal words,
“I just can’t face pheasant again.”
This was a year when we were given a lot of game. We now know that we had hung the birds for too long. It was far too rich and “gamey” and we had overdosed.
Our new recipe is adapted from two Normandy pheasant recipes, with a smattering of Romany gypsy tips. They are the kings when it comes to slow cooked wildlife, after all.
I was determined to create a dish so delicious that D would not be able to resist, so I worked on this recipe a bit more, tweaking it and cooking the pheasant for a bit longer. The bread at the bottom turns into a heavenly mush that’s almost as good as the bird. The cooking method ensures that the bird is tender and scrumptious.
D is now a convert. Nowadays he opens an eye and suggests a pheasant pot roast for supper before I have jotted down his breakfast order.
Pot roast pheasant (gypsy style) for two
Ingredients:
- 1 hen pheasant (if you only have an old cock it’s worth marinating the bird in olive oil, lemon juice and white wine overnight)
- 2 slices of white doughy bread to line the base of the casserole (crusts removed)
- 1 bramley cooking apple or two eating apples and half a lemon
- 6 slices of streaky bacon
- 1 large glass of white wine (150ml)
- 3-4 of sprigs of thyme (9-12 separate twigs)
- 1 slug of brandy
- Parsley to garnish
Method:
Pre heat oven to 160c (140c fan)
Ideally you have an oval casserole and aluminium foil
- Layer the base of the casserole with the slices of bread.
- If using a cooking apple: Quarter the apple and remove the core (no need to peel the apple). Put half the apple, quartered again into the cavity of the pheasant. Chop the remaining half and scatter over the bread.
If using eating apples: Chop one apple and press it into the cavity. Chop the other apple and scatter over the bread base. - Chop three of the streaky bacon slices and scatter over the bread.
- If using eating apples: squeeze the lemon juice over the pheasant and rub in. Halve the squeezed lemon and place in the cavity of the bird.
- remove the woody bits from the thyme and scatter the leaves and soft stems onto the layer of bread. Place the three remaining slices of bacon over the breast of the bird and carefully place it breast down on the layer of bread.
- Pour the glass of wine over the bird.
- Put a piece of foil under the casserole lid to make a tight seal. Place in the centre of the preheated oven for 1.5 hours. Check to see how tender the bird is, using a fork. Bake for a further 15-20 minutes if necessary until very tender.
- Adjust the oven temperature 180c (160c fan) and turn the bird over, breast up. Return the casserole (without lid) to the oven to brown the bird for ten minutes.
- When it’s cooked splash on a glug of cooking brandy and replace the lid.
- Allow to stand in a warm place whilst you prepare your vegetables: mini roast potatoes, carrots and peas are ideal.
- Remove the pheasant to a warm place and stir your sauce well before serving.
Serve the bread, bacon and apple sauce on each plate with the pheasant, sprinkled with torn parsley leaves. We also serve the apple from inside the bird as an instant apple sauce.
Tips and tricks:
- we now hang game for two-three days max. If it is clearly a geriatric bird we marinate the bird overnight before cooking. Juice of one lemon, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and one tablespoon of white wine. Put the bird and ingredients into a plastic bag. Squeeze out the air and pop into the fridge. No need to turn the bird in the marinade as all flesh marinades with this method.
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hello i am about to try your recipe but with a un hung bird as im not keen on gamey flavors. just wondering why exatly do you hang them is it just to sofen? or flavour. thanks for your lovely website it now bookmarked. ruth
Hi Ruth,
Hanging pheasant tenderises the bird and enhances the flavour. This recipe would be the one to go for if you are not going to hang the bird as the slow cooking will tenderise the meat. You could try marinating the pheasant in olive oil and lemon overnight if it’s an old bird.
I am so pleased that you enjoyed your visit to our site. Thanks for leaving a comment.
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Tried your recipe for pheasant and bread, bacon and apple sauce. Given the season I added a few chestnuts to the tray for the last 10 minutes or so and the result was fantastic. Your recipe is great, real heary stuff. I’ve cooked it both ways now and like them both the same. The chestnuts give it a sweet nutty flavour and adds some texture to the sauce. The thing is that a good recipe should inspire you to use the best of what you have at that time of year and your recipe is certinally inspirational. Thanks a lot.
Dave
Hi Dave,
The chestnut addition sound great! Spot on – a recipe is just a possible route. Fresh ingredients to dish. It’s good when someone enhances our recipes and tells us about the additions. Thanks so much for bothering to report back with a such brilliant twist!
If you get a pheasant from the butchers (ie not supermarket), is he likely to know if it’s a cock, & whether its an old one? If not, how can you tell?
Hi Colin,
You can’t tell whether the pheasant is an old one. What you can do is always select the smallest bird. If they are plucked this is likely to be a hen (more tender meat) or a young cock.
Tried this over the weekend and was highly impressed. I cooked two birds as I had visitors and just doubled up on the ingredients. Everyone was extremely flattering about the end result and the recipe has been passed on. Thank you.
Just had this recipe for Christmas dinner – absolutely delicious – thank you very much!
A wonderful recipe.
)
Stumbled upon this recipe a couple of month’s back.
Since then had it for a dinner party of 6 who absolutely adored it.
And having it again with the inlaws tonight
Trying this for Boxing Day. In Canada! As my bird is not likely to have been hung – and had its neck wrung rather than being shot – fingers crossed on the flavour.
Hi Trisha
I’m still catching up with answering my Christmas comments and found yours had slipped through the net from November. Apologies.
I’m so pleased that you liked the recipe. Thanks for dropping by!
Hi Owen,
We ate this on Christmas Eve. We love it too. Glad it turned out well for you.
Hi Adrian,
I have not coked this for more than 3 people – must give it a go for a bigger party. Hope that the inlaws enjoyed it.
Hi Gail,
I be interested in hearing how it turned out – flavourwise, without being hung. This sounds like a farmed bird too. As far as I know I have only eaten pheasant that has been living wild.
I have two skinless pheasant crown’s shot on Saturday, will this recipe work or should I go for cooking in a casserole
Hi Dee,
This recipe would be perfect for your pheasant crowns as the pheasant is cooked in an enclosed casserole dish.
Hi, and thanks for sharing this cracking recipe. I made this last night for three of us with crispy roast potatoes and it went down a treat. The sauce that is made was really tasty.
I shot the bird the day before and hung him for 24 hours.
Thanks again.
Hi Mick
Thanks for dropping by and leaving a comment.
Great that the recipe worked for you. This is my favourite pheasant recipe and 99% of the time works really well. I love the sauce too. But the best bit of all is that it is so easy to make!
I have just been given a cock and hen which were shot on Wednesday and have been lying in the boot of a car since!
Would it be okay to cook them both together and just double the quantities?
Hello Elizabeth
It would be fine to cook the brace together. They might need cooking time though, another 30-40 minutes. You will know when you test them after an hour and a half.
hi there just been given a couple of pheasent from a friend any ideas on how to pluck and gut them cheers mark glasgow
Hi Mark
We have a post on how to pluck pheasant here. http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=157
Pluck at room temperature if at all possible – it’s much easier.
whats the diff between a slug and aglug
Danny says they are similar. A slug goes into the dish a glug straight down the throat!
Came accross your recipe and am going to try it tomorrow night but with the chestnuts as well as I still have some in the freezer!
We were given 2 cock and 1 hen pheasants in full plumage a week ago and only today have skinned and drawn them (me wearing rubber gloves I must admit!)as this seemed a lot easier than plucking them all.
Found instructions for this on riverside cottage site and the whole process took just under a half hour for all three (with a plastic bag handy to catch debris)and hardly any feathers flying around either!! Hardest thing was getting the tendons out of the legs and finding the shot (most of which I missed I think).
Shall invite neighbours to share our bounty and will report their comments as to how the recipe goes. Fingers crossed.
We shall probably do a ‘glug’ and a ’slug’ during the evening as well. A bit of brandy allways helps in any cooking and in the ‘hwyl’ as the welsh say.
Hi Catrin
I’d love to hear how this recipe turned out for you! Well done preparing the birds yourself. The first time is always the worst time.
Next time why not try plucking the birds? Easy instructions for plucking game are here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=157
Hope you don’t mind some slightly negative feedback?
My fist time cooking pheasant, bought this afternoon from our farmers market. We had a hen and a cock – i think. I didn’t have quite the right ingredients – only brown bread, eating apples and no brandy:(.
I had to cook them in an open dish – but i covered them with foil and then 2 layers of foil which went round the dish – in the hope of creating a sealed casserole dish. I cooked them at 140 in a fan oven and tested them at 1.5 hours. The juices ran clear – so as a novice i assumed ‘cooked’ i put them back in the oven to brown for about 15 mins. They looked and smelt gorgeous.
Now the ‘but’. I had the small hen bird, it was quite tender but still chewy. My husband had the larger bird which was even chewier. His meat had in places a very bitter/sour aftertaste. We swapped halfway though as mine didn’t have the same flavour.
My question as a novice. Should they have been cooked for longer to make them less chewy? with normal birds the longer you cook the dryer and tougher. Secondly what was the bitterness, it was very unpleasant?
The sauce as you say was superb. No faults at all with the recipe, very easy.
what did i do wrong?
BTW really love the website. after my forst browse it is now on ‘my favorites’
Gill
Hi Gill
All feedback is useful!
If you buy pheasant (from a farmer’s market or anywhere you are taking a bit of a chance as it’s hard to see how old the birds are, know how long that they have been hung for etc). It’s best to marinade these birds in lemon juice and olive oil for a day before cooking to tenderise them, just in case.
We’re lucky we are given a lot of game and we hang, pluck and draw them ourselves. We can tell how old the birds are (years and days since being shot) and work around this. The cocks will be tougher than the hens but they do have more flavour.
Cooking apples are essential for the recipe unless you add lemon juice to your eating apples or have marinated the birds in lemon juice and olive oil. The acidity tenderises the flesh.
I doesn’t matter about the brandy.
You really need a casserole dish with high sides. The sides hold the heat and enclose the bird. Foil over a casserole dish would work, on a shallow dish you could have problems as the heat isn’t as even. Aim for enclosed, even slow cooking.
At 1.5 hours you need to test whether they are tender. Even if this means tasting some thigh meat. At low cooking temperatures the meat should become more tender the longer that it is cooked (as long as it is in an enclosed environment with loads of moisture it should not dry out). Tender game is the same consistency as tender chicken. No one wants chewy pheasant!
I’d never cook a cock and a hen together unless I had hung them myself. The cock will take longer to cook then the hen. Ours is a recipe for one bird. Putting two birds in means you have to adjust the cooking time. 1 kilo of beef cooks more quickly than 3 kilos of beef. You probably needed another hour or so, testing every 20 minutes. The dish will happily keep warm for an hour or so, so it’s worth starting it a bit earlier than you think to give it the best possible chance. If you haven’t cooked game before it can seem overwhelming.
The bitter taste – we have never come across this so I can’t answer your question. Perhaps someone out there has the answer.
I do hope that this helps.
So pleased that you are enjoying the site.
I always add some liquid to the pan if I pot roast pheasant. If it is an older bird then I woudl almost immerse it in liquid (such as good stock or wine.)
I have made a great dish with diced onion, carrot and celery, sweated off before being added to the pheasant You really should hot roast it for 10 minutes first) with bramley apple, white wine, thyme and bay, cooked on low overnight it was absolutely beautiful, rustic delight. Even though it was a dodgy old bird in the beak and claw, the meat came out flaky, sweet and tender.
Hi Natasha
Slow cooing is really the answer! Thanks so much for sharing your method, much appreciated.
I have never cooked pheasant overnight. Now I think that I’ll give it a go in the slow cooker.
Thanks for the info. I can see where i went wrong. THe dish sides were about 4cms so the birds were sitting proud of the sides. I remember now that when i tatsed some of the apple from the inside it had a very bitter flavour so perhaps there was something from inside the carcass which tainted the meat.
Not daunted i will try again.
Thansk i see where i have gone wrong!
Not daunted will try again
Hi Gill
I always wash out the cavity before cooking any game.
I am about to cook to your Pot roast pheasant(gypsy style).
I would like to do it very slow over 8 hours at night. What oven temperature would you recommend?
I was thinkiung of 30 minutes at 180 then 7 and a half hours at 120.Your suggestions would be appreciated and the result fed back.
Regards
Don Seaman
Hi Don
I’d cook it as low as possible say 100c (after half an hour or so in the warmer oven). Check it after an hour and adjust up if neccesary.
I’d love to hear how you get on!
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I have been given 3 pheasants which have all been skinned and halved. I would like to use your Christmas Eve recipe with bread, apples, etc. Do you think it would work? I do want the meat to be tender.
Hi Yvonne
With game you can never guarantee that it will be tender unless you have seen the dead birds. They could be three old cocks.
My recipe will give you the best possible chance of them being tender but I’d marinade them in white wine and a little lemon juice and olive oil for a few hours (overnight would be perfect). If you put them into a plastic beg with the marinade it guarantees that all flesh will marinade simultaneously without having to turn the birds. If they are old birds they may need it bit longer in the pot.
I’d love to hear how it turns out!
we have never tried cooking pheasant before – only ate with friends yet. So we are going to eat our first own cooked one today. This recipe sounds really nice and could learn a lot from all the comments. We will come back..:)
Hi Eileen
Hope that your pheasant dish works out well for you. We have quite a few pheasant recipes on the site!
Am planning to roast pheasant using your recipe – could you please advise what is ‘doughy bread’ and / or recommend a brand
Many thanks
Gill White
Hi Gill
Doughy bread means an unsliced farmhouse white loaf rather than a sandwich loaf or Mother’s Pride!
Hope that the recipe turns out well for you.
What a superb site!
This pheasant recipe is stuff to die for – thank you very much.
As an amateur hobby-cook (the worst kind?) I was intrigued by this recipe. Pheasant has always been either too gamey or too bloand for our tastes, This time it was an outstanding success – the apples are a touch of genius.
A very sincere ‘thank you’
Bob Craske
Hi Bob
It’s great that you liked our recipe. This is one of my favourite pheasant dishes. The next in line is Pheasant and Venison casserole à la Beastley http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=626 which is surprisingly good!
Thanks for taking the time to leave feedback. Much appreciated.
Ooops!
Just hit a cock with the car near Beulah(mid Wales).Had to wring its neck as it was seriously injured.Your recipe looks great,just the job,Tell you the result later.(Waste not want not.)
Ian
Hi Ian
I don’t know what it is with pheasant they seem to have a death wish. Loads on the roads around here, dead and alive!
Love to hear how you get on with the recipe!
Hello Gill,
I’ve never cooked a pheasant before, but I’m going to give this a bash … I’ll let you know how it turns out. I had a partridge the other day and that was simply roasted no frills, be interesting to see if all the gubbins adds anything to the bird
Hi Ken
It’s a shame that you haven’t cooked pheasant before as you’d know that the problem with roast pheasant is that they can be very dry.
Best of luck with my recipe. It has only let me down once. The pheasant was so tough it must have known The Romans! The other pheasant recipe that we are hooked on is http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=626 definitely worth a whirl!
This sounds lovely – I’m planning a small dinner party for my boyfriend’s birthday and am keen to try your recipe, but am struggling to get my hands on a couple of pheasants. Would this recipe work if I substituted the pheasant for guinea fowl?
Jo
Hi Jo
I’m not sure about guinea fowl but we have cooked two poussin using this method and they worked really well. The recipe is here with the adapted timings etc http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=348
This would be a perfect dinner party dish probably better than pheasant at this time of year as game lovers are still often suffering from a surfeit of pheasant!
Have been looking for a good recipe for a while and this seems a good simple one. I got some phaesants last Christmas and have been waiting ot have some friends round to cook them but have never been able to organise it until now. My questions will the phaesants be still ok to eat? They have been in the freezer since Christmas. And also for 4 people should I use the pair of birds as I realise cooking the two together for a ‘virgin phaesant cooker’ may not turn out too well?
Jonathan
One tip if you get your pheasant from a butcher and want to check the likely “toughness”of the bird is to press gently, then more firmly on the breast bone, if it feels flexible and pliable it is likely to be a young bird, if it is an older bird the breastbone will be more unyielding.
Got a brace of pheasants from our “game butcher” today, hung for a week in a cold outhouse – going to do a sort of post roast to them tonight – I will use apples and I think maybe cider and thyme (in the fridge and garden respectively). I’ll let you know how it goes.
Good old game season!
Hi Jonathan
I’m sorry that I missed your comment. Year old pheasant are fine to eat – the flavour will not be quite as intense. Allow half a pheasant per person unless you are going to pad it out a bit.
Hello Natasha
Your recipe sounds delicious. I’d love to hear how it turns out!
yesterday i skinned and gutted a cock&hen that i was given freshly shot i only hung them for 2 days i must admit i was a bit stumped on how to cook the birds as the last time i tried i did not do a very good job so i searched the net and found your recipe sounds nice so im gonna cook the missis gypsy style pot roast tonight, fingers crossed and ill let you know how i get on
well what can i say your recipe is spot on and my results were delicious everything went as planned and the missis was very impressed as so was i, overall a very rewarding experience turning two freshly shot birds(skinning&gutting)into a very tasty meal, i skin the birds for speed and to check the condition of the meat the female was hit hard so i just remove any damaged flesh i also remove the tendons in the legs by cutting lightly around the knee joint after first freeing the joint by bending gradually to obtain full movement then use clean pliers grasp the bone below knee and with other hand grasp the thigh and pull apart this can be difficult but you should pull out the lower leg tendons and all i got this tip from a youtube site (how to skin a pheasant)presented by shooting times a very informative video these were my first birds i skinned and its so much quicker and cleaner than plucking,getting a new air rifle after xmas so looking forward to the shooting seasons, next rabbit/woodpidgeon thanks phil.
Hi Phil
Delighted that everything worked out OK!
Hi. Just popped back to your site to check thing out as been so informative b4 re chickens and hedgerow recipes and youve given me tomorrows dinner idea as i have a 3 day old brace of pheasant to prep and fancied trying something new. Pot roast pheasant it is! Ps our kitchen is being taken over with jars and bottles, Sloe vodka,apple & onion chutney ,jams, jellies and most recent rosehip syrup. Growing and making our own is getting seriously addictive!!
You had better believe it, Nicola! Making your own is hugely addictive and great fun.
Fiona had a huge range of home made liquors maturing slowly on a shelf in our barn until the terrible collapse:
http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=756
We rescued some but many “great vintages” were lost forever.
Hope you live to enjoy every one of yours
Hi there
We’ve tried this recipe tonight as we were given some pheasants to try (one already frozen so it’s in the freezer, one fresh which we used!)
We’re both pheasant virgins and it was fab! Thanks a lot
Hi Rachel
Thank you so much for leaving a comment.
So pleased that you enjoyed your pheasant!
Hi.Found your recipe for pot roast pheasant it is in the oven as i send this message really looking forward to tea tonite.Will let you know how it goes.Regards Ernie.
Hi Ernie
Hope that it worked for you!
Prepared the pot roasted pheasant a couple of nights ago and I have to say that the result was fantastic….even converted my wife to pheasant.
Im keen to try this for xmas eve, is it possible to make it the night before and leave in the fridge overnight and reheat the next night? Im also making it for 5 adults was intending to use 2 hen birds which will have been hung for 3 days. do the cooking times need to change
thanks
Hi David
No I don’t think that you can pre cook this dish. You can keep it warm for ages but I wouldn’t try pre cooking it.
We do have a brilliant pheasant dish that reheats well and is sometimes better than this dish. If you don’t have access to venison, pigeon breasts or any other game would work well. Take a peek here http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=626
All the rest of our pheasant dishes would reheat well. The pheasant with grapes is a favourite too. Very delicate and surprisingly good http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=195
Hi
I tried this recipe last night. I was very impressed. This is the first time I have tried cooking pheasant. I picked one up from the local farmers market at the weekend. I think I will be doing this again. I look forward to reading your other recipes and putting them into practice.
Cheers
Lewis
Hi Fiona –
like you, we have our Christmas family traditions – & my parents have almost always enjoyed a brace of roast pheasant, on Boxing Day. There was a departure from this for a few short years when they’d visit my sister in Stoneleigh Village to watch the traditional Mummers & then join everyone for a magnificent feast of baked salmon which she cooked; but after Melissa tgically & unexpectedly died a couple of years ago, Mum & Dad now spend Christmas here with us.
Luckily, Tony’s home for Christmas & New Year, this year: although we can already accurately predict that in 2009 it’s likely there will sadly be an empty seat at the festive table.
So in Melissa’s much-missed absence, we’ve revived the original tradition of our brace of pheasants for Boxing Day lunch. This year, for something a little special & a little different (& a little easier for me, having spent the entire day yesterday slaving over a hot stove interspersed with the early & late chores as ever, plus the inevitable mountain of washing up -as I do the whole darn lot) I’m following your Normandy Gypsy’s Pot Roast Pheasant recipe….& tomorrow I’m taking your advice again & will be cooking a delicious goosey-game pie as a delightful alternative to the usual tired alternatives. So, thank you for spicing up our Christmas menu – I’ll let you know how we get on…!
But thank goodness, we have a capacious walk-in Cold Store as well as several massive freezers; they’re all groaning with the wonderful goodies Mum & Dad have supplied for the ultimate Christmas feast.
Incidentally we’ll be in Cambridgeshire on 30th/31st December – would you like me to drop you off some of our lovely gelato as a ‘thank you’, if we get a chance….? Send me an email if you’re going to be around & fancy something tasty for your New Year’s Eve dessert, it’d be our pleasure & great to meet you as well.
Best wishes – Jo, Tony & Ffarm Fach menagerie.
Hi Jo
Thanks so much for dropping by.
How sad that your sister died. It must make Christmas an especially sad time.
I do hope that the pheasant dish worked out well for you.
We’d love to meet you when you are in Cambridgeshire, if you have a slot! Cambridgshire is a massive county and you may be miles away. I’ll email you in the next day or so!
Hello
Just wanted to add my thanks for this beautiful recipe. My partner adores pheasant, but I have never been keen… Until now.
I found the recipe last week, so we had a pheasant for Sunday dinner. Guess what we’re having again today? I’m already booked to cook it for my folks too.
Thanks – you’ve made me a pheasant convert!
Hello Caroline
Thanks for taking the time to drop by and leave this comment.
I think that this is a good recipe for people who don’t want a really gamey in your face sort of pheasant dish. I can eat it all through the season and never tire of it.
Also the pheasant doesn’t seem to dry out even if you have skinned rather than plucked it.
This is the first time I have cooked pheasant. I stuck strictly to the recipe and the result was fantastic. The meat was tender and the sauce was absolutely delicious.
If I wanted to do this for a dinner party (say 6 people) how would you double (or even treble) the recipe since you do not recommend cooking more than one bird in the pot? Would you cook the dish the day before?
Thanks for a really excellent recipe.
Hello Pippa
You can cook more than one pheasant at a time. You just need a bigger casserole dish. My mum gave us a whopper last year, that can hold three pheasant. Try and locate one/borrow one as this will do the trick for your dinner party.
If you have a starter and a pud I reckon that you could get away with two pheasant.
I’d never cook this dish the day before. I might cook it and keep it warm for an hour. It’s a very kind recipe.
[...] creates a further, pleasingly tart accompaniment. Fiona’s excellent recipe can be found at http://www.cottagesmallholder.com/?p=167. It’s worth bearing in mind that recipes which involve powerful flavours are better suited [...]
trawling through pheasant recipes, and found your lovely site! will try the gypsy recipe at the weekend but my lazy husband now only takes the breast off and throws the rest, so will let you know how “supreme of pheasant” works in this dish
regards
Jane
sorry for not getting back to you sooner. the gypsy style pheasant was brill.we will be having another tomorrow.best regards ernie.
never had pheasant before and after trying this recipe i have to say its now one of my favorite dishes. looking forward to having again in the future
Hi, i was looking for a pheasant risotto recipe and stumbled to your site, having been shooting and eating game birds for forty years new recipes are hard to find, but this is new to me and looks brilliant well done. The reason for a bird being bitter is if the gall bladder has been ruptured, so it is always worth making sure the cavity is well cleaned, and wiped out with a little vinegar or as you say lemon juice, then season inside with salt.
What a truly amazing site. Stumbled into it via Google whilst researching for my new book. Now permanently bookmarked. Mebbe I should quit while I’m behind…
Hugh fearnly who????
Hi there,
Just found your recipe and am keen to try it, but I have a couple of questions:
I’ve got a v small phesant from the butchers which apparently just arrived. Should I hang it and how do I do that (I’ve never hung any game before ! Indian cuisine is my norm !)?
I don’t agree with white wine. May I use either red wine or cider (or even guinness) ?
Great website… Thanks, Suman
Soz, I meant my stomach and head do not agree with white wine
Suman
Hello Suman
Your butcher will only sell hung meat. So no need for that.
The white wine ingredient is not set on stone!
The alternatives are cider or red wine. With cider being my top choice – due to the apples (a good organic cider too). Beer I suspect is a no no but I’ve never tried it so it could be spectacular.
I’d love to hear how you get on, please
Hi,
Just to say we absolutely loved this recipe! I was struck by how little ingredients are used and the amount of flavour that is created. Thank you! Will definitely do this again. We ended up using three pheasants and bulked it up a bit and it worked just fine.
John
I used this recipe as the basis for my Christmas dinner using my slow cooker.
I had a young hen, no older than 6 months and hung for 1 week. It came pre stuffed with haggis and wrapped in streaky, so I omitted the apple and skipped the brandy at the end. I was a bit worried about the bread, but the result was a lovely bread sauce.
Thanks for sharing this recipe, without it I’d have been clueless about cooking my pheasant for Christmas dinner.
I made this for supper tonight having been given a brace of pheasant by a neighbour. Having never cooked game in any shape or form before I was a bit anxious, but I am pleased to report that it was a great success.We didn’t have any white wine in, so I used red, and I missed the brandy out as I didn’t want it to be too rich for the kids. My 6 and 4 year old sons both cleared their plates though, so I needn’t have worried!
Thanks for the great website – I’m sure I’ll be back looking for more ideas in the future.
Thank you for the recipe for this delicious meal. I made the little roasted potatoes on the side and threw in some chunks of carrots with the apples. We live just across from the Union Square farmers market in NYC. A farmer there sells all kinds of game he brings down from upstate. I’ve looked and passed by his booth for years and, as a New Years resolution to try new things, brought home a pheasant! This recipe is so wonderful, so easy, so amazingly full of flavor… thank you again, Kim
… Oh, and I really loved that appley bread gravy
Can I just say this is the most wonderful reciepe for pheasant. I was meaning to leave a post of indebtitude a few months ago after the last triumph ( I’m cooking it at the mo). I put a few extras in including the walnuts, excellent suggestion, for a 7 or 8 hour slow cook. Plus a slug of sherry. More streaky bacon really flavours the whole thing up a notch. Plus lots of carrots and celery when combined with the apples gives off enough water that none be need added (apart from the wine). I make up a gravy with old frozen Sunday roast gravy with the juices. This is by far the best way to cook these birds and we delight in finding them on the roads, because we can eat this treat. Roastpotatoes, and it makes it’s own bread and apple sauce! Thank you, many appreciations!
Hello
So what to try this dish my mouth is watering!
I have been given a pheasent its been kindly undressed wrapped up. it has been in the fridge for a week, (as I am silly and can’t clean and gut things mself) unfortunately not in any sort of marinade, with it been 7 days would it still be ok to make this dish ?
Or have I left it too long?
Many thanks
Emma
Hi Emma
Use your nose. It will smell rank if it’s too old to eat!
I grew up with pheasant as a regular for dinner but haven’t had it for years, I really loved the gamey taste as a kid. I wanted something to tempt my mother’s appetite so got a pheasant from the local market. Your recipe is so easy and the sauce is fantastic. I had to cook it for an hour longer than your recipe and I substituted rosemary for the thyme (cos that’s what I had in the garden) We had the breast cold with my plum chutney, brilliant. Pheasant isn’t as gamey as I remember though. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Pam
Thanks for leaving a comment!
The number of days that the pheasant is hung increases the gameyness. If you had to cook it for a further hour I reckon that it was an older bird that hadn’t been hung for quite long enough.
I love this recipe too.
OK, I know it’s not pheasant season, but I’ve had the beast, which I know is a hen (bought from my usual source – Bury market) in the freezer since November and it was a cold grey morning…
This is a sort of variation on my usual Breton style with cream and apples and none the worse for that. Who mentioned calories? So it’s about to come out of the oven and it smells great; I’ve used cider and, rather than pouring in brandy, I’m going to flambe with Calvados.
Thanks for what promises to be a rather good meal. Starter – guacomole; strawberries in orange juice and brandy for afters and some rather nice Brie de Meaux alng the way. Claret? Rioja? Decsions, decisions