Culinary Question For Pheasant Pluckers:

by Englishman 29 Replies latest jw friends

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  Englishman

  So, how long would you hang a pheasant for before you thought that it was ready to eat?

  A day?

  3 days?

  A week or more?

  I tend to like a pheasant best when it's been hung for 3 or 4 days in a cool place. Then, it's nice and ready to be gutted and plucked. The insides do pong a bit when you make the first incision, but that nice gamey smell does add to the flavour of the meat. I know purists believe that a pheasant should be hung up my it's tail feathers, and it's only when the meat has rotted sufficiently for the bird to fall away from the feathers that it's ready to be gutted and roasted, but that seems a little extreme to me.

  Englishman.
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  OUTLAW

  Hey E-man,you guy`s sure do things differently than us..Plucked and gutted right after the kill,aged no more than 3 days in under 40 degree`s F...OUTLAW
• 

  Dansk

  Hey Engman,

  Have you forgotten you have to bleed the bird first before you can eat it!

  Didn't the Borg teach you anything!
• 

  Englishman

  O dear me no. This is how it should be done:http://www.womens-institute.co.uk/maga-pheasant.shtml

  I also remember from my shooting days how we used to use the gizzard from a Woodcock as a delicacy spread on buttered toast.

  Mmm!

  Englishman.
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  OUTLAW

  Hey E-man,pheasants can be hung up to 3weeks?.I doubt our restaraunts would be allowed to do that,the food inspectors would be down they`re throats.Although for private consumption you could do it.Thanks for the link...OUTLAW
• 

  Englishman

  Hey E-man,pheasants can be hung up to 3weeks?.I doubt our restaraunts would be allowed to do that

  Ah well, yes!

  The thing is, you mustn't disembowel the bird either, it has to be hung complete with it's head, tail and insides all in place and left for several days. Obviously, the bird does start to rot and smell, but that just adds to it's overall charm. Providing you disembowel the bird before cooking it - some cooks have passed out at the odour BTW - all the bugs and maggots die in the cooking process.

  Once cooked the taste of hung pheasant stays with one for many days.

  Englishman.
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  Satanus

  I'm sure that it's very nutricious. Along this same line, i once tried cooking some chicken. It had gone bad in the fridge. I got my inspiration from china town, where they leave dead animals hanging in shop windows for months on end. Anyway, it gave me indigestion, and as you say, the taste stayed w me for a few days. It wasn't that good, but then it had been missing the guts, blood and feathers.

  Maybe this is a throwback to an earlier evolutionary stage. Some animals, cats and bears, for example, leave their catches to ripen for a while.

  SS
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  teenyuck

  Yikes!!! Bugs?! Maggot?!

  I read the attached link....very informative.

  Reminding myself never eat pheasant when in England....
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  Princess

  Reminding myself never eat pheasant when in England....

  Oh my god. I'm bringing along a case of Clif bars. Forget eating their food. At least I know the beer is safe.
• 

  BluesBrother

  Yuk ! What are you trying to do? Make us all feel sick?

  Sorry, but it is enough to make me a confirmed vegetatarian (I think I have some Linda Mcartney sausages in the freezer)

  When we moved to this, more rural, area I went out on the ministry to a country village and approached a cottage and had to go around the back to find the door. I then almost walked in to a pair (or is it a brace?) of bloody pheasants hanging up. I rushed back and told the others, thinking I had stumbled on some kind of black magic ritual. The old sister condescendally explained to this townie that it was hanging to eat later

  Not for me thank you