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pheasant - what to use?

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JW_Halverson:

--- Quote from: Pat B on January 13, 2020, 08:27:03 am ---I can't help with the eating part. The only thing I know about that is hanging by their necks until the necks rot and the pheasant falls. Just not too appetizing to me.  You can use the tail and wing feathers for fletching. I believe the Chinese used the tail feathers for fletching. Any feathers over 4" can be used as fletching for tangential 3 and 4 feather fletching. Smaller colorful feathers can be used for decorations.

--- End quote ---

No need to hang it quite that long. But I prefer to leave them whole and in the back of the fridge for at least three days before plucking and roasting with the skin on. Pheasant dries out FAST when it cooks and roasting in the skin really helps it stay more moist.

Aging in the fridge a few days allows the meat to relax from rigor mortis, as well as age slightly to become more tender. It also doesn't hurt to brine the bird in a gallon zip lock with a quart of water and two tablespoons of salt for 4-6 hours. The salt works some voodoo magic on the proteins that cause them to retain moisture.

Hawkdancer:
Gut them first, I usually do that in the field, haven't had one for a while but they do need to age a bit in the fridge.  All sorts of uses for the feathers.  Pheasant under glass is very good, several good ways to cook the birds out there.
Hawkdancer

stuckinthemud:
Loved the link to the feather-backing how-to, thanks for that; if I were to go with skinning, how would I tan the skin?  Leaving the bird in the fridge is not an option, my other half is very squeamish - if it's not oven-ready, it doesn't go in the fridge.  I could hang them in the garage but suspect its not cold enough, current average day-time temp is 12C/53F, night time is about 8C/46F.

Russ:
give me a little bit. then i think i can give you an answer. my class is starting again :'(

Russ:
I dont know if you would want to tan the skin. It would just be hard too since the way i get to the breasts is to literally pull the skin apart and that takes almost no physical exertion. I dont know if it could stand up to being tanned. at least i wouldn't be able to do it.

as for hanging it, well I dont do it and it turns out fine! if your gonna take the meat off the carcass then brine it in the fridge for a couple hours to tenderize it and then just leave it in the fridge for a couple of days. it will look just like chicken breasts and legs, so no squemish there!

 I was always told that a wild pheasant cooked like a chicken or turkey isnt a good idea because it doesn't have a lot of meat on them. but they also told me that the legs arnt worth getting and i feel like the legs have a lot of meat. but from looking at your situation its probably best if you just take the breasts and legs out and cook those.

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