Northwest Recipes, Pheasant au gratin

This week is Great British Game Week and here in the Northwest of England we are very lucky to have a great choice of local and seasonal produce to pick from including Game such as Pheasant.

The latest addition to my Northwest Recipes Series is one for Pheasant and sticks with the Seasonal and Local theme that all my recipes contain and, as always, includes suggested wine and music pairings. (Cooking Times, Temperatures and Measurements are Approximate.)

Pheasant shooting season

Pheasant Season is from the First of October to the First of February and during this time many local restaurants will feature Pheasant on their seasonal specials menu, this means it can be a bit expensive to buy earlier on in the season.

A rule of thumb is that the price of Pheasant goes down as the season progresses and it can be surprisingly cheap to buy compared to supermarket poultry, a Pheasant will be anything from £6 a bird upwards and can be bought frozen out of season, currently local butchers Andertons in Longridge are selling them at £9 and crafted meats in Preston sell them at £6.90.

It’s a lean meat but, depending on whether the birds have been wheat-fed or not, the birds can have a lot of yellow fat on them, also they can’t really be classed as organic, like Grouse and other game, as they will eat cattle and sheep feed if they come across it.

The ingredients of game bird feed can also include all sorts of things like fish-meal for example, otherwise they are wild birds and not pumped full of the hormones and chemicals that farmed poultry can be, so a lot healthier to eat.

The Recipe

This recipe is for 2 people and should take about 2 hours to prepare and cook, a recommended wine to go with this Pheasant dish is Syrah, or Shiraz, Dvino in Preston sell a Chateau neuf du pape, which is a classic Syrah wine but a little expensive, or Gran reserva Rioja which is another classic, mature red but cheaper.

Recommended music to put on when making this dish could include Songs of Green Pheasant by Sheffield artist Donald Sumpner or maybe Save the bones by Ray Charles.

You’ll need to get these out of the cupboards;

1 Large pan, big enough for the Pheasant
2 Frying pans
A deep pie dish
A Sieve
Grease proof paper
Foil

Ingredients;

1 Pheasant
1 diced Onion
1 diced Carrot
2 rashers of bacon
Breadcrumbs
Grated Gruyere or Cheddar cheese
100g of butter
40g of plain flour
100ml of double cream
4 sticks of Celery
A sprig of Thyme
4 peppercorns
2 Bay leaves
4 Crushed Juniper berries
1 tablespoon of chopped Parsley
1 tablespoon of chopped Thyme
Dry Sherry

Making the Stock

The first thing to do is make the stock, this is done by placing the whole pheasant in a large saucepan and covering with water. Then add the bay leaves, carrot, celery, juniper berries, peppercorns and thyme.

Bring this to the boil and then turn down to slowly simmer for about 30 minutes, a tip for preventing the top of the Pheasant from burning is to place a little hat, called a ‘cartouche’, of grease proof paper on the top. You can check if the pheasant is done by looking at looking at the inside of the leg.

When it is cooked through turn off the heat and leave it in the stock for 10 minutes, then take out the Pheasant and wrap in foil.

Reduce the Stock

Next put the pan that you poached the Pheasant in back on the hob and boil until it thickens, this is called ‘reducing’, before it gets too thick strain out the thyme, juniper, peppercorns and other bits,add the Sherry and reduce a bit further.

Then using a frying pan melt the butter and add the flour and mix to a paste. After a few minutes, start pouring in the stock, constantly stirring, until it becomes a thick sauce, to this add the chopped herbs and cream.

Preheat the Oven

Now is a good time to switch the oven on to about 180c to preheat it, and the next step means greasy hands so it’s a good time to pour yourself a glass of wine or even a Sherry.

The Pheasant will be cool enough to handle by now so take it and carefully strip off the flesh, you can do this by shredding it lengthways between two forks, then add to it the sauce and simmer at a low heat.

The Topping

Now to make the topping. First melt some butter in a frying pan, then add the breadcrumbs and stir until they are toasty and golden. You can use kitchen roll to soak up any excess butter, then add grated cheese to whatever level of cheesiness you prefer. Next place the pie dish in the oven to warm up and grill the bacon until it is crispy but not burnt and then crumble this into the breadcrumbs.

Assemble the Dish

Finally you can assemble the dish and place it in the oven to cook. For this you need the pie dish, in this you first place the Pheasant and then pour in the sauce, on the top of this you place the breadcrumbs, cover with a tin foil lid and cook in the oven for about 15 minutes. You can warm up plates now and pour a couple of glasses of wine too.

I served this dish with Hasselback potatoes but New potatoes will work just as well, and seasonal vegetables cooked ‘al dente’, meaning crunchy, I hope you enjoy it!

A B-H