Whole Roasted Scottish Pheasant

 

Roast pheasant breast and leg portions with salad and potatoes

Whenever I am personally cleaning pheasants which have been shot and thereafter hung for several days to develop gamey flavour, I prefer to simply cut out the breast fillets and subsequently cut off the legs. This is not just because it is much quicker to clean a pheasant this way than to pluck it, I genuinely do believe that the meat tastes better in both instances when the different parts of the bird are cooked separately and by different methods. The pheasant roasted in this recipe, however, was actually given to me oven ready and I decided it would only be right that I roast it whole - and this is where I initially hit an unexpected problem.

Preparing whole pheasant for roasting

Although I have been cooking regularly since early childhood and cooking game almost as long as that, this was actually to be the first time I had ever roasted a whole pheasant. As mentioned previously, I always cook the breasts and legs separately. Thinking therefore that it would be a simple matter to perform an Internet search to determine cooking times, I input the necessary details to the Big G and couldn't believe what I found. No two recipe instructions bore any similarity to one another. Incredibly, suggested cooking times in the top ranking entries ranged from 25 minutes to 2 hours - and many of those instructions were from what I consider to be reputable sources! I have often found this to be a problem when searching online for recipes so what I decided to do was treat the pheasant as I would a chicken. I weighed it and determined that the cooking time would be 20 minutes per pound (450g) and an extra 20 minutes over. I am delighted to say this method worked pretty much to perfection. 

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min, plus minimum 30 min resting time

Cook time: 20 min per pound (450g) and 20 min over

Ready in: 1 hour 30 min (approximately)

Yields: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 whole cleaned pheasant, skin on
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 whole lemon, cut into thin wedges
• 1/4 white onion, cut into thin wedges
• 3/4 white onion, sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• 6 to 8 smoked streaky bacon strips (standard bacon, US)
• Boiled potatoes to serve
• 4 tablespoons pickled red cabbage to serve
• Simple salad to serve

Oven ready pheasant

Method

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F.

Weigh the pheasant and calculate the cooking time accordingly (20 minutes per pound/450g and 20 extra minutes).  Season the pheasant cavity with salt, pepper and dried thyme. Stuff with the lemon and onion wedges but be careful not to overstuff. Do not force in any more than can comfortably be accommodated or you risk adversely affecting the even cooking of the bird.

I decided to use a large ashet to cook this pheasant as it was the perfect size but you can use a suitable roasting dish. Scatter the sliced onions over the base of the dish and sit the stuffed pheasant on top, breasts up. Cover the breasts and thighs of the bird with slices of streaky bacon. When the oven is heated, sit the dish into it for the allotted cooking time.

Cooked pheasant is removed from oven

Take the cooked bird from the oven and use a metal skewer to pierce the thickest part of the thigh. Check that the juices run clear. Any sign of blood, cook for 5 further minutes and test again. When you are happy, turn it carefully over that the breasts are now underneath, cover with foil and rest for 30 minutes minimum. Turning it helps the juices congregate in the fleshiest parts of the bird. The free time can be used to boil the potatoes and prepare the salad.

Bacon is stripped away from rested pheasant

Uncover the rested pheasant and lift it to a chopping board. I find a carving fork inserted into the cavity and a large spatula to lift from underneath are the best tools for performing this task. The bacon strips should easily peel away from the bird. They can be served with the pheasant on the plates, discarded - or eaten immediately as cook's perks!

Carving the whole breasts from the pheasant

You can of course carve the pheasant any way you wish. In this instance, I began by removing the whole legs, then carefully slicing each breast fillet whole from the main body of the bird. I served one breast fillet and one whole leg on each plate.

Carved pheasant portions and bacon

When you have carved the pheasant, your potatoes may still require draining. They can then be returned to the empty pot before butter and some dried dill is added. Swirl the pot gently to evenly coat the potatoes in the herb butter.

Plated potatoes, salad and red cabbage

The salad I served is simply a combination of shredded lettuce leaves, tomato and cucumber wedges, all seasoned with salt and pepper before being tossed together. I arranged the salad on half of each serving plate with the potatoes and the red cabbage side by side on the other half. The pheasant portions were laid on top of the red cabbage last of all.