Yooohoooo are you there Ed-blackadder

[captainbovine]

Ed, you said you got a lot of pheasant can you help me here?

we've got two pheasant, cleaned and ready for action. What's the best way to roast them please? one had a lot of blood gone into the leg flesh, will that still be OK to eat?

I got a nice gift of 4 of them, so I put two in the freezer.

I fankyou.

[ed_blackadder_1]

Hiya, that was lucky I've just come in,  OH being lazy always breasts the pheasant out and takes off the legs seperately, we usually either casserole the breasts or wrap them in bacon to keep them moist, they don't need very long.  The legs I boil up for the dogs as there are a lot of tendons in the legs and they can be a bit tough.  To roast a whole one depending on the size I usually follow the 20 minute rule, 20 minutes per pound plus twenty minutes so they don't take long at all, it is usually around 50 to 60 minutes, that's for 2 birds, also I put some water in the bottom of the pan and stand the pheasant on a wire tray that way the steam helps to keep them moist, they are better if you wrap them in bacon as well over the breast bit as they can get very dry as you need to cook it a bit longer for the legs.  Take the bacon off just before the end of cooking time to crisp up the skin.  As I said OH usually skins and feathers them at the same time to save him plucking them as it takes so long when he has got 8 of them to do.

I find the best way for us is to chop the breasts put in a slow cooker with a red wine sauce and let them slow cook, yummy.

I personally wouldn't bother with the leg that had the blood in as it doesn't look very nice, but I am sure there is nothing wrong with it.

Enjoy

[captainbovine]

OK thanks Ed I'll just take the breasts off and do them tomorrow, would the four breasts in a roasting tin, all wraped in bacon and a nob of butter roast for about 1/2 hr?

I'll boil the legs up for the doggie across the road, I don't think he gets many treats bless him, I assume it's about 20 to 30 mins simmering for them and cut the meat off the bone?

thanks again....I've never cooked a pheasant.

[ed_blackadder_1]

Yes that should be fine for the breasts and the legs,  the doggie will love them, ours do,

[cookiecookuk]

do not forget to spit the lead pellets out

[dark_castle1]

Anyone half decent with a shotgun will do as I used to do and drop them with a head shot. No pellets to spit out then.

Oh and we did not have beaters ! we walked the fields.

[captainbovine]

one of them has skin on it like a lace curtain...blimey I better watch the breasts on that one!!!!!

[rose2008-2008]

Looooool ohhhhhhhhh LOL,,,,,,,,, BREASTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. Im in a silly one this morning.

[chickengrandma-2008]

A chap came and shot one of the alpacas yesterday, that was through the head.  I wonder what alpaca tastes like???  Not that we would eat it, it's buried in the woods now.  

[ilove2patch]

I should imagine it's a bit like goat. Was it poorly?

[chickengrandma-2008]

I've never eaten a goat either.  We've never eaten anything we've kept except a goose and a turkey, but they were destined from the egg!!  

Yes it was poorly Maggie, something to do with a slipped disc and it couldn't get up.  It was on injections for a few days but the vet said better to get it shot.

[ilove2patch]

Poor thing. Best to put it out of it's pain though. 

[captainbovine]

aaww poor alpaca...sorry CG

[dark_castle1]

Well I would have found out what it tasted like for sure ! It would have been off to the slaughter house and butchered and part in the oven.

[ilove2patch]

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@rescued_corgi wrote:

Well I would have found out what it tasted like for sure ! It would have been off to the slaughter house and butchered and part in the oven.

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A bit hard to do that with an animal you have raised as a pet.

[dark_castle1]

Well that is your belief but mine is an alpaca is fair game for the oven whether it had been a pet or not !

[chickengrandma-2008]

Have you got a dog or a cat corgi???   Can you let us know what it tastes like when it pops it's clogs? 

It was the black one.

[merc1_clocks]

 Poor alpaca CG...he looks handsome

[ilove2patch]

They are lovely animals aren't they. Quite serene looking.

[dark_castle1]

Well CG as I was in the navy and spent quite a bit overseas both cats and dogs taste quite nice !

As I have never tasted Alpaca I would have had to find out .