Wild Pheasant And Dumplings Recipe 385

TENDER PHEASANTS

Steps:

• Place the pheasants into a large slow cooker. Wrap and drape the bacon over the birds, covering the pheasants as much as you can. Whisk the condensed soup, sour cream, water, chopped onion, onion soup mix, and mushrooms together in a mixing bowl. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Pour over the pheasants.
• Cook on Low for 8 to 10 hours, or on High for 5 to 7 hours.

PHEASANT STEW WITH CHESTNUT DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Cut the legs off the pheasants and chop in half at the knee.
• Cut off the breasts and wings in one piece, then chop in half. You'll have 16 pheasant pieces in total. Reserve the carcass.
• In a bowl, mix the flour with a few pinches of sea salt and black pepper, and toss in the pheasant pieces to coat. Leave for a while so the flour sticks to the skin.
• Peel and chop the onions and carrots, then trim and chop the celery, reserving the peelings. Peel and halve the garlic.
• To make pheasant stock, chop the carcasses in half and put them in a saucepan with a third of the veg and garlic, and all the peelings.
• Add water to cover, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 1 hour, skimming off any floating bits.
• Pass through a fine sieve, discarding the vegetables and peelings, then reserve.
• Melt the butter in a large sauté pan over a medium heat. Cut the bacon into lardons, then add to the pan with the floured pheasant pieces.
• Brown slowly on all sides, adding more butter as required.
• Add the remaining vegetables, garlic and bay leaves, and cook until soft and fragrant.
• Pour over the madeira and top up with stock to just cover the meat. Simmer gently for 45 minutes, adding stock if the liquid reduces.
• Preheat the oven to 180ºC/gas 4.
• To make the chestnut dumplings, mix the ingredients in a bowl, crumbling in the chestnuts.
• Mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs, then add a pinch of salt and pepper, and just enough cold water to bind everything.
• Dust your hands with flour and roll into about 25 Brussels sprout-sized balls.
• Pour the stew into an ovenproof pot. Drop in the dumplings, poking them under the surface of the stew.
• Cover tightly with a lid or tin foil and bake for 30 minutes, or until the dumplings are fluffy and have soaked up the liquid. Serve with braised red cabbage.

PHEASANT AND DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Start with the broth. Toss all the broth ingredients into a large stockpot, cover with at least 2 quarts of water (you can save any extra broth for later) and bring to a strong simmer, about 200 degrees if you're checking. Drop the heat to below a simmer -- look for lots of steaming, and just a couple bubbles on the surface -- and let everything cook 20 minutes. Fish out the pheasant and remove the breast meat. Set it aside in the refrigerator and return the rest of the pheasant to the pot. Cook for as long as it takes for the meat to want to fall off the leg bones, from 45 minutes for a pen-raised bird to 2 1/2 hours for an old rooster.
• When the pheasant is done, gently remove it from the broth and let it cool enough to handle. Pick off all the meat from the bones, being sure to remove all those nasty tendons in the pheasant's legs. Put the meat in the bowl with the breast meat. Take the breast meat and shred it, then return everything to the bowl.
• Strain the broth. Using a spider skimmer or slotted spoon, remove as many big pieces of vegetable as you can from the broth. Put a fine-meshed strainer that has a paper towel set inside it over a large bowl or pot. Pour the stock through this. You might need to change paper towels halfway through if it gets too gunked up. Pour the broth into a pot and set it on low heat.
• To make the stew, heat the butter in a large pot or Dutch oven set over medium-high heat. Saute the carrot, celery and parsnip for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. You don't want the veggies to brown. Add the flour and stir to combine. Everything in the pot will seize up, but that's OK. Drop the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring often, until the flour turns the color of coffee-with-cream. Add the vermouth and stir well, then start adding the broth 1 cup at a time, stirring constantly, until it looks silky. It should take 6-8 cups.
• Add the pheasant meat and bring this to a simmer. Cook gently until the veggies are soft, about 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, make the dumpling dough. Mix all the dry ingredients together, then add the melted butter and milk. Stir just to combine -- do not overwork the dough.
• Drop the dough by the teaspoonful into the simmering stew. When all the dough is in, cover the pot and cook over low heat for 15 minutes. It is very important that the stew not boil during this time, or your dumplings will get tough.
• After 15 minutes are up, uncover the pot and add the peas and parsley, stir gently to combine. Let this cook 1-2 minutes, then turn off the heat. Add salt and black pepper to taste, then the heavy cream. Serve at once.

PHEASANT MULLIGAN WITH DUMPLINGS

Steps:

• Clean pheasants, cut into serving portions and cover with water in stockpot.
• Add carrots, onions, and cabbage; cook slowly until nearly tender.
• Add potatoes and butter; season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Cook until meat and vegetables are tender.
• Make dumplings; sift flour baking powder and salt together.
• Beat egg, add milk and stir into dry ingredients.
• Drop by spoonfuls into the hot stew and cover the pot tightly.
• Cook for 15 minutes without lifting the cover.

ROAST WILD PHEASANT

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• Lightly salt the inside of the bird and rub in with your hand.
• Fill the cavity loosely with your favorite Herbed Suffing.
• Truss the legs and place breast side up on a rack in a roasting pan.
• Place Bacon slices over the breast side by side.
• Roast for approximately 1 1/2 hours, or until tender.
• Check after 75 minutes of cooking.