NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/902203
NOVEMBER 2017 • NEBRASKAland 37 the heart and liver, now remove them. Pull the gallbladder, the clear, greenish-red sac attached to the liver, as it contains foul-tasting bile. To extract and clean the gizzard, cut the esophagus and small intestine where they attach to it. Then from the gizzard's side, make a cut halfway through the organ (see top right photo). Pull open the gizzard and shake out the gravel and ground food from its interior. Next, using your fingers, pull off the gizzard's leathery inner lining (see bottom right photo). Once the organs are pulled, finish gutting the bird, making sure to scrape out the kidneys tucked under the backbone and the lungs lodged against the ribs. Lastly, with a hose or in the sink, thoroughly wash the bird inside and out – including the organs – removing all blood and feathers. A cleaned pheasant can be left whole for baking or slow cooking or cut into pieces. I butcher pheasants into six pieces: breast fillets, wings, and legs (drumstick and thigh intact). I start by holding the bird's backbone with one hand, and while grasping the thigh with my other hand, pull upwards dislodging the thigh bone from the hip socket. To remove the leg, I cut closely along the back and through the broken hip joint making sure to get all the meat in the bone pockets along the back. Next, I cut off the wings at the lower joint and then fillet off the breasts by running the blade tightly down along the breast bone and then along the ribs. I stockpile the pheasant carcass (breast bone, ribs, back and neck) in the freezer until I have enough to make soup stock. Cooking Pheasant Legs and Wings In the kitchen, pheasant hunters, traditionalists by nature, often resort to standard recipes, such as slow-cooked pheasant with cream of mushroom soup or pheasant breasts floured and fried to a golden brown. These recipes are not bad, but if you stretched your culinary boundaries, perhaps did a little online research for imaginative recipes, you can treat your family and friends to delicious meals made from all parts of the bird. A pheasant's white-meated, mild-flavored breasts are a chef's delight. Basically, they can be used in any recipe that calls for chicken breasts. Two of my favorites are pheasant parmesan and tarragon pheasant in cream sauce. A word of caution, though: pheasant meat contains less fat than chicken, and when overcooked, even the breasts can become dry and a bit tough. The bony and tougher legs (all dark meat) and wings of a pheasant provide more of a culinary challenge, as they must be tenderized during cooking. Therefore, I often use them in separate dishes from the breasts. One way to utilize the legs and wings is to bake an entire pheasant. To add moisture to the meat prior to baking, my wife, Grace, uses a large injecting syringe to inject the skinned bird with a mixture of melted butter and beer. First, to infuse flavors, she simmers a stick of butter, along with rosemary and crushed garlic, at a very low heat for about a half hour, then strains out the pieces of garlic and rosemary. She then adds a can or bottle of beer to the butter and brings the mixture to a brief low boil before injecting all parts of the bird. The bird's exterior is rubbed with olive oil, rosemary and crushed garlic, and then placed in a covered roaster or pan and baked at 375 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes and basted twice. She then removes the cover and bakes the bird another 15 minutes at 325 degrees to brown its exterior before serving. The beer adds a unique flavor to the meat – perhaps it is the hops – and any kind, from the cheapest light beer to the finest home brew, works for this recipe. Another recipe that came down through my wife's family calls for skillet browning pheasant legs and wings, as well as the breasts if you wish, followed by slow baking. First, make several cuts into the thighs and drumsticks. This allows hot liquid to enter the meat during baking, increasing tenderness. Also, if using breast fillets, pound them with a meat tenderizer. Then lightly flour and season the pieces Once the gizzard is extracted from the pheasant, make a cut halfway through it to clean out its contents. Next, remove the gizzard's leathery inner lining.