Sunny Rhyl Sea Fishing Diary

Pheasant For Tea!!! - 28/11/2006

We have had a kind donation of a Cock and a Hen Pheasant. Shot at the weekend and hung for the last 4 days, it is now up to me to get them prepared.

Preparing a bird to me, usually means removing the little bag of giblets from an oven ready chicken. With feathers and innards intact, this should be fun :)

Who do I turn to in this hour of need???

Hugh of course! Mr Fearnley-Whittingstall to be precise!

With the kitchen bible at the ready, it will be an interesting experiance to pluck, draw and clean these wonderful birds.

The plan is to joint them and casserole with some nice fresh veg from the local farm shop.

I will keep you posted................................... 

Update - 29/11/2006

Never, ever, ever, ever again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am still gagging as I write this now!. The stench of decaying innards will be with me for many a year I'm sure.

I was looking forward to prepping these birds. So after doing the research, I felt confident that I had half an idea of what to do.

As I planned to casserole the meat, I decided that I would skin the 2 pheasants rather than plucking them. I was going to remove the skin anyway.

I started by removing the head and neck. I used scissors to cut the next about 1cm from the main body. The instant I cut through, the smell hit me. 

Totally fowl !!!! Pun intended!!!!!!!!

Upon removing the neck, I pulled back the skin to reveal the birds crop. This is part of the digestive system and contains the contents of the birds last meal.

It was pretty easy to peel back the skin. The feet and wing tips were cut off and the skin was removed with little effort. By now, the smell was really getting strong. 

This next step was the one I had been dreading. Drawing the bird. 

A small incission was made in the birds underbelly. 

2 fingers were carefully inserted, and the guts were carefully drawn from the carcuss.

By this stage, I was close to throwing up. The stink had gone from vile, to putrid! I would say that this is the worst smell I have ever encountered. Thr thought of eating this disgusting smelling 'thing' was now the furthest thing from my mind. 

The hen was next. The process was repeated, albeit a bit quicker this time.

The smell didn't seem tp be as bad this time, but that may be down to me becoming de-sensitised to the stink.

With both birds now prepared, I chopped up some carrots, onions + mushrooms.

After quartering the birds, the sections were coated in plain flour and fried in some olive oil. The browned sections were added to the slow cooker.

Next, the vegetables were fried up, these too were aded to the pot. A few cloves of garlic were added along with a good handfull of runnerbeans. All this was topped up with chicken stock.

Tomorrow, I will set the slow cooker to gentle cook this throughout the day. 

I would be amazed if I'll fancy eating this for tea tomorrow. For now, my appetite has disappeared totally!

I'm quite shocked to admit that if I had to prepare my meat in this way, I would be a vegetarian.

Never again!!!!!!!!!!! 

Update 30/11/2006

Having arrived home from work, the smell that hit me when entering the kitchen was quite pleasant!!!!!!!!!!

The slow cooker had been on all day and the aroma was actually very appertising.

I lifted the lid from the pot and wow!!!!!!!! it looked great. Very rustic and extremely homely.

I decided to give it a go! 

I plated up a good portion, said a prayer and then gingerly tucked in!

It wasn't bad at all. The vegetables and the licqor were actually fantastic. The meat itself wasn't unpleasant but despite slow cooking in stock, it was still a bit dry and tough.

I got through about half of my dish when I felt an excruciating pain shoot through my upper jaw. 

A piece of lead shot had got in between my back teeth as I chewed the dry meat. Having caught my crown, I was left in agony.

That was it!!!!!!!!!!

No more for me. 

The learned gentry can keep their pheasant. I will be sticking to roast chicken for the forseable future.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained :)))))