Roast Pheasant
Ingredients
Directions
The book gives no oven temperature. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.
Prepare
Pluck, singe, draw, and truss the pheasant like a grouse.
Cut the bacon into five or six slits and fasten it on the breast of the bird.
Roast
Pour the clarified dripping over the pheasant.
Roast in a 400°F (200°C) oven or in front of a clear fire for 30 to 45 minutes, longer if the bird is large.
Baste the bird constantly during cooking to prevent it from drying out.
About 10 minutes before cooking is complete, remove the bacon to allow the breast to brown.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
What each ingredient does
- Pheasant
- Is the main meat, cooked whole until tender and done.
- Bacon
- Fat laid over the breast that bastes the meat as it renders, keeping it moist.
- Clarified dripping
- Fat that conducts heat evenly and helps the skin brown and crisp.
The step that matters
Remove the bacon about 10 minutes before the end. Taking the bacon off lets the breast brown directly in the oven heat. Leaving it on too long can keep the skin pale and soft and make the fat taste heavy.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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