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Slow Cooker Braised Whole Pheasant
A few weeks ago I was visiting my sister and, as ever, we ended up going into town so she could do some shopping. I wasn’t intending to buy anything but I couldn’t help myself when we called in at the butcher’s shop. There, sitting in the window were the last two brace of pheasants. Now, I have always liked a bit of pheasant so I saw this as a sign and we bought a brace apiece which went into the freezer as soon as we got home.
Fast forward to last Sunday when, as happens occasionally, there were only the two of us to cook for. It seemed the perfect time to have one of the pheasants. Although one bird is enough for the two of us they are quite a small bird once the feathers have been plucked; I didn’t want to roast it and risk further shrinkage so I decided to braise it using the slow cooker function on the Ninja. I was pretty confident that I could manage this but still did my usual searches for recipes and timings. I did find a few recipes on some American hunting ‘n’ fishin’ websites but they seemed to either want to do strange and complicated things with their spoils which entailed cooking it for days and using canned soups to make their gravies and sauces. Can’t these folks manage a bit of foraging for mushrooms whilst out hunting? And British sites seemed to focus mainly on roasting with weird and wonderful nouvelle cuisine accompaniments like beetroot crisps or celeriac jus when all I wanted was something simple.
Anyways, I gave up the search and went rogue. Besides the pheasant I had some shallots left over from weeks ago plus a punnet of mushrooms so I threw them into the pot along with the pheasant and half a jug of chicken OXO. Then I remembered an unfinished bottle of red wine that had been hanging around for a while so I sloshed a good slug of that into the mix followed by several dollops of cranberry jelly; left lurking in the fridge since Christmas; and a sprinkling of thyme. And because I am trying to use up the top branch of my bay tree before I prune it a couple of bay leaves went in for good measure. After bringing the liquid to a boil I shut the lid, set the Ninja to Slow Cook for 4 hours and walked away with my fingers crossed that it would work.
It did. 3½ hours later we were enjoying our tasty rustic style pheasant with celeriac mash, kalettes and roast root vegetables smothered in a delicious gravy which I’d thickened with a spoonful of gravy granules since I’d run out of cornflour.
Ingredients
- 1 whole pheasant
- 10 shallots, peeled and left whole
- Chestnut mushrooms, cut into quarters
- Pinch of thyme
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 chicken OXO mixed in 250 mls hot water
- 250 mls (1glass)
- 3-4 tbs cranberry jelly
- 1tbs cornflour mixed with a little cold water to make a slurry or 1-2 tbs gravy granules.
Method
- Add the shallots and mushrooms to the pot.
- Place the pheasant on top of the vegetables.
- Sprinkle with thyme and add the bay leaves.
- Pour over the stock and wine.
- Set to SEAR/SAUTE and bring the liquid to a boil.
- Turn off SEAR/SAUTE, close the lid, set to SLOW COOK and cook on HIGH for 4 hours.
- Remove the pheasant and vegetables, cover and set aside.
- Set the pot to SEAR/SAUTE and add the cornflour slurry or gravy granules to the remaining liquid to thicken the gravy.
- Serve with mashed potatoes and seasonal vegetables.
I haven’t roasted pheasant in years, you’re right about the shrinkage. I always slow cook/casserole/stew it. I sear it first in the frying pan to brown the skin, it looks a bit more appetising when I serve it. I do mine with black olives, capers and onions. I’ll slosh in any suitable booze I have, port or bourbon.
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