Ingredient: Pheasant

Category: Game

Season:

Pheasants are a group of large birds in the order Galliformes .

Pheasant are characterised by strong sexual dimorphism , with males being highly ornate with bright colours and adornments such as wattles and long tails.

Males are usually larger than the females , and have longer tails.

Males play no part in rearing the young . Pheasants typically eat seeds and some insects.

While on the ground, a group of pheasants is called a nye

There are 35 species of pheasant in 11 different genera .

The best-known is the Common Pheasant (Phasianus colchicus) which is widespread throughout the world in introduced feral populations and in farm operations.

Various other pheasant species are popular in aviaries , such as the Golden Pheasant (Chrysolophus pictus).

In parts of its range, namely in places where none of its relatives occur such as in Europe (where it is naturalised), it is simply known as "the pheasant".

It is a well-known gamebird , among those of more than regional importance perhaps the most widespread and ancient one in the whole world.

The Common Pheasant is one of the world's most hunted birds, having been introduced for that purpose to many regions, and is also common on game farms where it is commercially farmed for this purpose.

The bird was naturalised in Great Britain around the 10th century AD , arguably earlier, by both the Romano-British and the Normans, but became extirpated from most of the isles in the early 17th century.

It was rediscovered as a gamebird after being ignored for many years in the 1830s , since when it has been reared extensively by gamekeepers.

Around 30 million pheasants are released each year on shooting estates , it is widespread in distribution, although most released birds survive less than a year in the wild.

As the original Caucasian stock all but disappeared during the Early Modern era , most dark-winged ringless birds in the UK are actually descended from Chinese Ringneck and Green Pheasant hybrids, which were commonly used for rewilding.

The carcasses were often hung for a time to improve the meat by slight decomposition , as with most other game.

Modern cookery generally uses moist roasting and farm-raised female birds .

In the UK, game is making somewhat of a comeback in popular cooking , and more pheasants than ever are being sold in UK supermarkets

Cooking

Younger pheasants roast perfectly, carefully rub butter into the skin and wrap them in fat bacon.

Begin the roasting by covering them loosely in foil, care is needed to avoid overcooking, which can make the flesh dry.

Older birds towards the end of the season (late January/February) are better casseroled.

The hen pheasant is smaller and will serve two people perfectly, while the cock bird is larger and may even serve three.

For a casserole for four people, a brace, one of each, would fit the bill perfectly.

A good thing to remember is that cold pheasant is excellent in sandwiches.