Random Recipes 15.06 - Pheasant Feast!

It's been a little while since I initially made this feast (a couple weeks) but I have been so busy I haven't had time to post! Anyhow, here are the pictures from the feast - I took about 1/2 cup of leftover goose fat and coated the pheasant all over (after it was brined for about 6 hours in an apple cider brine with thyme sprigs), and browned the skin in the cast iron dutch oven. Then I placed a bunch of coarsely chopped mushrooms, carrots and celery into the oven, placed the bird on top, and baked with a thermometer at 325F until it reached an internal temperature of 160. I gotta say, pheasant tasted to me like a sweeter version of turkey with more dark meat. Also, the flavors the goose fat and the pheasant drippings impaired to the veggies was spectacular - those were probably the best carrots I've ever had. The natural sweetness of the veggies was brought out with the fat and succulence of the pheasant.

      

    

The other dish here is a mushroom bread pudding - courtesy of Emeril (you can easily find the recipe online, I found it on the page about his version of pheasant, which I disregarded because I disagreed with cooking it at a high temperature when all the experienced chefs recommend cooking slowly because of the risk of drying out).

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving feast (for two), featuring duck!  The menu will include:

Duck brined briefly in pineapple orange juice with thyme and baked

Pomegranate-molasses sauce

Pumpkin pie - both from the can and from two baked sugar pumpkins

Spaetzle

Truffled macaroni and cheese

Cranberry with wine, lemon/orange zest, cinnamon and pomegranate

Sweet peas

Stuffing with toasted sourdough, celery, and onions

Sweet potato baked with marshmallows

Alas, I have to work the next three nights, but...well, tomorrow should be yummy.  I have been busy on a few other things, working on the great books list, making fun cocktails, playing fun computer games, but alas, it is hard to update as frequently as I'd like.  Anyhow, hopefully I'll get around to some thanksgiving feast pics before long!