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Pheasant, Broiled
Pick, draw, and singe the pheasant, and divide it neatly into joints. Fry these in a little fat until they are equally and lightly browned all over. Drain them well, season with salt and cayenne, and dip them into egg and bread-crumbs. Broil over a clear fire, and serve on a hot dish, with brown sauce, mushroom sauce, or piquant sauce, as an accompaniment. The remains of a cold roast pheasant may be treated in this way. Time to broil, about ten minutes. Probable cost of pheasants, 3s. each when in full season. Sufficient for three or four persons.
A two-stage method: the joints are part-cooked in fat, then crumbed and finished over coals. The whole point is speed at the second stage, since pheasant is lean and dries out fast.
- The hingeCassell's says only to fry until "equally and lightly browned all over," then broil about ten minutes. Ten minutes over the fire will not cook joints that are raw inside, and longer will leave the breast dry; in practice it is safer to fry until nearly done, then crumb and finish.
- "A clear fire"Charcoal or wood burnt down to glowing embers with no flame or smoke — flame would scorch the crumbs. Under a gas or electric broiler, use the highest setting with the rack about 4 inches from the element, turning once.
- DonenessCook pheasant to 165F in the thickest part of the thigh. Legs need appreciably longer than breast, so start them in the pan first and pull the breast joints off the fire earlier.
- Sourcing the birdFarmed pheasant is available frozen year-round and is fatter and milder than the wild bird Cassell's assumed. "Pick, draw, and singe" means pluck, remove the innards, and burn off the pin feathers over a flame — all done for you on a bought bird.
- HangingA Victorian pheasant would have been hung several days, sometimes to the edge of decay. A modern bird is usually hung little if at all, so the flavour is plainer; a little bacon fat for the frying compensates.
- The saucesBrown sauce here means a stock-based espagnole, not the bottled condiment. Piquant sauce is a brown sauce sharpened with vinegar, shallot and chopped gherkin or capers. Any of the three wants to be genuinely hot when it reaches the table.
- Egg and crumbsUse dry, fine breadcrumbs, not panko, and press them on firmly. Drain and cool the fried joints for a few minutes before dipping or the coating will slide.
- Cost and yieldThree shillings a bird in the Victorian period; ignore it as a guide to anything. One pheasant serves three at a push, two comfortably — the "three or four persons" assumes a multi-course dinner with several other dishes.
- LeftoversThe note about cold roast pheasant is the more useful version of this recipe. Cooked joints need only the crumbing and a few minutes over heat to warm through and crisp.
Cassell's notes at the end of the entry that the remains of a cold roast pheasant may be treated in this way, though the recipe itself begins with a fresh bird — picked, drawn and singed. Pheasant appears often in the book; the game laws set a season running roughly from October to the start of February. The crumb coating helps hold in what moisture a lean bird has left, and the accompanying sauces are all sharp or savoury enough to carry dry flesh.