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Pheasant, Stewed
Pluck and draw a well-hung pheasant, and truss it as a fowl is trussed for boiling. Put it in a saucepan with as much hot stock or water as will cover it, and with it a carrot, an onion stuck with two cloves, three or four outer sticks of celery, a bunch of parsley, half a dozen peppercorns, and a pinch of salt. Let the liquid boil, and carefully remove the scum as it rises; then draw it to the side, and let it simmer very gently until the bird is done enough. Take it up, and serve the pheasant with a little celery sauce poured over it, and the remainder in a tureen; garnish with potato croquettes. Time to stew, three-quarters of an hour or more, according to the size of the bird. Probable cost of pheasants, 3s. each, when in full season. Sufficient for four or five persons.
A gentle poach rather than a stew, and the technique still suits pheasant, which is lean enough to go dry under almost any dry-heat method. Two things decide the result: keeping the liquid below a boil, and not overshooting the time.
- Never let it boilOnce the scum is off, the pot should barely tremble — a bare shiver at the surface, around 180F. A rolling boil shreds the breast muscle and drives out what little fat the bird has.
- "Well-hung"Victorian pheasant was generally hung in feather in a cool larder to tenderise and deepen the flavour, for anything from a few days to a fortnight depending on the weather and the taste of the household. Birds sold today, farmed or wild, are hung briefly if at all, so expect a milder, firmer bird and do not attempt to age it yourself in a domestic fridge.
- TimingThree-quarters of an hour suits a young hen of about 2 lb; a cock bird of 3 lb wants closer to an hour. Judge by the thickest part of the thigh reaching 165F rather than by the clock, and let the bird rest ten minutes in a little of its liquid before carving.
- Trussed as for boilingLegs drawn tight against the body and the wings pinned back, so the bird holds a compact shape and cooks evenly in the liquid. Kitchen string is sufficient; no skewers needed.
- The stockEnough hot stock or water to cover — for a whole pheasant in a snug pan, roughly 2 to 3 pints. A light chicken stock does more for the finished dish than water, and what remains makes the base for the celery sauce.
- Celery sauceA period standard: celery simmered soft in stock, sieved or blended, then bound with a white roux and finished with cream. Making it from the poaching liquid ties the plate together and is worth the extra ten minutes.
- ShotWild birds often carry lead pellets and fragments. Run a finger over the breast and thighs before cooking and warn anyone at the table.
- Cost and yieldThree shillings apiece was the book's own game-season price; ignore it. The stated four to five servings is optimistic for a modern hen pheasant — treat one bird as two generous or three modest portions.
Roasting is the glamorous treatment for pheasant, but it punishes an older or larger bird, and a Victorian kitchen receiving game as a gift had no say in which bird arrived. Poaching in an aromatic broth with carrot, clove-stuck onion and celery is the same logic used for boiled fowl, and celery sauce was the conventional English accompaniment to a boiled bird of the period. The British pheasant season runs from the start of October to the beginning of February, which is why the book bothers to specify a price "when in full season" — game was seasonal and unrefrigerated in a way that shaped the whole calendar of the Victorian table.