Pheasant Pate Recipes

Steps:

• Heat the canola oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Season the pheasant with salt and pepper and coat with the softened butter. Brown all sides of the pheasant until golden brown and remove to a utility platter. To the same pan, add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion becomes translucent. Deglaze the pan with the Marsala wine and add bay leaves and parsley. Lower the heat and return the pheasant to the pan. (Wash and dry the utility platter and keep handy for the cooked pheasant.) Cover and simmer until the pheasant is tender and juices in the thigh run clear when pierced, about 35 minutes. Remove the pheasant to the utility platter and allow to rest until cool enough to handle.
• Strain the braising juices into another pot and skin off any excess fat. Add balsamic vinegar and brown sauce and cook over medium heat until thickened.
• Pull pheasant meat from the bones and cut into 1-inch pieces, discarding bones. Remove sauce from heat. In a bowl fold pheasant meat with enough sauce to coat. Do not feel obligated to use all of the sauce. The mixture should not be soupy.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Roll out the pastry dough and, using an appropriately sized cereal bowl or small mixing bowl as a template, cut 4 rounds 8-inches in diameter.
• Spoon the pheasant mixture evenly into 4 individual ovenproof 6-inch bowls (onion soup bowls are ideal for this), and brush the edges of the bowls with egg. Top each with a circle of pastry, draping the crust over the rim. Brush the tops of the pastry with the egg wash and bake until golden, about 12 to 15 minutes.

Steps:

• In a food processor, mix the pheasant meat, (put aside the breasts), the pork butt, the shallots, thyme, bay leaves, leeks, parsley, salt, pepper, cognac and white wine. Put the mixture into a bowl and put the breast meat, livers and the truffle on top. Cover and set aside in the refrigerator for 4 days. When you are ready to fill the terrine, chop the liver, truffles and the pheasant breasts to make it easier to spread them out into a layer in the pate. Line the mould you have chosen for the pate with a piece of plastic wrap. Press it down into the corners of the mould. Then lay your caul fat over the inside of the wrap. Fill one third of the mould with the forcemeat. Then arrange half the lard, breast meat, livers and truffle in the middle. Add one third more forcemeat, then the remainder of the lard, breast meat, livers and truffles. Cover with the remainder of the forcemeat. Fold the caul fat back over onto the pate. Cover the pate with tin foil and bake it in a Bain Marie in the oven for 2 hours, or until the internal temperature has reached 150 degrees Fahrenheit and a knife inserted in the middle comes out very hot. When the pate has cooked, remove it from the oven, place a foil-covered brick or kitchen weights on top and allow it to cool overnight. Flavours develop after a day, so if you can leave it for a day it will be even better. Remove the pate from the mould. Slice and serve with toast, pickles and chutney.

Steps:

• Place all in food processor.
• Pulse a few times until well mixed.
• Chill or grab the crackers right now.
• (Cook time is time needed to boil pheasant in salt-seasoned water).

Steps:

• Carefully cut the duck skin from the duck breast, then very finely chop the skin. Reserve 12 bacon rashers for lining the tin. Cut all the meat and remaining bacon into 1cm pieces, keeping the different meats separate (Step 1). Put all the best bits to one side.
• Reserve the chopped bacon and, from the best bits, reserve 100g chopped chicken, 250g chicken livers, half the mixed game, half the duck and half the duck skin.
• Put all the remaining meat and duck skin into a food processor (include any fattier pieces) and blend to a mince. Transfer to a bowl and add the garlic, allspice, juniper berries, parsley, Armagnac or brandy, wine and stock. Mix in the reserved chopped meat and marinate in the fridge overnight.
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Grease a 1.5-litre loaf tin or terrine mould with butter. Lightly stretch the reserved bacon rashers (Step 2) and use most of them to line the tin or mould, overlapping slightly and leaving plenty of overhang at the top (Step 3). Pack the meat mixture into the tin (Step 4), then fold over the bacon overhang and lay the reserved rashers on top.
• Cover the terrine with baking parchment, then cover tightly with foil. Put a folded tea towel in a roasting tin and set the terrine on top (Step 5). Pour enough hot water into the roasting tin to come just below the rim of the terrine tin.
• Put in the oven, then reduce heat to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and bake for 1½ hrs. Take from the oven and leave to cool for 1 hr in the water bath, then remove and leave to cool completely.
• Once cool, cut a strip of foil or card to fit the top of the tin, put it on top of the terrine and weigh it down with a few heavy cans (Step 6). Chill overnight.
• Carefully remove the terrine from the tin, wipe off all the jelly and serve in slices with the toasts and cornichons.

Steps:

• Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Season the pheasant breasts on all sides with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the flour onto a plate, and press the pheasant breast into the flour until completely coated. Shake off excess flour and set aside. Melt the butter in an ovenproof Dutch oven or deep skillet over medium heat. Cook the pheasant breasts in the hot butter until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side. Pour in the half-and-half cream and bring to a simmer; cover the Dutch oven.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the pheasant breasts are tender and no longer pink in the center, about 1 1/2 hours. An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center should read at least 165 degrees F (74 degrees C).