Pheasant, Whole

Pheasant are shot from 1 September to 1 February.

Introduced from Asia in the 18th century, pheasants have become a common sight in the British countryside. Dark-fleshed and bold in flavour, pheasant needs considerate cooking* as the meat is very lean. Roast with fresh thyme and dry-cured smoked streaky bacon to provide essential fat or pot roast low-and-slow. Treated with respect, pheasant is one of our favourites.

The landscape on our doorstep is rich with wild game, as such we work with smaller shoots across the Yorkshire Dales who manage the landscape sympathetically and maintain high levels of biodiversity, something we feel is of prime importance.

Chef Valentine Warner inspires:
"Flicking through a country sports magazine the other day and I thought the issue daft. While I totally agreed that grey squirrels could be eaten and signal crayfish should be eaten, the over-arching idea was that as invasive species both, among others, should be hunted down and gobbled up. The absurdity of the article in context of the whole magazine was that the rest of its pages were dedicated to the purposeful, rearing, releasing and shooting of pheasants, millions of them.

I don’t shoot driven game any longer yet have plenty of opportunities to return home with a pheasant when out rough shooting, as country wide and its clear to see they are surely one of the most invasive species of all. What’s more, behind the pheasant soon arrived the frustratingly invasive and unstoppable advances of the rhododendron, a favoured, exotic plant that offered good cover for large bags of birds and in turn the blood lusts of the Victorian sportsman.

I do not have it in for pheasants far from it. I love watching them crash around in the holly come roosting time or promenade like dandies across the low spring wheat. I love seeing the cocks fight in the dust while to find a hen on her nest and I'll back away. The pheasant’s call, filling the dusk and I think of England in the short days yet with an ever increasing list of game I will no longer shoot and the pheasant remains firmly on my list of good table fare. Thing is we are not very good in England at cooking them or eating them for that matter. Regularly referred to as ‘dry ‘I totally disagree as they are versatile, delicious and deeply flavoursome while their rich yellow fat tastes wonderfully of walnuts.

It is imperative that the sinews in the legs are removed that the drumstick can be enjoyed."