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Pheasant Burgerwich and Sweet Potato Fries

Feb21

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Not a budget recipe. I was generously given a couple of pheasants to experiment with and this is the result, no. 3 in my list of 101 things to do with a dead pheasant – pheasant burgerwiches.

The issue with pheasant is that it is a dry, dense meat with a sort of meaty, slightly liver-like flavour, so needs something to capitalise on these qualities. A burgerwich with home-made ketchup and sweet potato fries seemed to fit the bill.

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The two birds happened to weigh 1 kg together. After cooking there was 300 g of meat, i.e. a yield of 30% meat per uncooked weight.

Cooked the pheasant and picked off the meat. Could have roasted it (expensively) in the oven, but I used the magical slow cooker – it cooks using no more energy than a light bulb, costing pennies rather than pounds – on ‘low’ for six hours overnight.

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Broke the meat into small pieces (not too small or it turns into crumbs) and fried it in light olive oil with a good shake of all-purpose seasoning, just long enough for the meat to start browning a bit.

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For the fries, I peeled a sweet potato (if they’re really smooth, you can just scrub them to get the dirt off) and cut it into thin fries – need a good-sized, heavy knife for this.

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Tossed them in a bowl with a bit of oil and more all-purpose seasoning (just salt and pepper will do if you haven’t got that) and roasted them for 30 minutes at 175°C – different ovens will need different times – just long enough for some of them to start browning or singeing at the ends.

For the burgerwich I used lightly toasted buttered bread, with a layers of salad, home-made tomato and onion relish, meat, more relish and salad.

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The result was fine, athough having consumed a kilo of sweet potato fries while testing cooking times, the novelty was wearing off and I was craving normal fries again.

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Have different plans for the second pheasant … watch this space.

Experimental Tomato & Onion Relish

Feb21

In preparation for something to spice up burgers, had a go at some home-made relish/ketchup, but it is very much a work in progress – would welcome any suggestions.

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  • A tin of chopped tomatoes.
  • 1 finely-chopped onion
  • 100 g chopped up pickled gherkins.
  • 1 garlic clove fine-chopped.
  • 75 ml spirit vinegar. (White wine vinegar probably better, but I’m allergic to the sulphite preservative in it.)
  • Teaspoon of sugar.
  • Flat teaspoon each of coriander, mace and paprika
  • Half a level teaspoon of Tabasco sauce

Soft-fried the onion with the garlic, put everything in a pot and simmered it for half-an-hour, then whizzed it smooth with a hand blender. Smelled pretty pungent during the simmering, but the final product was not unpleasant. Going to use it in my next recipe: pheasant burgerwiches.

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These ingredients made enough to fill a 400 ml jar.

Mushroon Chasseur Risotto (72p)

Feb16

Just found a couple more old. Here’s the first, to be followed shortly by Jack’s signature Carrot, Cumin and Kidney Bean Burger. That will be the last for now, I promise.

Facebook post 12 Oct 2016.

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Based on the Cooking on a Bootstrap recipe.

Chasseur, I learned from Wikipedia, is a thick sauce, typically made of mushrooms, onions and tomatoes, with a sprinkle of mixed herbs, served in generous amounts with meat dishes (‘hunters’ meats, like rabbit, pheasant, venison, etc.), or these days with rice, mashed potatoes or cous cous – what a bunch of wimps we’ve become!

I began with:half a punnet of mushrooms, 2 garlic cloves, 1 onion, a chicken stock cube and a big pinch of mixed herbs.

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The onion, garlic cloves and mushrooms went in put into a saucepan with 2 tablespoons of oil, at first on a high heat for 5 minutes to soften the onion. Then in went the tomatoes, herbs and crumbled stock cube. (Also 100ml red wine theoretically, but I’m allergic to the sulphites in wine so I added just water – I wanted to taste the dish without the wine anyway.)

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Jack’s recipe left it at that, but this looked more like lumpy soup than solid food, so after 40 minutes I threw in 100g long-grain rice to turn it into a risotto – it needed constant stirring for 20 minutes and quite a bit of extra hot water from the kettle to stop it going solid as the rice absorbed the juices. Served with one of my plus-sized slices of bread with butter, it was VERY filling.

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A real ‘winter warmer’. There was enough for four servings. The costing is a little complicated – adding for electricity, including re-heating for future meals, washing up, bread, butter and a cup of Earl Grey, something like 72 pence a meal..

The Slow Cooker (AKA Crock Pot)

Feb16

Facebook post 19 Oct 2016.

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Someone has kindly gave me a ‘slow cooker’, although I don’t really have any idea what it is or how to use it. Did some internet digging …

Originally a 1950s invention (inspired by a Jewish custom) intended for cooking beans and called a ‘Simmer Crock’ or ‘Naxon Beanery All-Purpose Cooker’, the modern slow-cooker appeared in 1971 under the brand name ‘Crock-Pot‘. A bit like ‘hoover’, originally a brand name with a capital letter, the term ‘crock-pot’ is has become a noun for these things in general regardless of the actual brand.

They work by cooking at a low temperature over a long period. No boiling or simmering, but just hot enough to cook the food – slowly. It is the second cheapest way of cooking after a microwave. If something costs 5p to cook in a microwave, it’ll cost 10p in a slow cooker, 25p on the hob and 50p-£1 in the oven.

Definitely the most economical way of cooking ‘cheap’ meats – the long time at a low temperature tenderising them well – and poultry (thanks to my virtual brother-in-law for this information). Just drop the whole bird in, no need to add water or anything, and it cooks in its own juices. When taken out the meat almost literally falls off the bone.

I have used my slow cooker many times since then and love it. The simplest way to cook a raw chicken – 7 hours overnight does it. Reputedly not the best way to cook vegetables because the long cooking time reduces flavour and nutrient value, but as I prefer my vegetables raw or only lightly cooked, I’ve yet to put that to the test.

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He’s fine, by the way, purely used for modelling purposes.

How (not) to dry mushrooms

Feb16

Facebook post 15 Oct 2016.

My Polish ex-mother-in-law spent much of the autumn drying the mushrooms she’d collected in the forest in her kitchen. This was done by a humming electric device which blew warm air over them day and night. The electricity cost of such a device prohibitive for me, so tried to find another way, thinking how convenient it would be to have a supply of dried mushrooms.

Tried drying them on a tray on a storage heater, but they were still surprisingly soggy after 24 hours, so put them in the oven, but couldn’t get them to dry evenly – some still soft, some as dry and thin as onion skin – and the oven time was costing me money.

These remains spent another night on the storage heater, but they simply refused to dry out and the whole flat was beginning to smell mushroomy, plus I kept finding bits of mushroom stuck to various surfaces and objects.

I gave up at this point and lot went in the bin, the whole experiment having cost about £2.50 in lost mushrooms and electricity. If I used dried mushrooms frequently they perhaps I’d persevere. However, I’ll stick to fresh.

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