Roast Pheasant

[ysabetwordsmith]

Tonight I made pheasant wrapped in bacon, with mushrooms and onions.  Delicious, but not as tender as we would've liked.  I looked through all my cookbooks but most of the recipes I found ... just weren't all that great.  I should have just dropped it in a crockpot.  Next time I'll know.

Tomorrow, however, I have the remaining carcass and vegetables to make stock.  \o/ 

Comments

[technoshaman]

Yeah, if you want tender... whatever, squab, four-legger, taters, and most especially the harder root veg like parsnips, turnip, carrot... slow cooker...

OR...

Insty-pot or other pressure cooker. Yes, the insty-pot is another bit of electronica, but if you can get a manual pressure cooker with a release valve, you can do much the same, you just have to provide your own timing and temp control. The latter being a matter of practice. And the goodies come out SO tender, and in less time than roasting takes. (It is NOT faster than stir fry, but it is NOTICEABLY more tender.)

Mmmmm, stock du squab. *drool*

Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

As I have exactly zero interest in an Instant Pot, that option did not occur to me. But we have one, and my partner loves it. I will happily eat what comes out of it; the device makes very tender corned beef in a couple of hours instead of all day. It just means I hate going anywhere near the kitchen during that time because while it is pressurizing my structure sense screams that it's about to explode and while it is depressurizing it sounds like a hull breach. O_O

So if I'm cooking, that means crockpot, but we can keep the Instant Pot option in mind for my partner Doug.

Re: Well ...

[technoshaman]

It WOULD sound like a hull breach, no?

And yes, it's generating QUITE a bit of pressure... but the damn thing is also built like a submarine! double hulled, with a rotary-lugged pressure hatch with a _mechanical_ steam-powered lockout (that little red pop-up) backed up by an electronic lid position sensor... few things are impossible, but it's pretty damn *improbable* that that lid was gonna come off whilst under pressure, and with the big damn cast outer pot and the 18/8 stainless inner? Yeah.

Oh, and it's got a secondary fail-safe I hadn't thought of... If things just get really bananapants under that lid, the silicone seal will go before the lid does.

That said, if it's still giving you the energetic heebie-jeebies, then you let your partner cook. :D I'm just saying the basic physics of the thing are sound.

You're right about that hull breach, though. I hadn't thought of that, but you're right.

Re: Well ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

>> And yes, it's generating QUITE a bit of pressure... but the damn thing is also built like a submarine! <<

Logically, I know that these things are more safe than previous pressure cookers. Otherwise I wouldn't have one in the house. It's worth having, it's just not a tool that I can use personally. Knowing logically that it won't explode and is not in fact leaking atmosphere into space does not make it feel any less awful to my senses.

>>That said, if it's still giving you the energetic heebie-jeebies, then you let your partner cook. :D I'm just saying the basic physics of the thing are sound.<<

Exactly. Division of labor. I don't have to deal with shrieking cookware, and he doesn't have to deal with vermin. Neither of which is determined by crotch shape, but by personal tastes. \o/