I absolutely love pheasant breast meat. I’ve never hunted pheasant before, but my husband loves hunting them. Many hunters will hunt with dogs to chase them out of the grasses or to retrieve them from the fields. We don’t have a hunting dog; if we did, as much as my husband would train it, I would be there untraining it. . . Hehe. My husband hunts all his pheasants by himself, to which I am thankful and blessed for having this type of meat provided for me to cook with and enjoy.
I didn’t always have this blessing. Heck, I didn’t know what a pheasant was. I always heard them being called ring-necks, alluding to the males, when we would see one in the yard by one of the hay fields at my family’s farm. It was a wild animal that we just left do its thing on our land. We never ate it.
The first time I had pheasant was when I was dating my husband. My now mother-in-law baked the whole pheasant in the oven with some Italian seasoning. Then my now father-in-law covered the dish with something so we could call it the fancy “pheasant under glass.”
When I was first married, I was developing my cooking skills with the wild game meat my husband would bring home. At the time, I was learning about how to cook meats well by pan-frying. Building my cooking skills, I developed my go-to way to cook pheasant for a meal- pan-fried pheasant with rice and an Asian sauce, like teriyaki, orange sauce, or sesame.
Ingredients
Pheasant
When we vacuum seal our pheasant, I place 4 breasts from two pheasants into a bag. Vacuum sealing keeps the meat at a higher quality for longer, compared to freezer bags or freezer wrap.
Pheasant tastes like chicken, but it’s different. The texture of cooked chicken is greater and size and has less flavor, but is more tender. It may be hard to believe, but if substituting chicken for the pheasant, the recipe has totally different texture and flavor. Think of pheasant a tender meat with the strains of meat closer together, and small. Smaller with a more impact of flavor.
Don’t skimp on the salt because the salt will bring out the pheasant flavor.
Rice
When cooking instant rice, the proportions need to be equivalent. Too much water, even just be a little bit will result in the rice grains swelled more than intended. Too much rice, the rice will not swell to size.
Steaming rice on the cooktop is easy. But the key is to not turn off the burner until the water with the rice has returned to a boil.
Asian Sauce
For the pictures provided, I used Orange Sauce, which has a nice citrusy tangy flavor. Other sauces work as well, and usually I just use what I have on hand. These include teriyaki, sesame, and bourbon, and honey.
All these sauces can be made from scratch as well, but I like to use this recipe for something quick and easy I can make. It is easy to keep some sauces in the pantry, ready to add, versus all the ingredients and the recipe for the sauce.
Directions
Making the Rice
Bring water to a boil. This is when large bubbles are coming up to the surface. Stir in instant rice, which should be the same amount as water. Cover and return to boil and steam for 5 minutes. Or follow instructions on your box of instant rice.
Preparing the Pheasant Meat
Thaw pheasant. In a rush, I like to fill a bowl with warm water and the sealed packet of pheasant. Replace the water when it is cold. This defrosting method takes about 30 minutes.
On a cutting board, remove any leftover bones, unwanted fat, or skin. There really shouldn’t be any leftover bones, but sometimes the hunter cuts the breast meat out quickly, and his sharp knife cuts right through the bones. It gets vacuum sealed shortly after, and the bone if forgotten about.
I also remove some excess fat, which usually isn’t much. Same deal with skin. With this being wild game that was shot, some of the meat may not able to be used. If I see spots with much red, I’ll cut that off.
The breast can then be cut following the grainlines. With the breast facing up, there are some pieces of meat with the grain heading southwest to north east. Other pieces have the grain heading northwest to southeast. I separate these two parts of the breast meat.
Next is to cube the meat. Cut against the grain. To do this, see how the grain lines are currently heading. Then face your knife perpendicular to this and cut. For example, if the grain line is heading north to south, cut east to west. Cutting this way results in a more tender piece of meat.
Cooking the Pheasant
Pre-heat a skillet on high heat. Cast-iron pans would work as well. Once heated, add a small layer of olive oil and turn down to a medium high. Add pheasant meat. Season with salt and pepper.
Turn once the bottom of the pheasant has begun to cook. Keep turning until all sides of the pheasant is thoroughly cooked to 165°F. Using either or both a turner or a pair on tongs works great.
Plating Options
I have two ways to plate and serve this dish. The first way is the quick, simple method that calls for less dishes. The second way has a higher quality finished dish. Both are delicious. It really depends how warm of a sauce you want with the dish.
Sometimes when I make this meal, I like the process to go quickly with less dishes. In this case, I will plate the rice, followed by a layer of pheasant, and then a layer of orange sauce.
Other times I make pheasant with rice, I want a high quality meal. With this method, I heat a second skillet on medium heat, combine cooked pheasant with orange sauce, or sauce of choice. I let this cook for a few minutes until the sauce and the meat are both hot. Plate the rice, followed by the orange flavored pheasant.
Enjoy Orange Pheasant with Rice!
Ingredients
4 pheasant breasts
Salt & Pepper
Olive Oil
2 c. Instant Rice
2 c. Water
Orange Sauce, or sauce of choice
Directions
Bring water to a boil. Stir in instant rice. Cover, return to boil, and steam for 5 minutes. Or follow instructions on your box of instant rice.
Remove any leftover bones, unwanted fat, or skin. Cut thawed pheasant breasts into cubes, going against the grain.
Pre-heat a skillet on high heat. Once heated, add a small layer of olive oil, turn down to a medium high. Add pheasant meat. Season with salt and pepper. Turn once the bottom of the pheasant has begun to cook. Keep turning until all sides of the pheasant is thoroughly cooked to 165°F.
Plating Quick Option: Plate the rice, followed by a layer of pheasant, and then a layer of orange sauce. Serve and enjoy!
Plating Quality Option: In a second skillet on medium heat, combine cooked pheasant with orange sauce, or sauce of choice. Plate the rice, followed by the orange flavored pheasant.
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