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| Game is a healthy and versitile meat but you have to treat it well, in the field and the kitchen, before you get it anywhere near the table. Follow the simple steps below, then go on to try one or two of our recipes. Tips apply to both Pheasant and Partridge unless otherwise mentioned. |
| The page for tips on handling your dead game, dressing and cooking. Please pass on your favourite recipes for inclusion |
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| Pick your bird. Find the ones that have been shot cleanly at height. Feel the breast meat for firmness. A quick test is to hold the bird upright by the legs - if the body is quite rigid and stands up, all good. If floppy and it doesn't, move on and leave for Frank! |
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| Treat her nice. Once you have found your perfect bird, treat it sweet! Ensure rapid cooling of breast meet. Always hang, do not stuff into any kind of bag to sweat and heat up. Like many meats, game benefits from hanging. Timing is down to personal choice, and temperature, with anything from one to seven days possible. |
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| Dress her up. What you do now depends on the planned dish, and how much effort you want to make! The common methods include plucking and breasting. |
| Plucking. Game skin is quite delicate, but it will give up the feathers quite easily with the correct tehcnique. Gather just a few feathers at a time, and give them a short sharp tug away from their normal direction of growth. The key thing is to accept you'll be doing this for a while, don't rush and work methodically – work one area at a time and be thouragh. The wing feathers are a bit tougher, pull just a couple at a time. If you want a really well presented roaster for the table, it is nice to pull the lot; however, there is no meat to speak of on the wing tips (unless you are bloody starving). Thus, many folk use skissors or a cleaver to cut off at the elbow joint. Just clear enough neck feathers to enable cutting close to the breast. Now go over your naked bird and rub out any of the little growing feathers you missed, then run a flame over it and singe off any hairs. |
| Breasting. If you want skin on, pluck feathers from breast area. Otherwise, tear skin at inner thigh, then peel back over breast to expose meet. Use a sharp knife to cut meat from breast bone (keel) in one smooth cut. Two of these fillets will be ample for one person as part of a meal. There is always a bit of waste with this method, however it is ideal if you have a lot of birds to process. For less wastage, you can pull the entire breast bone away from the carcass. Simply cut away the wing bones from the joints, then pull up the breast complete with bone from the pointed end. Pull up until it breaks away, leaving the inards behind. Pictures of this to follow soon. |
| Drawing. Next, cut the head off as close to the body as possible, saving neck for stock if you desire. Either chop the feet at the top of the scailly bit, or nick the joint with a knife, twist and pull the lot out complete with tendons. You can now either mess around trying to cut around the vent, or just make a small opening, enough to get a couple of fingers in. Aim for the gizzard, pull gently and this should come out with all the intestines intact. Go back in there, and now gently pull out the giblets, which you might like to also save for a stock. Back at the other end, peel the crop away from the breast – this can often be quite full of food, if not will just be an empty and slightly sticky skin sack. If the birds have been fed on maize, there may be a lot of yellow fat. This is best removed, as the taste is generally rancid. You dogs, however, will love it. Wash the bird under the tap, taking care to rinse out the cavity, then pat dry. Job done. |
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