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3555. Macnas - 1/25/2006 10:35:53 AM Mago
The pheasant came from a hedgerow about a mile from my old home place. The morning was very cold and frost covered the land, so he was a bit tardy in getting off roost, as we all are when it's cold outside.
This gave me a little more time to get to where I thought he might be before he decided to take off across the river to feed. I was right and there he was, the dog putting him out and up in great style.
That was last Saturday the 14th, so it was hanging for just under a week before I dressed it. I could see from the empty crop that he hadn't eaten that morning, which means I was just in time and in another minute or so he would not have been there.
I forget the red wine my brother and I had with the bird, but it was something from South America I think, and very nice too. As Pelle supposes, the climate here does not support growing grapes on the vine, so hence the dearth of Irish wine.
Very little drama this season compared to the first bird of the previous, about which I wrote, roundabout this time last year.
And yes, pheasant has very little fat and can dry out quickly if roasted like chicken. Chicken is all but self basting, being much fattier, and though wild, duck is famously greasy.
All I do is make sure that there enough things with the pheasant while its being cooked that will prevent it from drying out too much. The selection of these ingredients is sport in and of itself. But if you want an easy pheasant, just make a casserole of it. Use red wine, shallots, bacon, your favourite herbs, some mushrooms and the like. Cook it slow 'till its nice and falling apart and you'll eat your fingers with it. Experiment with cream, or redcurrent jam, or maybe some port.
We had some woodcock the week before, stuffed with blackpudding and apple, covered with smoky bacon. Gorgeous is the only word. If I didn't do so much cross-country walking during the season I'd be as fat as a fool.
3556. alistairconnor - 1/25/2006 11:07:49 AM Wonk : Oh, so you're the pheasant plucker's father? I should have guessed. 3557. RickNelson - 1/25/2006 3:10:58 PM I've missed Pelle giving the picture answer, and I don't see it upon review.
Are we still waiting? 3558. wonkers2 - 1/25/2006 3:31:34 PM My oldest son has taken up skeet shooting and pheasant hunting using my venerable Model 12 Winchester pump gun which has been moldering unused for some years in our basement. I believe I heard yesterday on the radio that Winchester folded recently. 3559. thoughtful - 1/25/2006 4:03:12 PM blackpudding? whats that? 3560. Magoseph - 1/25/2006 5:20:30 PM Rick,
Are we still waiting?
Message # 3535
3536. robertjayb - 1/22/2006 11:48:26 AM
Fourth from the left in the middle row, directly in front of the tall person with lots of hair.
Thank you, Mac. 3561. robertjayb - 1/25/2006 5:25:44 PM wonkers2,
I enjoyed this paean to the Model 12. I never owned one but got to hunt with a couple belonging to relatives. They got it right with Model 12... 3562. wonkers2 - 1/25/2006 5:49:19 PM RJB, Thanks! The serial # on mine is 878578. It was probably made in the middle or late 1930s. It was my dad's gun. It still works perfectly if aimed correctly! 3563. Macnas - 1/25/2006 6:39:26 PM Winchester are going to shut up shop, a buyer might be found for the works but nobody has come forward yet.
Pity, a part of America is Winchester. 3564. Macnas - 1/25/2006 6:40:58 PM Thoughtful,
Black pudding is what we call blood pudding. Thickened pigs blood, some oats and spices.
Sublime. 3565. thoughtful - 1/25/2006 6:57:25 PM ok, what i thought...not my thing
3566. Magoseph - 1/25/2006 7:04:12 PM We ate what we called Boudin when I was a kid and I loved it then--I couldn't eat it now, though. 3567. PelleNilsson - 1/25/2006 7:48:46 PM My wife likes blood pudding but I refuse it. She only gets to have it when I'm away. The reverse applies to Argentine corned beef which I sometimes revel in when she's away. 3568. Marc-Albert - 1/25/2006 10:25:54 PM I guess it's all a matter of being used to the thing from an early age. My mother would serve blood pudding ('boudin', as Mag calls it) fairly regularly, as well as beef kidney for instance. So I buy blood pudding from time to time and less frequently veal, beef or lamb kidney whole, that I clean up and cut with scissors. Some friends will almost have a cardiac arrest just looking at me manipulating the viscous thing.
OTOH, we never ate cervelles (brain) in my familly, so, to this day, I'm rather squeamish about it, very rarely ordering it in restaurant and never buying it to prepare myself. 3569. Marc-Albert - 1/26/2006 12:51:10 AM 
I thought you guys would love this one just before supper. Somewhere in France, country-style blood pudding and blood donor's clinic ads.
3570. arkymalarky - 1/26/2006 5:37:26 AM Boudin is blood pudding? That's a Cajun food that I had once a long time ago. It was awful, but it was spoiled. I don't know what it tastes like when it's not spoiled, but people say it's great. 3571. robertjayb - 1/26/2006 6:32:29 AM More about boudin from wikipedia:
Boudin (pronounced BOO-dan) describes a number of different types of sausage.
Boudin blanc is a type of Cajun sausage made from a pork rice dressing wrapped in pork skin. It is available by the link from butcher shops or stores. The sausage wrap can be chewed but the stuffing is usually squeezed out of one end. Cracklins (fried pig skins) and saltine crackers are a popular accessory.
The French version of boudin blanc is made with milk instead of rice, and is therefore generally more delicate than the Cajun variety.
Boudin noir is a dark-hued French Blood sausage.
Boudin rouge is a Louisiana sausage similar to the boudin blanc, but with pork blood added to it. It originated from the French boudin noir.
Boudin gave rise to Le Boudin, the the official march of the French Foreign Legion. "Blood sausage" is a colloquial reference to the gear (rolled up in a red blanket) that used to top the backpacks of Legionnaires. The song makes repeated reference to the fact that the Belgium don't get any "blood sausage", since the King of Belgium at the time forbade his subjects from joining the Legion.
jexster should comment... 3572. Macnas - 1/26/2006 11:53:55 AM Here blood pudding, or blood sausage if you like, is highly regarded. But I know that many furriners don't care for it at all.
I myself, cannot abide kidneys of any kind. As offal goes it's got a lot going for it, looks good, has great texture and whatnot. But I do not like the taste one little bit.
Brain was never on the menu as far as I'm aware, and these days with the threat of BSE, I think you'd want to have none of your own in order to eat them.
I seriously doubt you could even buy it here.
Liver, well, who doesn't like liver. Pan-fried, leave it a bit red, and it's just delicious.
Heart is alright, wouldn't be high on my list though.
Tripe looks vile and it's smell and texture on the tongue are even worse. And yes, it tastes awful, like a mixture of snot and earwax.
Oh, I nearly forgot tongue. It's actually nice, not great, but nice.
I don't think I've eaten any other organs, never had lights for instance, and never had sweetbreads either. 3573. Magoseph - 1/26/2006 12:32:45 PM Mac, did you ever have lamb's brains? 3574. alistairconnor - 1/26/2006 12:57:59 PM Since I started eating meat again, after a 20 year break, it's the offal I like best. Liver and kidneys mostly.
Eating with Spanish colleagues has its comical moments. I have no Spanish to speak of, and their English is good enough for technical stuff, but gastronomically challenged. The other day I ordered what I thought would be a steak, and I was alarmed because it covered the whole plate. It turned out to be a very thin slice of liver (presumably of a large ox, or possibly an elephant), fried, in sauce with onions. Delicious.
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