Pheasant meat occupies an interesting intersection between fowl and game meat, very similar to the white meat from chicken but it’s flavor being more intense, which might give it a slightly gamey tone depending on how it was raised.
Pheasant has a surprisingly diverse array of vitamins and minerals, including small portions of calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, selenium, zinc, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin A, and folate. Like chicken, it has a fairly low fat content. Leaving it prone to drying out if cooked too long, at too high of a heat, or with intense dry heat.
So before you start trying to substitute pheasant for chicken in recipes you already know, here are some of the best cooking methods to get the most flavor out of these birds.
Pheasant is great roasted on the bone to help retain its moisture. To do this, set an oven to 250 degrees as this is as high as you want to go for roasting, and adding a pan of water in the bottom of your oven will make sure the birds don’t dry out or give the pheasant meat a long marinade with oil, garlic, and salt to give it more fat and juicy flavor.
Braising is perhaps the best possible way of cooking pheasant meat. Using a Dutch oven to hold the separated pheasant leg, thighs, and breast meat, you can cover them with a rich broth and allow them to cook slowly. This has the double benefit of leaving you with a richly-flavored jus after the birds are cooked. Add a little seasoned flour, and you can make a quick and delicious gravy to serve alongside the pheasant.
If nothing else, remember pheasant meat as being quite a healthy protein choice.