pheasant

[livarot]

erm... so i was told it was farmed. i still got shot pellets. plus, the bird is either really hairy/feathery, or it got hit with lots of shot, most of which passed through, because even the meat had feather bits. i was half grossed out. i was also worried because it smelled (raw) like a tamer version of grouse. but fortunately, cooked, it was ok

Comments

[livarot]

yeah, but i think if you have too much flour (and not enough liquid), then you still get a bit of the floury flavor, even if you do it roux style. because i made the roux, but i didn't add enough liquid afterwards. and i think if your liquid isn't strongly enough flavored, the flour flavor still comes through. the flour was pretty cooked. but i added milk as the liquid. today, i added bacon water & pheasant/duck broth. so it had a stronger flavor.

when i do the corn starch/flour combo, i make the roux with the flour, add the liquid. at some point, i add the corn starch (mixed with cold liquid), and then try to thin it out to the right consistency.

i've been making my roux with whatever fat happened to be in the pan, so butter is not usually what i use.

i tried the corn starch because i know someone who's allergic to gluten. so i was trying a substitute. and it sucked. she was asking for some gluten-free dessert (i sometimes bake cakes, but haha up until now, i just say, don't touch that. i tried to make something gluten-free once, but she said she didn't eat that, so... i've lost steam.), and i was thinking of inviting her over, but i add flour to almost everything, so i'm not sure what i could do. and i'm not sure she'd like "ethnic" food, cuz i could make rice instead of bread, and i could make three cups chicken, but i think that would not go well with her.

cooking birds or large chunks of meat is suuuuper easy. just get a digital thermometer probe that you can read outside of the oven (i.e. the probe is connected to wiring that is connected to a unit outside the oven that tells you the temperature), stick the probe in the meat, and wait for it to hit 165. i usually put it on high heat (450 or so) for 30 min, which browns the item nicely, and then turn it down to a medium heat (350 or so) until it hits 165 degrees. unless it's steak or something that can get cooked to a lower temperature. i never calculate times.

i just made pork belly. it was really good. crispy skin, very tender meat. yum. only ten bucks, fed three people, and there's still leftovers.

[livarot]

three cups chicken http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanbeiji

[sahn]

I didn't realize you had made the flour into a roux. I thought you just did a simple substitution (e.g. mix flour with water and add it to the sauce).

Somehow with poultry I feel less adventurous. Maybe it's because Alton Brown hasn't done any Good Eats episodes with game birds.

I've never tried making pork belly either. What is that? Uncut and uncured bacon?

[livarot]

hmmm... i guess i never thought of making gravy any other way (than roux or corn starch)

i also make cream of tomato soup with a roux base.

for bird, there are a few options. you can either brine it, but sometimes i feel like it ends up being really salty, and i recently started getting headaches. it doesn't taste salty, but i get really thirsty.

another option is to stick it in yogurt or buttermilk (live culture action). or you can do wine or vinegar (basically an acid).

i usually stick all sorts of random herbs in the mix. and let it sit for a day or a couple of hours. (if i stick sketchy herbs in the mix, i'll wash it off. lately, i've been trying to get rid of powdered wasabi, which is really gross, and i'm worried it'll impart too strong a flavor if i don't wash off excess.)

then baking it, just preheat the oven to hot. after thirty minutes, turn down the oven to warm. you don't have to worry about calculating times, etc., because your thermometer tells you when it's done. and sometimes, when i have guests that are late or hungry, i turn down (or off) or up the oven and just watch the thermometer.

after, i boil the rest in water to get broth.

pork belly seems to be a uk thing. it is the bacon part, with the skin, i don't think it's cured. they score the skin. i do the same thing as for the bird, except i don't pay attention to temperature; i do low (325-350) for 2 hours or so. i bought it a few months ago, and it was tough, but i think the pig wasn't fatty enough. or i didn't slow roast it long enough. but yesterday's pork belly was from another farm, definitely fattier, and the meat was much more tender. it was really really good. and the skin is probably a quadruple bypass, but it's super crunchy and good. i like nibbling on a little bit, but i didn't eat all of my skin or all of the fat (just some).

some of the recipes call for putting vegetables under the pork belly, but this time, i didn't do that. three hours of roasting got me a more than a cup of lard that i poured off before making my gravy. i scraped off the darkest parts (i was worried it would be bitter & overly burned), and then just made gravy in the pan.

i think you should try some whole birds. i don't rotisserie it or truss it up or stuff it much. i might stick a sprig or two of rosemary or sage. i try to put it breast side down, unless it refuses to stay, then i'll flip it over (some birds seem to have a really pointy breast bone). anything that requires extra effort gets cut out. i put the bird on my skillet, and that's it. one pan gets dirtied (although a couple of plates get sacrificed. you could do it with just one. i usually transfer the bird to a plate so i can pour off the excess oil easily and then make gravy. with the excess oil, i used some of that yesterday making a quick bread; instead of butter, i used the bird fat, which actually turned out fine.)

[sahn]

I've roasted chicken. I've been meaning to try brining chicken, but I've never gotten around to it. I should try to see how it turns out. I'm still not sure if I'm ready to try other game birds. The pork belly sounds delicious... I should try it some time.

[livarot]

i remember you doing the rotisserie, which is more effort than i can muster. i think sometimes my inherent laziness wins out. i was motivated to do a rotisserie once, then i read the instructions about needing to weight the bird correctly, and i gave up lol. but if it wasn't too bad for you, you could brine & rotisserie another chicken. or other bird. guinea fowl is really good--it's almost like a better chicken flavor, if you're worried about funky tasting birds.

if you want to brine chicken, make the brine a day ahead because you generally have to boil the water to get all the salt & sugar to melt. or i suppose you can get it to melt if you stick it in water & wait long enough. but then you might as well boil it & wait til it cools. if you do the 1 cup to 1 gallon, it's generally an overnight in the fridge. if you add more or less salt, you can do it for more or less time, in the fridge or not.

i really do like it, as it adds flavor and enhances the bird flavor.

i'm not sure where you can get pork belly in the us. i've never had it until i came here. i have the feeling it's either specially ordered, or it's made into bacon. it's reeeeaaallly bad for you probably--i mean, look at bacon, at all those slabs of fat. but it's suuuper good.

[sahn]

My toaster oven has a built-in rotisserie spit so it really wasn't that much work. I didn't go through the trouble of trussing up the wings and legs which was a mistake. And it turned out pretty good. I'll probably use the rotisserie again when I get around to doing the brining experiment.

[livarot]

it's not hard tying down the random bits of the bird. actually, when i buy the guinea fowl, it's already trussed up. they cheat & use elastic (which withstands high heat--your average rubber band might melt). i have cotton thread that i purchased for the purpose (you don't want to get something that's not food grade & end up eating something bad). haha, i think i bought it at williams & sonoma. you don't need to go to the most expensive cook store in the world to buy your string.

i'm pretty lazy when i truss up my chicken. i just make sure the bits don't flap around. i don't really try to tie holes close or rip out parts of the bird. but since i just stick it on my cast iron pan anyway, i don't need to truss. the pan catches all the oil & juices, and the guinea fowl is such an easy bird to cook, it's tender & juicy despite my bad handling. (in fact, there's one in the fridge now, in yogurt whey, salt, brown sugar, random spices)

with the oil, i've been doing something very very bad. i've been keeping it & using it to bake quick breads. it adds a nice flavor to it, decadent. i made date & walnut bread yesterday with chicken fat & bacon grease. the batter smells pretty bad (smells like the animal fats), but after baking, it adds a nice richness to the bread. yum!