Roasted Pheasant with Gravy and Cornbread Stuffing

The recipe steps below may seem lengthy, but they are indeed simple and, for your convenience, I have provided a summary of how to properly roast a pheasant below. Placing ice packs over the breast while the bird sits at room temperature for an hour will help both the legs and the breasts to reach their ideal temperatures while roasting. Without this step, it’s possible to overcook the breasts to get the legs just right, or to have the legs underdone when the breasts are perfectly cooked.

1 whole pheasant, dressed, plucked (~ 2-2½ lbs)
root vegetables, such as halved carrots
extra-virgin olive oil
spray oil

Brine:
1 gal water, cold
½ cup sea salt
½ cup white sugar
½ cup whole black peppercorns
1 cup fresh garlic, smashed
8 oz fresh ginger, smashed

Stuffing:
12 Tbsp. salted butter, mixed use
6 ribs celery, diced
1 medium onion, finely diced
6 oz Pepperidge Farm Sage & Onion croutons (cubed stuffing, they call it)
8.5 oz cornbread
2 (8 oz) cans water chestnuts, drained and chopped
2 (8 oz) cans mushrooms, sliced, drained
2¼ cup chicken stock

Gravy:
1¾ cups chicken stock
roasted pheasant drippings
roux: ½ cup flour and ¼ cup sunflower oil
1 tsp. Kitchen Bouquet Browning & Seasoning Sauce

Follow these brining instructions (including rinsing thoroughly), then pat dry pheasant and allow to dry in fridge for 6-8 hours.

Preheat an oven to 400°F (200°C/180°C fan, Gas Mark 6).

Assemble Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix according to box directions, spray an 8x10" baking pan with oil, and add mix.

In a cast-iron skillet (or oven-safe skillet), line up halved carrots or celery ribs so pheasant can lie atop while leaving space below the bird during roasting. Truss pheasant.

Place both pheasant and cornbread in oven. Cook cornbread until golden brown (12-15 minutes) and remove pheasant after 15 minutes.

Turn oven down to 325°F (165°C/140°C fan, Gas Mark 3).

Leave door slightly ajar to assist here. Lightly coat pheasant in olive oil, then return to oven. Set cornbread aside. Pheasant will continue to roast for 35-50 minutes, until internal temperature of breasts reads 160°F and legs are around 170°F-180°F.

While pheasant roasts, in a large skillet heated on medium-low, sauté finely diced onions in 1 Tbsp. of butter until slightly soft. Dust with salt and pepper, then add diced celery and sauté, stirring often, for a few minutes. Add another 1 Tbsp. of butter, melt and deglaze, then add contents of skillet to a very large mixing bowl.

Melt remaining 10 Tbsp. of salted butter. Take care to not burn the butter. In that same very large mixing bowl, add all ingredients for stuffing and crumble in the cornbread. Mix thoroughly. Spray a large baking dish with oil and then add stuffing from bowl.

Cook stuffing for 45 minutes. When adding stuffing to the oven, spray the pheasant with oil.

In a separate pan or skillet heated on medium-low, add ½ cup flour and ¼ cup sunflower oil (vegetable or Canola oil works, too). Monitor closely and stir often as roux browns.

In a separate medium pot, heat 1¾ cups chicken stock on medium-low. When roux is the colour of wet sand (~ 20-30 minutes), carefully add roux to the heated chicken stock (beware the steam and boil when adding - don’t burn yourself). Stir thoroughly and add 1 tsp. browning mix. Turn heat to low.

When approximately 10 minutes remain for pheasant roasting, pour 1 cup of white wine over the bird.

Remove pheasant when breasts read 160F on an internal meat thermometer and legs are close to 170°F-180°F. Place pheasant on carving board and cover with aluminum foil.

Deglaze drippings in skillet with a little bit of chicken stock, then add the drippings to roux-chicken stock mix to create gravy. Stir thoroughly and if still slightly bland, add ½ tsp. of browning mix.

Allow pheasant to rest 15 minutes before carving. Serving with stuffing and gravy.

Makes 2-4 servings.