Pheasant

[miles]

Hey today I got two pheasants for £4 from the butcher, they were hung outside the front of the shop.

I only dealt with one today. Its skin was already going green in some places as I inspected under the feathers and did some plucking, is this normal? Anyway I just plucked along the backbone and then cut down there to take the skin off. I took ages preparing it, and cross-contaminated a lot as well. After like 1-2 hrs I started eating some. The bacteria which caused the skin to be green was now going crazy on the breast though. Parts which had any of this greenness tasted strongly of it(I avoided it from the smell anyway, but I accidentally ate too closely to it a few times and got a taste of it), so I only ate from the inside of the breast and it was REALLY nice... the nicest meat I've ever had. On the other side of the breast though, it looked like cabin fever(film)... It was the side of the breast where the projectile had entered(I never found it btw), and it was all red, had congealed blood and seemed eaten away(wasn't green like from bacteria). I was pretty distraught by this point, feeling so bad that I was wasting this animal's life. I didn't give a shit about the £2 it cost fucking hell... I really needed someone to guide me for the first time doing it - that would be most natural... The first time I should even just be able to watch someone else doing it.. ah well. So I wasted a load of this bird... From the inside I only ate the heart... I didn't know what else was good, what was what or anything. I was fucking tired though anyway when I was doing this... I actually went to sleep right after.. Stupid state to be trying to do this in for the first time, but I didn't want to leave them to go off...

I hadn't planned to do this today but it was the first time I'd been at the butcher when they'd had all this fresh wild stuff.

I need any advice anyone can give me, as I've got the second one to do next and I don't want to waste any more... Any kind of advice, relating to anything I've mentioned..

[RawZi]

    I'll try to help here.  Get two - 2 liter size wide mouth mason-type jars.  Take the skin off the animals.  Don't bother cutting up the breasts and thighs.  Take the meat off the bones.  Put all the skinless meat into the jars.  Refrigerate that.  Are there feathers on it?  Are there a lot of organs inside?  If there are no feathers, changes are they dipped it in very hot water too.  Do you know how the animal lived?  I mean, what it ate?  Maybe you should throw the skin to animals to eat, or bury it.  The bones, you may want to take the marrow out and use it.  Refrigerating them, they may not stay good very long.  If there is fat on the bird, maybe you should store that in a separate jar too.  The meat and fat may degrade differently, so separate spaces may help.  Good appetite!!  I would love to try pheasant   Eat in good health.  I have a farm chicken in one of those jars here.  I'm taking it outside to air tonight, and eating it tomorrow night.

[miles]

It's a whole, wild pheasant.

[Haai]

Just take out the feathers and then eat it. Everything is edible...doesn't matter if you don't know what each particular part/organ is called.

[RawZi]

    They're pretty.

    If it has something like a gall bladder, don't eat that.  It might be primarily green.

    The brains should taste nice.

[yuli]

But don't thow out the feathers they look cool.
Use them to make something ornamental (=

[RawZi]

the feathers they look cool.
Use them to make something ornamental (=

    I used to do that, make lots of crafts with pretty feathers.  Great idea, maybe some kind of headdress.

[laterade]

How did that heart taste? Feel?

[miles]

was tiny, smooth, tasted very good. The breast was the best though.

   I used to do that, make lots of crafts with pretty feathers.  Great idea, maybe some kind of headdress.

Cool.

But don't thow out the feathers they look cool.
Use them to make something ornamental (=

Well I had a male and a female so I could make us each a gender-appropriate headdress =)

[yuli]

......Well I had a male and a female so I could make us each a gender-appropriate headdress =)

Now that would be total paleo fashion!