A crash course in pheasant preparation...

I love living in the country! Last weekend, as we sat having a pint in the pub, a chap came in from a day's shooting. A bit of chat ensued, and we ended up with a brace of pheasant!



Today we tackled preparing them for the first time (after hanging in the shed for 3-4 days). Having prepared many rabbits for the pot I have learnt the value of decent knives, for this job I selected a standard Mora knife by Frosts of Sweden, and a Leku by Roselli of Finland.





First take off the wings using the Leku.







Then the head








Then the legs, using pliers to ensure you get the tendon out too.
This was trial and error, not using the pliers I only got half the tendons out and broke the thigh bone.






Then you can remove the skin by just peeling it away












Clear the crop (you can check out its last meal if you want to)








Slice under the breast to open up the bird's cavity and remove the guts

Finally, cut off its backside, wash and voila!