Roasted Pheasant Recipe (Cooked In The Field)

On this opening day of the season, we show you how to turn a pheasant rooster into a delicious meal right in the field.

Perhaps it’s the ritual itself — or the fact that fresh game will always taste better than frozen-then-thawed — but a pheasant rooster roasted the same day it was folded and bagged just tastes better. Or maybe it’s because it was first marinated in a bird dog’s mouth. More than likely, it’s all of the above.

Pure facts: Freezing any meat forms ice crystals in muscle proteins, creating tiny fissures. As a result, when thawed, meat loses moisture. All that liquid in the vacuum sealer bag upon thawing out is moisture lost versus if it were cooked fresh.

Moisture loss from freezing-then-thawing is the main reason we never want to refreeze any wild game, which is lean enough as it is and needs all the moisture it can retain.

But cooking a freshly shot bird over an open fire is an experience harkening back to our earliest days as a species when flint and friction was the only technology that mattered. The sport of hunting game, the activity itself, allows us to disconnect, to keep our forward-facing eyes perpetually scanning for the slightest hint of a tail in tall grass. Our gaze darts between field and dog, always watching our canine companion for the slightest behavior tick that says, “This is it. Get ready.”

Timesheets don’t matter in these moments. A phone sits silent in a pocket or in the glovebox of a truck. The only bars that matter are the ones we hum to calm a bird dog anxious for the day’s first flush. Then, we gather around a fire with the friends and family with whom we are blessed to spend the day — few things compare to this.

A freshly roasted bird earned by a steady dog and gun exponentially adds to the experience, I’d argue.

Roasting a game bird in the field is fairly simple but does require a few tools and the ability to adapt as necessary while cooking. Included here is a plucking guide — a plucked bird will have more flavor but also retain more moisture while cooking. For gear, you want to have a fire pit (or be able to make one safely with a ring of rocks), then the wood and/or lump charcoal, a lighter or other method for lighting the fire, a hatchet or ax to split wood if necessary, tongs to move and turn birds, kitchen shears, a carving knife and cutting board, and then potentially a Bluetooth-enabled internal meat probe like a Meater.

Yes, you can wet brine the bird if you bring a large water container with already mixed brine, though the easier method is likely to pluck, spatchcock the bird, then rinse off, dry, and liberally rub with your favorite spice mix.

Spatchcocking the bird — cutting out the spine and folding open the bird to flatten — means that you can use the underside, the breastplate inside the bird’s cavity, as almost a roasting plate. So, after you sear the breasts and flip, that bone beneath can sit on a bed of embers without the risk of burning the meat. This method allows you to slow roast the bird without needing a turning spit or a vertical poultry roaster. You could certainly still employ those too (don’t spatchcock if doing so), or you could also simply break down the bird and cook each cut (breasts, wings, thighs, and legs) separately.

Breasts are best pulled when 150 degrees F is the internal temp while wings, thighs, and legs require longer time for the collagen present in the meat to break down and turn to gelatin. Otherwise, if not allowed to cook for longer to tenderize, those wings, thighs, and legs will be rock hard when trying to eat.

The concept of cooking directly (or slightly indirectly) on coals is referred to as “caveman style.” You do want to use either wood logs or lump charcoal (which is just charred wood). Charcoal briquettes can produce more ash than desired.

Roasted Rooster Recipe

Ingredients (approximately 2-4 servings)

• 1 whole pheasant, plucked
• Favorite spice rub (I used Fire & Smoke Society’s Super Bird)
• Olive oil

(Optional brine instead of spice rub)

• 1 gallon cold water
• 1/2 cup kosher salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 6 ounces fresh ginger, smashed
• 1 fresh garlic bulb, smashed
• 1 red apple, sliced

Instructions

1. Pluck bird and spatchcock (cut out spine and fold open bird, cracking ribs a bit, so it rests flat).
2. Either brine or rub down with spice mix 1 to 2 hours before cooking. If brining, make sure you thoroughly rinse off brine prior to cooking. Do not rinse off spice rub.
3. Start a wood and/or lump charcoal fire, enjoy a beer … or two or three.
4. When ready to cook, place the flattened bird breast-side down on hot coals. Once decently seared, flip and move bird to edge of fire with feet pointed toward fire.
5. Try to rotate the rooster when it’s on its back so that either its legs or flanks (wings) are pointed toward the fire. Do not burn. The idea is to have either the legs or wings absorbing the most direct heat.
6. We’re not concerned with the inside bones in the cavity of the rooster (the underside after spatchcocking) getting overcooked, as those bones serve as a hardened layer between heat and meat.
7. If you’re using a Bluetooth-enabled meat probe (such as a Meater), you can temp check the breasts. Once they reach 150 degrees F, you can pull the rooster and carve off the breasts. At this point, if the legs, thighs, and wings are still tough, you may wish to carve them off and add them back separately to the fire.
8. The breasts are done when the internal temp reads 150 degrees F, while legs, thighs, and wings should be closer to 190 degrees F.
9. Enjoy! Reach out to me on Instagram (@WildGameJack) with any questions or comments.

Quick Plucking Guide

• Do not field dress ahead of plucking as incisions in skin could lead to tears while plucking.
• Start with the hackles (the pretty, larger feathers around collar of bird). These are the “meatier” feathers near the breast. Use thumb and forefinger. Pull with the grain (path of least resistance).
• Next pull breast feathers against the grain. If you encounter resistance, go with the grain.
• Hold bird by drumette, slowly spin and pluck sides of bird.
• Pluck wings. May need to pull larger feathers out with a fist.
• Hold bird by feet, spin and pluck legs and thighs.
• The back is the least and last priority. If cutting out the spine to spatchcock, you don’t need to be as thorough when plucking the back. (I also cut off the tail no matter what, so I don’t worry so much about pulling every tail feather unless saving them.)

Editor’s Note: This article originally appeared in Carnivore Magazine Issue 10.