h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My great-uncle who was a bit of a poacher around the estates of Suffolk and always insisted you needed to hang a pheasant, "'til the arse fall out of it." His pheasants always had an incredible gamey flavour which is sadly missing from the fresher varieties which taste little more than glorified chicken. Sadly these under-hung pheasant seem to be all I can find in shops or when dining out.

Here's an outside link talking about hanging:

http://www.honest-food.net/blog1/2008/11/27/on-hanging-pheasants/

Pheasants can be very tough unless hung for a few days, The action of enzymes in the flesh starts to break down the collagen in the muscles. That is to say they certainly shouldn't be rotten. If your pheasant has stinks or has maggots or both get rid of it.
I hang them for 4 to 5 days in a cool but not cold place.
Then I dress them and refrigerate or freeze if not eaten immediately.
One tip. If I am going to make pate or casserole then I skin them which is a lot easier and quicker than plucking. If you are roasting then you have to pluck them and that is fine.
Adrian

The recipe leaves out the preparation problems because it depends so much on the provenance of the bird, the country you live in & etc.

If the bird was very fit in life, it will be tough and you will either have to hang it or you will have to cook it far more slowly than this recipe suggests.

I don't have a solution - these can be wild birds or nicely farmed. This is a formula that I have developed in cooking over about 8 attempts from my source in inner London. People picking up road-kill off the back lanes in North Yorkshire will be needing their own ways.

Things are different in the provences they tell me.