The Escoffier Series, Chapter 9, Game Concludes
We wind up the game chapter with particular focus on pheasant and quail. Game birds should get different cooking then our domestic chicken due to different muscle textures and doneness times.
At the end of the show we invent a recipe for pheasant supremes that will work also for chicken.
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The Escoffier Series continues with the conclusion of chapter 9, the game chapter.
The last Escoffier episode covered furred animals, mostly venison. Today we’re covering feathered game.
I’m going to go over some pheasant tips and procedures.
If you remember, game isn’t really game in the US as much as it is farm-raised game. The venison roadkill I got one time had a much stronger venison taste than the farm-raised stuff I served in restaurants. By extension, I apply that to pheasant. I’ve never had actual wild pheasant, but plenty of farm-raised pheasant.
Now, I will add that the quail that flew into my friend’s window tasted just like the quail from the purveyor. Maybe they’re just too small to taste like anything else.
Escoffier has some introductory information about birds I am going to cover.
A curious cook would notice that the procedures for pheasant vary significantly from some for beef and chicken. Perhaps the most famous beef dish is Tornadoes Rossini, which is a 4-ounce slice of beef tenderloin, cooked in a pan to medium rare, served on a crouton with a nice slice of cooked foie gras and a slice of truffle on top and sauced with a Madeira enriched demi glaze finished with truffle essence. That might sound complicated, and in some ways, it is. With all the elements at the ready, it is pretty easy to execute.
Escoffier’s pheasant procedures are, in most of the cases, substantially more complex. Anyone reading Tornadoes Rossini would see dollar signs and pick something else.
To be fair to Escoffier, he does mention that any dish suitable for a chicken supreme, the breast with the first winglet attached, is also suitable for pheasant and he’s not going to write them all over again.
Pheasant, from Escoffier’s treatment, gets lots of foie gras and truffles. And also a decent amount of cabbage in the form of cabbage or sauerkraut or Brussels Sprouts. I agree with this combination not only for pheasant but also for venison. Braised red cabbage is a great accompaniment for either one.
I read that part about hanging the birds to develop the flavor. At the Golden Mushroom, Chef Milos used to hang the pheasants in the walkin. Now, he had a deal worked out with the grower that whole birds would be sold to us. He tested if head up or feet up was a better way to develop the flavor. I don’t think we determined one was noticeably better than the other way. One funny moment was when the health inspector came. We cooks scurried about to get large stock pots to put the birds in and covered them with sheet pans. In that same walk-in were saddles of lamb hanging to age. These were commercial lamb so I guess it was okay.
At the Golden Mushroom it was my job to butcher the pheasant. Another fellow did the plucking.
I separated the breast cavity from the rest of the body. Removed the wishbone and the winglets, the drummy attached, and barded the breast then trussed it. Pheasant was on the evening menu. The cooks would then sear the barded pheasant and finish it in the oven, untie the strings, remove the pork fat, and slice portions of the breast as if it were a small turkey. That’s the reason for cutting out the wishbone. Easy slicing. The leg quarters were braised with apples, onions, carrots, juniper berries, red wine, and stock. Pheasant legs spit something fierce when they get hot and I had more than a few not small grease burns from those legs. It took about 90 minutes for them to be fully done and tender but boy howdy were they good. The pheasant main course came with one braised leg quarter and the whole thing got the braising liquid turned into a finished sauce. I don’t remember the accompaniments but spaetzle would be good.
There’s one other tip I want to share about pheasant breast that applies to chicken breast.
The restaurant often catered for parties at people’s homes. One such party wanted grilled pheasant breast supremes. To prepare the pheasant for this, Milos asked me to remove a piece of sinew from the breast. When cooked, it would be tough for the guests to eat.
The sinew runs from the shoulder part of the breast toward the sternum and is only about a third of the width of the breast. It’s nearer the breast bone than it is the back. Chicken has this too and in most cases, no one bothers with it. I’ve been taking it out for years.
Is it necessary? No way. It actually is creating non-edible waste. I add it to the stock or sometimes cook it and give it to the dogs.
When it is removed, you bisect the breast. I have one piece that resembles the first and a nub. That nub is pretty tasty, with a slightly different grain texture than the rest, and is not waste.
Game bird legs are tougher than the breast meat. Chicken is too, but we overlook that. Duck legs make great confit because the long slow cooking breaks down the tough muscle fibers. Half a roast duck was a huge thing 40 years ago but was certain to be horrible regardless of how impressive the appearance. For the leg quarter to be edible, the breast was sawdust. Gee, thanks. That’s why they buried it in a pint of sticky sweet sauce. Turkey has the same problem which you might recall from a few weeks ago. Goose, too, but Escoffier lists goose in the poultry part. Except for the goose making excellent foie gras, he likes only the young goose, and at that, not too much it seems.
Quail legs are not spared this problem for their puny size. Whole—because, really, what else are you gonna do—quail stuffed with something grain and dried fruit and trussed, served on more grain and a terrible sauce was how quail was served. They’re sorta cute on the plate but a challenge to eat. You can buy them, I’m pretty sure, in the grocery store. Braise the legs and saute the breasts. It’ll at least be cooked the right way for each kind of meat. At least a slow roast on the legs if braising 4 quail legs doesn’t suit you.
Escoffier does recommend deboning the quail from the back, stuffing them (forcemeat or foie gras for him), and cooking the quail in a casserole with butter and good veal stock.
I don’t agree with the web engine answers about game birds being marinaded. Marinades are acids and acids denature protein. That’s fancy speak for they break protein down. That’s how they make tough meat seem tender. A marinade literally destroys the protein. And, tender seeming meat. And the consequence. Broken protein chains mean less moisture held in the meat.
Now, there’s some complex science I’ll not get into which involves heat, which also denatures protein and water loss. Marinades do, or can, add flavor and can seem to make meat tender. They do not increase the juiciness of meat.
Milos was adamant that pheasant breast be cooked medium rare. I know that’s gonna seem odd to a lot of folks since we’ve been told again and again to cook chicken to be fully done. Duck breast also benefits from less cooking. Those Muscovy ducks mentioned in the poultry episode are amazing at medium rare. This is a serving suggestion. For flavor, it’s the right one.