Game Season —– Whiskey Mango Pheasant

I would like to wish every body a happy Christmas and a wonderful 2014.

At dusk  on the 22 December which was a very windy stormy  night at -3 wind chill I chose to BBQ the Pheasant to finish my game section for the year . I marinated the pheasant in mango and whiskey for about 10 hrs. Pheasant can dry out very quickly so you have to be careful and keep it moist . This was a wild pheasant that comes from one of the Irish estates . When I was spatchcocking the pheasant and preparing it for the marinade I found a shotgun pellet in it . And that is good evidence that it was a wild bird. And something to bear in mind as you don’t want to eat a mouth full of buck shot so be careful when eating wild pheasant, duck or any type of game bird.

I used a cast iron pots lid to cook it in. This in turn was on top of the bbq grate. I did this for two reasons which was to protect the bird from drying out but also to trap the juices and keep the duck moist with all the whiskey and mango . I didn’t want the mango paste to burn from the exposure from the fire either. But this method still captures the nice smokey flavour from the BBQ. Almost like indirect cooking but still having it sitting in its juices and marinade.

Once I knew it was ready I put it skin down on the grate to brown of and give it that BBQ look. But be careful not to burn it or over do it as this will ruin your bird and it will be to dry. You want it to be moist .The charring that you see in these photos is just the mango  marinade/basting . But the skin has nice  grate marks that you would expect from a BBQ grate. As long as the flesh isn’t damaged!

And a little video clip of this Whiskey Pheasant adventure . I also had a nice sip of the Teeling Whiskey to keep me warm and when a mate heard I was doing the Pheasant on the BBQ he was here like a flash before the food was ready to take off the bbq. So we had a little pre – Xmass drink outside standing around the fire watching the Pheasant brown over the coals .  Enjoy your Xmass and thank you for all your support during the year.