Legs & thighs should be cooked separately from the breasts, Breasts are lean & delicate & are best cooked by sauteing with wine, garlic & a little butter, Legs & thighs are tough and fibrous, full of ligaments & tendons. They must be cooked for much longer to tenderize the flesh, the following recipe will give you “fall off the bone pheasant / chuckar legs that still like bird & not something which has been slow-cooked in cream of mushroom soup all day. Serve these alongside the breasts for an incredible game feast. Don’t forget to roast the pheasant carcasses to make some great pheasant broth.
8 Pheasant or chuckar legs / thighs
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Dried oregano flakes
Fresh ground black pepper
8 strips, thick sliced smoky bacon
¾ cup dry white wine
½ medium red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups mushrooms, quartered
2 T cornstarch mixed equal part cold water.
Season legs with the next 4 ingredients. Wrap each leg/thigh with bacon. Arrange on a shallow roasting pan, cover with foil & place pan in a preheated 450 degree oven for 1 hour.
Remove foil, flip over & bake until meat starts to fall off the bone, about another 45 min.
Remove leg/thighs from pan & keep warm. Pour some of the wine onto pan & scrape with wooden spoon to loosen bits. Carefully transfer liquid from pan to a skillet, add onion & garlic, cook for 3-4 min. Add remaining wine& mushrooms & cook until mushrooms are just cooked. Thicken liquid with cornstarch mixture, a little at a time. Place legs/thighs on plate and pour mushrooms & sauce over legs/ thighs
