Sauté de Faisan

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •12 to 13 inch (30 to 33 cm) heavy stainless-steel sauté pan
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Oval serving platter and loose cover
• •Poultry shears or a narrow boning knife
• •Flat whisk

Instructions

1. 1

   Joint and dry

   Take the pheasants from the cold twenty minutes before cooking. Joint each bird like a chicken into two breast halves, two whole legs, and two wings; save the back and neck for another stockpot. Pat every piece thoroughly dry, then season with the salt and pepper. Warm an oval platter with hot water and dry it just before the first pieces are ready. A warm platter protects the rest without continuing to cook the breast.

   Ask the butcher to joint the birds if this is your first pheasant. Have the breasts left on the bone, which slows their cooking slightly and gives you a wider margin before dryness.
2. 2

   Sauté the dark meat

   Set a 12 to 13 inch heavy sauté pan over moderate heat and add 3 tablespoons of the butter. When it foams without smoking, lay in the legs and wings skin-side down, working in batches if they cannot sit without touching. Cook gently, turning every few minutes and basting with the butter, until the skin is hazelnut-gold, the wings register 165°F (74°C), and the thickest part of each leg reaches 165 to 170°F (74 to 77°C), about 14 to 18 minutes. Move finished pieces to the warmed platter. If the butter darkens too quickly, lift the pan from the heat and lower the flame. If its milk solids turn black and smell acrid, pour off that butter and restart with fresh butter; you may lose some fond, but not the supper.

3. 3

   Sauté the breasts

   Add enough fresh butter to leave the pan generously filmed, then place the breasts skin-side down over moderate heat. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the skin is evenly golden rather than fiercely crusted. Turn, baste continuously, and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes, removing each breast when its thickest point reaches 160 to 162°F (71 to 72°C). It should still feel springy and somewhat underdone when it leaves the pan. The covered rest must carry it to 165°F (74°C) before serving; if it does not, return that piece to the pan over gentle heat for a minute. Once a pheasant breast is dry, there is no clever sauce that reverses it. The thermometer is cheaper than regret.

4. 4

   Dish and cover

   Arrange the legs toward the center of the warmed platter, with the breasts skin-side up and the wings around them, in the manner of a poulet sauté. Cover loosely with a lid or foil so the meat rests without its skin becoming wet. Pour off the excess cooking butter from the pan, leaving the clean bronze fond attached to its floor. Keep every juice that gathers on the platter; it belongs in the sauce.

5. 5

   Build the short sauce

   Return the pan to medium-high heat and add 1 cup (240 ml / 240 g) of the poultry stock. Déglacer, meaning deglaze, by scraping every clean brown morsel into the liquid as it comes to a lively simmer. Add the resting juices and reduce until only about ½ cup (120 ml) remains and the sauce lightly coats a spoon, about 5 to 8 minutes. Short means concentrated and scant, enough to gloss the pheasant rather than drown it. If it becomes salty or too tight, loosen it with the reserved stock. If it remains thin, reduce it before adding the finishing butter.

6. 6

   Mount and serve

   Take the pan completely off the heat. Whisk in the 2 tablespoons of chilled butter, a small piece at a time, until the sauce forms a smooth, tawny emulsion with a clear gloss. If it separates into oily beads, don't pour it away. Ça se rattrape: put 1 tablespoon of cool reserved stock in a clean bowl, whisk in a spoonful of the broken sauce until smooth, then add the rest gradually. Confirm that every breast has reached 165°F (74°C), taste the sauce for seasoning, and pour it over the pheasant only as the platter goes to the table. À table!

Chef Tips

• •The adjective plump matters more than any pedigree. Choose compact young birds with full breasts and supple legs. If the only pheasant available is old, rangy, or badly shot, change the plan and braise it; the sauté cannot make a tough bird tender without drying it.
• •For the honest home equivalent of stock kept constantly on the fire, reduce good unsalted poultry stock until it tastes round and lightly gelatinous. Avoid heavily salted stock, because the short reduction concentrates every fault along with every virtue.
• •A light red with acidity suits the lean bird and buttery sauce. Choose a red Burgundy, a Loire Pinot Noir, or a mature Beaujolais rather than a heavy, tannic bottle.
• •Refrigerate leftovers within two hours and keep them for up to two days. Reheat the meat very gently beneath a spoonful of stock and add the saved sauce only at the end; hard reheating punishes pheasant twice.

Advance Preparation

• •The pheasants can be jointed up to eight hours ahead. Pat the pieces dry and refrigerate them uncovered on a rack, then season shortly before cooking.
• •Reduce the unsalted poultry stock to the required concentration up to three days ahead and keep it chilled. This removes the saucier's job from the final half hour.
• •Do not sauté the pheasant ahead. The sauce may wait briefly off the heat before its final butter is added, but the breast must be cooked, rested, and served in one continuous movement.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 250g)