Pheasants

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The pheasants we encounter in Scotland (Phasianus Colchicus) are neither native or truly wild. Indigenous to Mongolia, they may have arrived here with the Romans as ornamental birds and were certainly a common sight in Britain by the C10th but were virtually extinct again by 1700.They were reintroduced around 1830 as ornamentation for wealthy country estates. Presumably, the fact that they waddle about in manageable areas and only fly under extreme duress – and at a nice speed and height for shooting – is why the trigger-happy victorians soon started rearing them as game birds. Apart from the odd tough feral bird, almost all the pheasants you encounter will be bred and fed (via those blue drums you so often see attached to trees) by gamekeepers, farmers or shooting collectives. The pheasant shooting season runs from October 1st to February 1st.

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Male pheasant – hung and ready for skinning or plucking

You may occasionally spot black pheasants – these are melanistic (the opposite of albino), the result of a mutant gene. In bright sun these males can exhibit iridescent electric blue and green sheens that can be even more beautiful than the usual array of reds and golds of their more common relatives.

Pheasant and winter chanterelles – two foods that share colouration and habitat and complement one another in the kitchen

However you come by your pheasant, preparing them for the table can be a messy business. I prefer to skin them as plucking invariably results in a blizzard of superfine down drifting across the kitchen. Skinning can exacerbate the lean meat’s tendency to dry out during cooking, so its worth plucking outside and holding your breath for a while if you want to roast them whole.

• Recipe: Braised pheasant with winter chanterelles and root vegetables
• Edible beasties
• Winter
• Wild Food Recipes