CookEat Recipe
McClellan Pheasant with Pecans and Pineapple
A flattened pheasant rubbed with a pecan-almond paste, broiled on both sides, then roasted over fresh pineapple under thin slices of bacon.
Method
Steps
Step 1
Use one tender, whole raw farm-reared pheasant, plucked and professionally cleaned. If frozen, thaw it completely in the refrigerator at 4°C or colder. Have the head, feet, viscera and spinal bone removed from this same bird. Open it through the back without separating the sides and flatten it gently. Do not rinse the raw bird; pat it dry with disposable paper. Lightly prick both sides with a clean larding needle and place it in a shallow dish, keeping it refrigerated until the paste is ready.
Step 2
Crack the twelve whole pecans and remove their shells and fibrous partitions, retaining all their kernel meat with its brown skins. Pound this meat with the eight shelled, peeled roasted unsalted almonds and the very finely chopped small shallot to a fine paste. Add the half ounce of softened butter, one light teaspoon each of Dijon mustard and salt, two saltspoons of paprika, one saltspoon of curry powder, half a teaspoon of finely chopped parsley and the strained juice from one quarter of a lemon. Pound together for about two minutes.
Step 3
Rub the pheasant all over with this paste and let it infuse for about 45 minutes in the refrigerator at 4°C or colder, rubbing it again several times. Keep any butter and paste left in the infusion dish refrigerated for the oven stage; it is part of the original mixture, not an additional dose.
Step 4
Heat a conventional oven to 350°F. Prepare an even, brisk charcoal fire without flames. Secure the pheasant in a suitable double broiler and broil it for about eight minutes on each side, beginning with the skin side toward the heat. Adjust the distance from the coals to brown the bird and its nut coating without burning them. Continue immediately to the oven stage; these times do not establish that the bird is cooked through.
Step 5
Peel a fresh pineapple and cut six slices, each two-thirds of an inch thick. Remove the eyes and tough centres. Lightly butter an ovenproof baking dish large enough to hold all six slices side by side with the flattened bird above them. Lay the slices in the dish and arrange the broiled pheasant on top.
Step 6
Lay the six very thin slices of raw lean bacon over the bird. Spread any butter and paste remaining in the refrigerated infusion dish over it before cooking. Roast uncovered in the 350°F oven for about 18 minutes, basting frequently with the pan juices. Extend as needed until the thickest breast and thigh meat reach at least 82°C without touching bone, the bacon is fully cooked and reaches at least 71°C, and the raw-contact paste and pan juices are fully cooked to at least 74°C. Do not add any raw-contact mixture after this cooking.
Step 7
Serve promptly in the same hot baking dish with all six pineapple slices, the bacon and the cooked pan juices.
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