When fall arrives in the mountains, hunting season begins and wild game birds like pheasant become readily available. Pheasant doesn’t have the same quantity of fat as other birds so it can dry out very quickly, which makes it a good candidate for confit— one of the oldest known methods for preserving meat. To make confit (pronounced cone-FEE), meat is submerged in fat and cooked very slowly at a low temperature.
This dish takes some planning: The pheasant needs to marinate overnight before cooking for 9 hours.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons coarse salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 pheasant legs (can substitute with duck or other wild or farmed game birds)
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 4 whole thyme sprigs
- 4 whole rosemary sprigs
- ⅔ cup duck fat (if you don’t have duck fat, use olive oil instead)
Preparation
1. Combine the salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub both sides of the pheasant legs with the mixture and place them in a large glass container or nonreactive baking dish. Tuck some of the garlic, thyme and rosemary under the legs and place some on top. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
2. In the morning, brush the rub off the pheasant. Reserve the garlic, thyme and rosemary.
3. Preheat oven to 200°F. Melt the duck fat in a small saute pan. Spread the reserved garlic, thyme and rosemary over the bottom of a Dutch oven. Place the pheasant on top and pour the duck fat or olive oil over it. Roast until the meat is very tender and pulls away from the bone, about 9 hours.
4. Store the pheasant in the fat it was cooked in; it will keep in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks. When ready to serve, scrape away excess fat, add 1 tablespoon of the fat to a saute pan and fry the legs skin side down, covered, over medium heat until crisp and the meat is heated through, about 6 minutes.
