It's that time

[Wyoming53]

Originally Posted by isabel

I have never eaten elk, or pheasants. I have had deer. But they must of cooked it wrong because it tasted really gamey. Does pheasant have to be cooked in a certain way? We have lots of wild turkey around here. In fact I have to have the kids chase them out of the neighbors veggie garden. They are elderly and the turkeys come in their yard by the dozens to eat up the garden.

Buying a Butter Ball for our gang usually a 24 pounder. If I can find it.

Izzy

The gamey flavor has nothing to do with how it's cooked and everything to do with how it's processed.

Take beef. If you kill it today, butcher it tomorrow, it's going to be the worse tasting stuff you've ever eaten. Rancid is the best way to describe it.

Kill a beef today and the butcher will hang it for 16-21 days in a cooler. This brings the beef up to Choice or even prime rating.

People go out and shoot a deer and the first they do when they get home is cut it up. Or they take it to a local butcher and have him cut it up. He's so busy he processes it after only hanging 1 or 2 days. You got the gamey flavor.

I hang my deer for 12-14 days, depending on size. White tail deer is only 12, but a big muley will hang 14. Elk, 16 days but I half it first.

Pheasant, I'm going to deep fat fry it. haha I do all my turkeys in a fryer so I figured I'd try a pheasant that way. So, no, I don't stuff it. Can't in the fryer. But I do make stuffing on the side.

[Wyody]

I don't think you can really take the wild out of pheasant. It becomes a talent of sauces that both compliment but also relegate the wild taste of game birds.
With deer/elk, it also matters if you drop a standing animal with a clean shot. If it is allowed to run, the male hormone speeds thru the body, giving the meat a musky taste. Also, if you hit that sucker in the gut, the meat will not be so good. Thus, the famous "heart-shot" - which drops the game in it's tracks ... then, proper field-dressing (preparing the carcass - 'nuff said? [you don't wanna hear]). Then - on to the science of hanging and curing or smoking which Fi'ty has laid out really well.
To me, Elk is the best. Especially the liver. So dense you won't believe you ate cow before. (what we call "slow-elk").

[Wyoming53]

I agree, getting the wild out of pheasant isn't something that can be done. You can cover it, but can't get it out. But I like the wild taste in pheasant, so it's not a problem with me.

[Wyody]

Growing up, my Ohio Thanksgivings were often a morning walk in the cleared cornfields, first dusting of snow on the ground, 12 or 16 gauge on the shoulder. Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang. Picking BB's outta the meat and asking my aunt to include it with the rest of the layout. Once I hit Wyoming, it became a morning walk on the already frozen Alpine "Tundra", 10 or 12 gauge on the shoulder. Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang-Bang. Picking BB's outta the goose and duck, looking for someone with a big enough oven to cook both at once alongside the Turkey ... except in this little patch of Utah - where an old-timer introduced pheasant in the 50's - and they survived and took root so, in Huntsville, Utah, Pheasant can be a reality. The rest of our side of the Rockies has no pheasant. Chuckers and Quail though.
Oh, I am so looking forward to my imitation-turkey for thanksgiving. My oh My oh My!