We Ate Jeff...

Those of you who have read of my Pheasant Happenings, and even those of you who haven't, were interested in exactly how we prepared Jeff, so that we could eat him. First, I should say that I didn't "skin" him, Jim did. I couldn't stomach it having seen Jeff's expression before I inadvertantly sent him to the Pheasant netherworld. Not to mention, it was a stinky job and Jim was a willing soul. O.K. more than willing, he was eager. Perhaps it made him feel as though he went hunting that day and maybe he even imagined he shot the Pheasant himself in a brutal faceoff between man and beast. Doubtful, as I'm the imaginative one, but possible that it made him feel cool nonetheless to skin the Pheasant.

"Pheasant in a Crock," is originally a British recipe called "Pheasant in a Brick." It's been adapted, which I'm glad for, because I don't use bricks to cook.

Actually, the old British way of cooking the bird was to put him in "an unglazed earthenware clay pot that looks like a miniature metal drum turned sideways with a spout on the end." Apparently, the pot is called a "brick." Only guessing.

Here's the recipe as given by Beth Hensperger in "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook."

Cooker: Medium Roud or Oval
Setting & Cook Time: High for 3 1/2 to 4 1/2 hours

Ingredients:

3 to 4 sprigs of fresh thyme (I used the dried stuff, we already had it on hand)
3 sprigs of fresh parsley (again...dried)
2 cloves of garlic, one crushed the other sliced (We actually marinated our bird in garlic butter over night to give it a nice flavor)
One 2 to 3 pound Pheasant, rinsed and patted dry
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 Large Orange
4 Strips of smoky bacon or pepper bacon (we weren't picky, we used the cheaper brand, which I think was Honey)
1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil (veggie oil worked for us)
1/4 cup of chicken broth (we made ours with chicken bullion cube & boiled water)

Instructions:

1. Put the thyme, parsley, and crushed garlic inside of the pheasant. Tuck the garlic slices between the legs and body. Season the pheasant with salt & pepper. Remove the zest from the orange in long, thick, curly strips and lay them over the breast. Wrap the breast with the bacon and put the pheasant in the slow cooker. Halve the orange and squeeze the juice all over the bird. Put one of the squeezed orange halves in the cavity. Drizzle the pheasant with the olive oil and broth. Cover and cook on HIGH until the meat is tender and an instant-read meat thermometer inserted in the thigh registers 180 degrees F, 3 1/2 to 5 hours.

2. Serve the pheasant on a platter, with the juices poured over.