If you're the kind of person that eats out at fancy restaurants, you may have ordered pheasant as a special treat.  If you live in the Midwest and have a husband/father/brother/sister-in-law/husband's uncle who hunts birds, you may have some in your freezer.  If you fall into the second category, the idea of pheasant may not be as exciting to you as if you were in the first.

I've tried lots of pheasant recipes over the years and only once did it turn out great.  Often it's tough, or greasy, or gamey, or a combination of all three.  The last time I made pheasant, no one would eat it.  Not even one bite.  Not even Marty.

So with two pheasants left in the freezer and my freezer-cleaning project in full swing, I decided that it was time to cook 'em up.  I found a recipe for a pheasant chowder that looked promising.  I made some changes and served it up.  I was prepared not to like the soup, then was pleasantly surprised when I did. 


The flavor was good, it was light and not gamey.  I think that the bacon added to the soup helped to hide enhance the flavor of the bird.  Even though the soup was good, I still don't like pheasant enough that I'd go out and buy some to make the soup.   But if I had some in the freezer, I'd definitely make this recipe again to use it up. 

A few things to note:
-This recipe starts out by making a stock - it was really easy and quite flavorful.  I made a big of the stock by using two birds and doubling the rest.  I'll freeze the remaining stock and meat and save it for another time.
- In this recipe, I only used the breast meat.  I found that while the rest of the meat on the bird was very tender, it was hard to make sure that there weren't any little bones or inedible bits that were mixed in with the meat.  The breast meat produced plenty for the soup.  I tossed the rest.
- Watch out for shot.  It does not make a good addition to any meal.

Print it: Pheasant and Potato Soup