My wife likes the taste of pheasants. But she does not like the fact the legs and drumsticks are tough.
Do any of you have a recipe to make phesant tender?

Let your dog chew on 'em a bit. Nice and tender....

Cut the leg tendons and remove with pliers. I did that for a season or two....

Dave -
One of the things I like to do with pheasants with to take the breasts and legs (usually from two or three birds) and put them in the crock pot covered with water to which I have added rosemary, cellery and onions. I cook it for 6 to 8 hours before taking the pheasant from the pot. Once the meat is cooled I debone and shred the meat (removing shot, tendons, etc) into a container. I also set aside the "broth" after pouring it through a stainer into another pot.

I use the broth to make "pheasant" soup using your favorite chicken soup recipe replacing the chicken with generous handfuls of pheasant.. I was the meat for a number of things such as chicken cacciatore. Another quick favorite is to sautee onions and mushrooms, cover with thick mushroom soup adding a couple handfuls of meat. Pour over pasta, serve with steamed veggie, fresh french bread, and glass of wine.

I also make a "chicken salad" for sandwiches with the meat. Once the meat is cooked and deboned there is really no end of the things that can be done with it to produce quick and favorable diners.

Tight lines
Curt

You have seen Tye do that. It's not pretty. I cringe when I hear the sound of bones breaking. Still working on the tenderizing thing.

Old-fashioned hard mouth cure (and other gun dog stuff)
http://www.bdarn.com/DJ04/page13/

Just pull the legs off and can them. Throw the rest of the birds into crock pot with cream of chicken/mushroom. I've also filleted the breasts off, pounded them thin, coated with flour/spices and made pheasant picatta which is lovely. Just don't overcook.

Pheasants are crock pot birds.

I can eat ducks rare, but for some reason pheasants aren't as good.

I have been eating a lot of upland game in the past 15 years or so and I think I can help here. Several things you can do Dave. Recently, I have been freezing and storing the majority of my upland game. So at the end of the season I might have 10 to 15 pounds of breast and legs. At the end of the season, I thaw and debone all the meat and grind it with the matching amount of chicken legs and thigh meat. This way you get 20 to 30 pounds of ground bird meat that can be substituted in many different meals. Most folks that turn their noses up at wild game meals dont find this ground bird burger to be "gammy" or tough and it has the tasty fat that pheasants do not produce.

Pheasant meat becomes tough when it is heated too fast or the temperature differential between meat temp and pan temp is large. The people here that say a crock pot is good is because it is a slow gradual heating of the meat and the meat will be tender. I have also cooked them in a smoker nice and slow and the leg meat will come out tender as well. I usually brine the meat in a salty brine with a few extra spices of choice. Then smoke in a 225 to 250 degree smoker, with whatever chips you like (I use a cherry alder mix for just about everything), until the bird reaches a safe temp and moisture content. Takes a couple three hours or so.

Most frying pan recipes will end up on the tough side. You can fight it a little by letting the meat come up to room temp first and then put it in a room temp pan and then bring it to cooking temp. Hope this helps.

For whole birds nothing beats "Set it and forget it"

shake and bake . i like the barbecue

Dave, lots of good advice. I thought I was the only one who would save the legs/thighs for soup/etc.

Back when I tried to kill every pheasant on the planet, I'd freeze the legs/thighs all hunting season. Like mentioned above, I'd simmer them for a few hours making an awesome stock. De-bone the meat, and cook big batches of home made "pheasant noodle soup" with home made egg noodles. It was great!

I plan to try several of the ideas here. Thanks everyone. I did not add to my phesant inventory today, but plan to on friday.

Beer battered pheasant strips are da bomb also...........