I've been given 2 pheasants, frozen but dressed and ready to cook. Nobody in the household wants to eat them is it ok to give them to cats. If so do they need to be cooked or can they have them raw. Thanks
bobby7
Joined
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17,659 Posts
Freezing doesn't eliminate bacteria - it stops them growing if you are keeping it for any length of time - but I believe it can eliminate some types of worm though not sure if that depends how cold your freezer is.
Pheasant is delicious - the first time I had one I realised if I had fed some to my father he would probably have said that was what chicken tasted like when he was a lad, back in the 1920s when chicken was a luxury.
Has the pheasant been drawn? You will have fun if it hasn't - I would be willing to ask a butcher to do it for me for a consideration, and to remove the feet & head. I've never plucked a bird but gather you need to avoid tearing the skin. I'm sure the tail and wing feathers will be great toys. If you draw it yourself, the heart, gizzard and liver are all highly edible for cats and the liver for us as well. Personally I would use the heart, neck & gizzard to make stock and lightly fry the liver to pop on a small bit of toast. So far I've always stewed pheasant in which case you could skin it instead of plucking - quicker and less messy. I plan on roast pheasent for Xmas dinner, I'm on my own so even a large chicken would be far too much!
The one thing about cooking it is it's very lean so you have to take great care not to dry it out. It's also very filling, that small bird (it will look smaller without feathers!) will feed 2 with quite a bit left over.
What I did once was to remove the legs and cook those long and slow, and take the breasts off and pan-fry them quickly. 1 bird, 4 meals.
Note I am thinking more of pheasant for your plate than the cats!
Pheasant is delicious - the first time I had one I realised if I had fed some to my father he would probably have said that was what chicken tasted like when he was a lad, back in the 1920s when chicken was a luxury.
Has the pheasant been drawn? You will have fun if it hasn't - I would be willing to ask a butcher to do it for me for a consideration, and to remove the feet & head. I've never plucked a bird but gather you need to avoid tearing the skin. I'm sure the tail and wing feathers will be great toys. If you draw it yourself, the heart, gizzard and liver are all highly edible for cats and the liver for us as well. Personally I would use the heart, neck & gizzard to make stock and lightly fry the liver to pop on a small bit of toast. So far I've always stewed pheasant in which case you could skin it instead of plucking - quicker and less messy. I plan on roast pheasent for Xmas dinner, I'm on my own so even a large chicken would be far too much!
The one thing about cooking it is it's very lean so you have to take great care not to dry it out. It's also very filling, that small bird (it will look smaller without feathers!) will feed 2 with quite a bit left over.
What I did once was to remove the legs and cook those long and slow, and take the breasts off and pan-fry them quickly. 1 bird, 4 meals.
Note I am thinking more of pheasant for your plate than the cats!
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