Pheasant rillettes

It goes without saying that we are all experiencing a very tough time in our lives at the moment, and our thoughts go out to every single one of you. However, in the midst of this darkness, many of us have found some solace and hope in cooking. Social media has been filled with baking, creating and generally fantastic content. While we know not all of you will have the necessary ingredients for the following recipe, we know a great many of you will, and so we thought we would share it with you.

Now is the time to delve into the depths of your freezer, starting with Pheasant Rillettes!

Ingredients

• Pheasant legs – I used 6 legs last time, but the recipe is very easy to scale up or down depending what you find in your freezer

• Fat – You will need lots of fat, ideally duck/goose fat, but this can be supplemented by a little olive oil if needed

• Salt – Coarse Maldon salt or grinding salt is perfect

• Garlic

• Rosemary

• Thyme

• Citrus peel – Lemon, lime, orange – anything citrusy will work. The leftover fruit can then be added to your Trevethan Gin and Tonic (Trevethan make our exclusive Schöffel Gin)

• Chop the herbs and garlic, then mix with the citrus peel.
• Sprinkle salt and half of the herb/peel mixture on the bottom of a baking dish – this should be small enough to be a snug fit.
• Lay the legs on top of the salt and then sprinkle over the last of the herbs together with enough salt to cover the tops of the legs.
• Cover and leave in the fridge for around 6-8 hours.
• Thoroughly rinse off the salt and pat dry with some kitchen towel.
• Place back into the cleaned baking dish and add enough fat to just cover the legs.
• Cook at around 80-100C for 4-6 hours. Once the meat is falling off the bone they are done.
• Remove from the fat and let the legs cool until not too hot to touch.
• Shred the meat from the legs into a bowl
• Add the reserved fat little by little until it is around 50/50 meat to fat – there is no hard and fast rule to the ratio – taste as you go
• Once you are happy with the mixture, smooth the surface over and pour a thin layer of fat over the top to seal it.
• Remove from the fridge about an hour before you would like to serve it, and serve on crackers, or toasted bread.