A Locally Grown Meal - Pheasant
I love pheasant, but sourcing it within a 30 to 60 mile radius of my home proved to be a challenge.
Now, If I was a hunter, like my late brother, Byron, I would bag one during the fall hunting season. Well, if I was able to shoot one, to be more accurate.
Pheasant, Chef Leon, his wife and my great friend, Lori and I decided would be the entree for our Locally Grown Meal.
Why pheasant?
Because we all LOVE pheasant!
Each of us told stories of our family hunting for the birds each fall. My brother would also add duck and goose plus deer to his fall hunting plans, but there was something about pheasant that made the meals mom prepared from the birds very special. It was also because I really didn’t like duck or goose. I ate those game birds sparingly.
My mom was a great cook so it wasn’t her preparation of those birds that made me not like it. I simply didn’t care for them. Nothing personal. But pheasant? Yes!
I loved hunting with my brother in the fall. My two sisters, Deb and Karen, would join me in a line with Byron in the middle. We would walk in tandem flushing the birds from the thick grass near our pasture. Our faithful dog Penny would rush up ahead to flush out the game. She was almost as excited as us!
Mom would prepare the bird, usually roasting it and sometimes baking it in a mushroom soup-based sauce.
Some years the pheasant populations were lower and others higher due to the fact that Minnesota winters can be harsh and pheasants are not native to the state. In fact, pheasants aren’t native to the U.S.!
The game bird was brought to the U.S. from China on March 13, 1881 by Unites States consul general Owen Nickerson Denny and his wife, Gertrude. they shipped around 60 Chinese ring-necked pheasants to Port Townsend on the ship Otago along with other Chinese birds and plants. The Dennys hoped to establish a population of the birds and plants in their home state of Oregon.
Most of the pheasants, however, succumbed as they were transported form the Olympic Peninsula to Portland. A few survivors were released on the lower Columbia River, but accounts differ as to whether the population survived.
More pheasants were shipped in 1882 and 1884 with successful population establishments into Oregon’s Willamette Valley and on Protection Island in Jefferson County near Port Townsend.
From there, the rest is history. While Kit Oldham’s account talks about Oregon, somehow those ring-necked pheasants were brought to the Great Plains. I don’t know how they arrived, but thankfully they did! And with weather conditions varying from China, the pheasants’ survival is dependent on shelter and weather conditions.
When Leon and Lori were traveling to a western North Dakota vacation destination several weeks ago, they sent pictures of wild pheasants they saw along the roadside.
The pheasants we consumed at our Locally Grown Meal, however, didn’t arrive from a North Dakota roadside. We purchased ours from Oakwood Game Farm in Princeton, MN.
Sourcing the bird
I had heard of several growers in our area who raise pheasants, but they sell to game farms and private individual sales of live birds. I looked on the Minnesota Grown website, however, and found Oakwood Game Farm. On their website, www.oakwoodgamefarm.com, under the “game products” tab, you can see the items they have for sale including fresh frozen pair (that’s what we purchased) and smoked pheasant. They also sell wild rice among other items. Check it out!
While Leon, Lori and I were planning to drive to Princeton (a five hour round trip for us…I was counting on a lunch out with them for this road trip…) we nixed those plans thanks to wintry weather! During the week we were planning the meal and needed to get the birds, we were expecting a major winter storm. We opted for Oakwood Game Farm’s shipping. The birds arrived to Leon and Lori’s house within a day or two of ordering and the birds were frozen, Leon said.
He thawed them in cool water. Instead of pheasant under glass, it was pheasant under water!
Chef Leon recalled the pheasants of his youth being prepared in a mushroom cream sauce, but he opted to roast these birds. First he put them in seasoned cornstarch then fried them in his wok before putting all the pieces into a baking dish with aromatics including Forest Mushrooms from St. Joseph, MN, onions, garlic and thyme.
Leon will be writing about the menu planning plus recipes in a future post.
But first, let’s give you the low down on our menu and how we sourced items for the meal:
We started with
Coffee in the afternoon! Mis Abuelos Plantation in San Sebastian, Puerto Rico is where the coffee is grown. Leon and Lori made this purchase direct in January 2023 while on a mission trip. While it’s not local by any means, it is fresh from the source, Leon says. And it was a great cup of coffee! He even ground some of the beans for me to take home. Ummmm, Leon! I’m just about out! Just kidding - it was great coffee and thanks for it! ——Also served with the coffee were cinnamon rolls made by Dave from the Fergus Falls Farmers Market.
The salad was made from greens purchased at Dutchman Organics of Fergus Falls. Dutchman Organics is like a food cooperative featuring locally grown items plus specialty items like gluten free, dairy free, GMO free, whole wheat, specialty flours and more. But back to the greens. The salad included a spring mix, spicy salad mix and pea shoots grown by Matthys Kroon of Fergus Falls. (More on Matthys’ operation in an upcoming blog post). The Salad dressing was a Caesar dressing from The Secret Garden of Park Rapids, MN. Again, all were purchased at Dutchman.
Wine Paring: Carlos Creek of Alexandria. It was an apple cranberry wine. LOVED IT! It has the tart of the cranberry.
Soup course: Beer Cheese Soup from The Secret Garden of Park Rapids, MN
Main Course: Roasted pheasant from Oakwood Game Farm of Princeton, MN
Side dishes: Butternut Squash from Dave and Janet of the Fergus Falls Farmers Market plus locally harvested wild rice from Paul Shol of Fergus Falls, MN; French bread baguette, broiled/toasted with lemon infused olive oil. The baguette was from Falls Baking Co. of Fergus Falls, MN and the lemon infused olive oil was given to Leon and Lori by Dave and Shawn Schneeberger of Fergus Falls. The Schneebergers discovered the Myers Olive Oil during a recent trip to Arizona. Thanks, Schneebergers!
Dessert was a salted caramel cheese cake from Peney Cakes in Fergus Falls, MN There were also chocolates from Terrier Chocolates in Fergus Falls, MN
After Dinner: Aperatif Limoncello by Far North Spirits of Hallock, MN. This was purchased at the Fergus Falls Municipal liquor store, but was also a great paring with the cheesecake.
Admittedly, finding local in Minnesota in mid winter can be challenging, but thanks to local businesses like Dutchman Organics (formerly known as Meadow Farm Foods) who support locally grown foods, it is possible!
Every item, while it may not have been local, had a story. And that’s what makes ventures like this exciting and fun! I enjoy the stories and finding foods with a connection!
We look forward to sharing more with you over the coming weeks! Stay tuned and eat local!