Blogger Deana Sidney of Lost Past Remembered is dedicated to discovering, replicating and adapting historic recipes. She’s also a big fan of game meats and creates elaborate dishes with game birds, which she always insists are easier than they look. With wild Scottish game birds finally in season, it’s a fitting time to share some of her best game bird recipes. Look for further Making History posts for hard-to-find classic recipes.

This one is for Pheasant Under Glass, a recipe that we sometimes get questions about. The dish was once the height of haute cuisine, but it leaves modern cooks puzzled.

Deana studied the recipe, including the famous entry in Vincent Price’s cookbook A Treasury of Great Recipes, which he got from Antoine’s restaurant in New Orleans. While Price may be most remembered for acting in iconic horror films, foodies know that he was an accomplished culinarian as well.

To read the entire post and learn more about Vincent Price’s culinary expertise, and voracious appetite for recipes from famous chefs, plus a little history of pheasant under glass, click over to Lost Past Remembered. Scroll down for the recipe.

Ingredients

1 whole large pheasant breast from D’Artagnan, split and boned (Duck or chicken would work too) *
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons unsalted butter (plus 2 T for sautéing livers)
6 dried morels
1 T brandy
1 T Boston Bual Madeira from Rare Wine Company
2 large shallots, peeled and chopped
2 shitake mushrooms, sliced
2 small crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 tablespoon plus 1 t. brandy
1/3 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup heavy cream
2 T demi-glace
1 small truffle, sliced or a few drops of good white truffle oil
Pinch cayenne pepper

pheasant liver (optional, if you have one, mine did not)
2 pieces toast (optional)

I used arugula for a garnish and loved the flavor with the rich sauce… you may want to use it as an edible side dish.

Preparation

1. Flatten pheasant breasts slightly with a mallet or rolling pin, then rub with 1 tablespoon of the lemon juice and season with black pepper.
2. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter over medium-high heat in a 9-inch skillet. When it foams, sear the pheasant, skin side down, about 5 minutes per side. Remove to a plate, cover and keep warm (raised pheasant breast is light like chicken and not like duck… ever so slightly pink is the ideal degree of doneness).
3. Steep the dried morels in ½ cup hot water, Cognac, and Madeira for an hour. Drain and strain them, reserving the soaking liquid. Discard stems and slice caps thinly.
4. Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet and sauté the shallots for 2 minutes, until golden, then add the morels and mushrooms for 5 minutes. Remove to a bowl and keep warm.
5. Boil the reserved soaking liquid with the brandy and white wine until reduced by 1/2, about 1 minute, then whisk in the cream and demi-glace and boil about 1 minute, until sauce is thickened and smooth. Whisk in the remaining lemon juice and the cayenne.
6. If you have one, sauté the pheasant liver in butter, season and add 1 t cognac and then spread on toast.
7. Place the pheasant breasts skin side up on your toast on a hot serving plate and top each with half the mushroom mixture, then the sauce and shaved truffles or drops of truffle oil.
8. Enclose with a glass cover. It is classically served with wild rice.

• You will have many pheasant bits left after removing the breast. What I did was brown them and cook them for 6 hours in 6 c stock at the lowest heat possible. I will be using the legs for a holiday cassoulet.