Korean Fried Pheasant
Serves
4
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Serves
4
Prep Time
10 minutes
Cook Time
20 minutes
Amazing recipe created for us by Gizzi Erskine, she says, Korean fried chicken is probably my most popular recipe. I normally do it with wings and an overnight brine, but I wanted to improve it, with more flavour from new marinade ingredients and make a user-friendly dish of tenders but made with pheasant breast.
The great thing about tenders is that they don’t need a long brine – unlike wings. I still do the “twice-fried” Korean cooking method where the tendered are fried over a low heat until just cooked, dried and then flash-fried on high, making them crisp and drawing out the juices to form an umami crust. Finally, they are tossed in an addictive Korean chilli sauce to coat the tenders, throw in sesame seeds and garnished with very finely sliced spring onions. Serve them the Korean way, piled into mountains alongside a stack of imported beer while watching sport or listening to music with pals.
Ingredients
| For the Dish | |
| 200ml x | Buttermilk |
| 1 x tbsp | Salt |
| 1 x tsp | Garlic Powder |
| 8 x | Pheasant Breasts, skinless |
| Oil, for deep frying | |
| 2 x tbsp | Toasted Sesame Seeds |
| 2 x | Spring Onions, green parts only |
| Flour Mix | |
| 6 x tbsp | Self-raising Flour |
| 3 x tbsp | Rice Flour |
| 3 x tbsp | Potato Flour |
| 1/2 x tsp | Garlic Powder |
| Sea Salt Flakes | |
| White Pepper | |
| Sauce | |
| 2 x tbsp | Gochujang (Korean chilli paste) |
| 2 x tbsp | Sriracha Chili Sauce |
| 4 x tbsp | Caster Sugar |
| 4 x tbsp | Rice Wine Vinegar |
| 2 x tbsp | Ketchup |
| 1 x tbsp | Sesame Oil |
| 1 x tbsp | Chicken Fat / Butter |
the buttermilk, salt, garlic and ginger together in a bowl. Add the pheasant and cover with the marinade, then leave in the fridge for 1 hour.
melt together the gochujang, chilli sauce, sugar, vinegar, ketchup, sesame oil and chicken fat or butter in a saucepan. Bring to the boil for a minute, then remove from the heat and set aside.
flours together in a bowl and season well. Take the marinating pheasant tenders out of the buttermilk brine, wiping off any excess with kitchen paper. Toss the breast, four pieces at a time, in the flours. Remove and set aside.
oil in a deep-fat fryer (or a deep saucepan or wok filled with oil a third of the way up its sides) to 140°C. Add the tenders and fry gently for 4 minutes, or until they are cooked through but have barely taken on any colour. Remove the breasts and drain on kitchen paper.
the temperature of the oil to 190°C and fry the tenders for a further 1-2 minutes, or until they are golden and cooked through.
in the sauce and 1 tablespoon of the sesame seeds. Sprinkle over the remaining sesame seeds and the spring onions (green parts only, sliced very thinly into rings) and serve immediately.
These are best eaten with your fingers and served with an ice-cold beer.