FAISANS!  (Pheasants!)
Channel: slobomotion
Date: 2014-01-19

Digital video recording, comments and annotations copyright 2014 Lisa B. Falour, B.S., M.B.A.
cutecatfaith.com
Dailymotion:  LisaFalour
YouTube:  SLOBOMOTION, CUTECATFAITH

My spouse is away.  Since I didn't have to make the traditional special Sunday French lunch for him, I was free to go to Mass at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, and I dressed quickly, and warmly, and went.  After giving alms outside, I went to a cash machine and explored the famous greenmarket, which is open every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday morning, and which is inside and out and one of the largest in Europe.

I'd just seen an excellent pheasant recipe with Savoy cabbage on Scott Rea's channel, and have only made a pheasant at home once, when first here in France and not-too-long-married.  It was hard work to hang it a few days (traditionally, they are hung by the neck in a cold place until the body separates from the head, but I only hung mine two days) (and old recipes suggest getting some "eau de vie" down the bird's gullet first) and the plucking turned out to be quite difficult.  

I then cut it up and followed a fancy recipe which took hours, starting with the dark meat peaces, cooking slowly in a Dutch oven ("cocotte," a staple cooking pot with a lid, in France) and adding the breasts in near the end, as they dry out if you're not careful.  It came out great, but my spouse was not impressed.  He used to drink a lot, and besides that, wasn't interested in food.  I thought it was great, however.

Pheasant does not roast well, as it is dry, so must be braised to be at its best.

Now that the spouse hasn't had alcohol in well over a decade, he's into fitness and gastronomy.  I really wanted to try a pheasant again this Winter, as I'm working out my life/work situation and have the time, and it's been so long since I've had pheasant, anyway.  I was hoping to get a whole hen pheasant already plucked, but none were to be found.  Delighted to find a vendor who still had late-season pheasant for sale, I asked for one and it was only two euros!  Not relishing the prospect of having to hang, pluck and gut it myself, the wife then argued with me and said three were only FIVE euros!  She said two could be frozen whole, with feathers on.  SOLD!  

Omigosh!  What have I done?  But arent's they beautiful?  I firmly believe that everyone should try to hunt and fish, at least once in their lives, from an experienced teacher.  Whether you like it or not, it will give you a new appreciation of the bounty of our planet and how important the preservation of nature is, the beauty and dignity of the wild animals, and how we must never abuse plant, animal or human.  

Once you've fully processed an animal (I suppose even a fish will do -- I believe they are indeed fully sentient and feel pain in their own way, certainly) you'll be able to appreciate animals better.  Fine creatures.  Then, you get a new perspective on meat-eating, and might be more careful about how much you eat, which type, where it came from, under which conditions it lived wild or in captivity, and you'll fully grasp that what comes in the supermarket package didn't just appear like that.

I made clips of Mass at the Basilica, and in the market, too.  They will appear on this channel, my other here, CUTECATFAITH, and Dailymotion under "LisaFalour."