Food and Wine Pairing : A Sensory Experience

Pacific Northwest Menu 243

Food Item: Roasted Columbia Basin Pheasant Marinated in Grappa

with German Bread Dumplings

Yield: 6 servings (12 in a multicourse menu)

Ingredients for Pheasant

Ingredients for German dumplings

1 c (225 ml) grappa

1–2 oz (30–60 g) fresh thyme

3 bay leaves

Salt

Black pepper

3 whole pheasants

(^1) / 2 bottle Lemberger or other red wine
3 c (675 ml) veal stock
1 tbsp (15 ml) Dijon mustard
1 tbsp (15 ml) molasses
Salt
Coarsely ground black pepper
Cornstarch
Preparation
To make the dumplings, cook the bacon until crisp and drain
well. Sauté the onions in the bacon fat until tender.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Combine the
bacon, onions, and rolls. Soak them in the lukewarm
milk for 30 minutes. Add the eggs, parsley, and salt
and pepper to taste and mix well. If the mixture is a
little too wet, add some breadcrumbs to give it the
same consistency as a bread dressing for
Thanksgiving. Divide the mixture into two equal
portions. Roll each portion into tube shapes in clean
cloth napkins. Tie the napkin ends so that the bread
dumpling tubes are evenly distributed and firm.
Carefully put the napkin tubes into salted, barely
simmering water. Cook for about 25 minutes. Remove
from the cooking liquid and allow to cool completely.
Once cold, unwrap the napkins and place the cooked
dumpling tubes on a cutting board. Slice them into
(^1) / 2 -inch-thick medallions. Melt the butter and sauté
the sliced bread dumplings until golden brown just
prior to serving.
For the pheasant, combine the grappa, thyme, bay leaves,
and salt and pepper to taste. Marinate the pheasant in
this mixture for several hours or overnight. Preheat
the oven to 400°F (200°C). Remove the pheasant from
the marinade and season the cavity with additional
salt and pepper. Place in a roasting pan and roast for
1 to 1^1 / 2 hours until the meat is tender, the internal
juices run clear, and the internal temperature reaches
165 °F (75°C). Remove the roasted pheasant from the
pan and keep warm. Deglaze the roasting pan with
the red wine. Add the stock and reduce by half.
Season the liquid with the mustard, the molasses,
and salt and pepper to taste. Thicken the sauce to a
jus lie consistency with a little cornstarch mixed in
water. Split the pheasants in half and remove all of
the interior bones, leaving only the outer bones of the
leg and wing. Serve one-half of a pheasant as a main
course portion; cut the birds into quarters for a
smaller portion. Serve each pheasant portion atop
one or more sautéed slices of dumpling. Drizzle each
portion with sauce.
6 oz (170 g) bacon, small dice
3 oz (85 g) onions, finely diced
4–5 kaiser rolls, thinly sliced
(^3) / 4 c (170 ml) milk
3 eggs
1 tbsp (15 ml) finely chopped parsley
Salt
Pepper
Breadcrumbs as needed
2 tbsp (30 ml) butter
Fish Course This is a fish course with some characteristics of a light salad course. It
has a minimal amount of acidity, which allows it to be successfully served with wine. Cedar-
planking salmon is a traditional cooking technique derived from the Northwest’s Native
American tribes. Cedar planks can be purchased online or in many specialty cooking stores.
The cooking technique is really a combination of baking, steaming, and light smoking. The
cedar plank is soaked in water prior to using. The fish is placed directly on the plank and
baked in a hot oven. During the cooking, the moisture in the plank steams the fish and
provides a slight cedar-smoked flavor, while the top develops a firm baked texture. Many
restaurants serve the planked fish directly on the plank. In this case, it was presented in a
more ‘‘refined’’ fashion at this upscale event.