As the principal cook in our household, I take the view that the Christmas Day cook should not be left isolated in the kitchen slaving over the hot stove whilst everyone else is making merry in the sitting room. The true purpose of Christmas can be served at Midnight Mass the night before, and the old pagan midwinter feast can be celebrated on Christmas Day, cooks and diners all together.
So to hell with the messy business of basting turkeys or draining fat off geese. Go for a casserole which can be prepared and part-cooked earlier in the day and returned to finish cooking for the last 30 minutes.
You could go for venison, but with pheasants at their best (and usually cheapest) towards the turn of the year, I would opt for my favourite Normandy pheasant casserole, rich with apples and cream. After canapés served with the drinks, and with Christmas pudding, mince pies, dates and nuts to follow, a good pheasant is enough for four, so you can double, treble or even quadruple the quantities below to match your numbers.
As always, planning pays off. First of all, make sure you have a big deep stainless steel lidded pan and an appropriately sized Le Creuset casserole with a well fitting lid. If not, give the kitchen a Christmas present and get new ones. You will never regret it.
If possible, get your pheasant from a good butcher, and make sure it has been hung for about a week. Frozen supermarket birds are best avoided, and plucking and cleaning a feathered bird is something of a labour of love, although I must admit that there are few nicer sights than pheasants hanging in feather in the garage or utility room.
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