This Pheasant Adobo is a perfect way to work with your tough pheasant legs!
If any of you fancy yourself a TikTok connoisseur, you may have stumbled across a guy named Joshua Weissman. Besides being funny as heck, he throws down in the kitchen. He recently made a Chicken Adobo recipe that looked absolutely amazing. I had to try it!
Being me, I made it with pheasant legs. Also, being limited to H.E.B. ingredients, I had to get a creative with some substitutes. If you look at his recipe, you will see that Joshua uses palm sugar and dark soy sauce. I do not have the luxury of having these ingredients, so, with a little research, I was able to come up with some fabulous substitutes. These substitutes make the recipe a little more accessible for the average Joe.
Another reason I wanted to try this recipe is because I’ve had Filipino food only once and it was delicious. I had a club teammate whose mom cooks up amazing food! If you are in the Houston/Deer Park area, she actually sells her food, and I would be more than willing to put you in contact. Ms. Analee is the best. If I was in Houston still, I would be her number one customer!
Anywhoooo… By marinating and braising the pheasant legs, plus letting them cook down for a bit, the legs became much more tender. The sauce that is created from the marinating ingredients is drool worthy. I honestly could eat the sauce and rice by itself, but the meat is an added bonus!
this recipe was a must and immediately moved to the top of my list of things I wanted to try out. I hope you give this recipe a try. It really tenderizes the pheasant legs and leaves them moist. Enjoy!
Pheasant Adobo
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 pheasant legs
- 20 garlic cloves heavily crushed
- 1/8 tsp crack of black pepper
- 3 T brown sugar
- 1 T black peppercorns
- 1 1/4 C unseasoned rice vinegar
- 10 T + 2 tsp C soy sauce
- 2 tsp molasses
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 1/2 C water
- 4 bay leaves
- oil enough to coat pan
- 2 T cornstarch only to thicken sauce if needed
- 1/4 C cold water only to thicken sauce if needed
Serve with:
- green onions
- rice cooked
- sesame seeds
Instructions
- In a large bowl, add the pheasant legs and the heavily crushed garlic cloves.
- Add cracked black pepper, black peppercorns, brown sugar, unseasoned rice vinegar, soy sauce, molasses, sugar, and water. Mix together and add in bay leaves.
- Cover with plastic wrap and marinate in the fridge for 2 hours, or ideally overnight. Save all marinated liquid!!!
- Set a 5 qt sauté pan over medium-high heat and coat with enough oil to cover the pan.
- Sear all the pheasant legs in batches on all sides for 3-4 minutes per side, or until browned. Place each batch to the side once done browning to avoid overcrowding.
- Add remaining marination (liquid, peppercorns, and garlic) to the pan (without the pheasant).
- Add the pheasant legs to the pan and bring to a boil.
- Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat to low and let simmer (covered) for 35 minutes.
- Uncover and flip the pheasant legs, cover them again, and cook for another 25-35 more minutes. Turn the pheasant legs over occasionally to thoroughly coat. Spoon sauce onto the pheasant regularly to get a nice glaze.
- If sauce doesn't thicken, combine 2T of corn starch with 1/4 C cold water and mix that into the sauce. This will thicken the sauce up nicely.
- Serve with rice and top with green onions and sesame seeds. Spoon sauce over the top! Enjoy!
