Herby Pheasant Sliders

Prepare the Muffins

Mix all the ingredients except the butter together to make a dough. Work the dough in the usual way, to develop a smooth and stretchy dough. Allow to rest in a covered bowl until it has doubled in size.

Roll the Dough

Knock the dough back and roll out on a floured surface, until it is roughly 5-8mm thick. Cut this into rounds using the pastry cutter.

Allow the rounds to prove a little, around another 5 minutes, before starting to cook them.

Cook the Muffins

You need a pan you can trust on a medium low heat – allow it a few minutes to heat up and settle in, and then add a teaspoon or so of butter to the pan. Allow this to melt, and then add in the muffin rounds, being careful not to drop them in and flatten them.

Allow to cook for around 3 minutes, or until they are starting to set up nicely, and then flip them over to finish the other side (without adding extra butter) for a further 2 minutes. Gently lift the cooked muffins from the cooking pan, and place them on a cooling rack.

Once cooled, they should be stored in an airtight container until ready for use, or they can be frozen and used at a later date if you want to make a bigger batch.

Prep the Pheasant

Mix everything together and then press roughly 20g of meat at a time into the cutter. I tend to lightly oil the cutter and the work surface, to enable easy removal of the slider once formed. Ideally you want these to be slightly less than a centimetre thick, and they need to be pressed in firmly to help them stick together.

Once all the pheasant sliders are pressed, they will need chilling for at least 20 minutes to help stop them falling apart when being cooked.

Cook the Sliders

To cook, you can choose a method that will suit your needs. They will grill very well, chargrill or barbecue easily, and are equally happy in a well trusted pan. The trick is not to overcook them – you don’t want them to be raw in the middle, nor do you want them to dry out, so keep an eye on them.

Serve your Muffins

Place one cooked pheasant meat patty into each muffin, and garnish as you see fit. I have kept things very simple by serving with a dipping bowl of hot sauce, but the sky is the limit – crispy onions, cheese, bacon, mustard etc. are all excellent additions to the basic slider. Just try and have some fun with them.