1.5 kilos of pheasant, 300g of bacon fat, a pinch of salt, a pinch of black pepper, a pinch of four-spice, 60ml of brandy, three fresh bay leaves (chopped)five sprigs of thyme (chopped), pig’s caul (ask your butcher), 250g of cranberries, 350g of pork belly (minced), one white onion, the zest of one orange (blanched).
Debone the pheasant without damaging the breast meat. Cut the latter into even strips, together with the bacon fat. Put the meat into a bowl with the salt, pepper, four-spice, brandy, one chopped bay leaf and the leaves from one sprig of thyme. Thoroughly coat the breast-meat in this mixture and let it marinate for 24 hours the refrigerator. Soak an intact pig’s caul in cold water, then squeeze it out and wipe it dry. Place the minced pork belly, onion, remaining pheasant meat and orange zest into a box and stir in the cranberries. Season this with salt and pepper. Work the mixture well to make it homogeneous, adding the marinade in which the strips of bacon fat and breast-meat were steeped, and keeping the meat and bacon fat aside. Now line a round terrine with the caul. Arrange half of the forcemeat (minced pork belly mixture) in an even layer in this. Cover it with alternating strips of marinated pheasant and bacon fat. Top this with the rest of the forcemeat. Press down the caul on the contents of the terrine and trim it. Place a chopped bay leaf and two sprigs of fresh thyme on top and then cover the terrine with its lid. Preheat the oven to gas mark 4/180C. Place the terrine in a bain marie on the hob and bring it to the boil, then transfer it to the oven and bake it for 90 minutes. Remove it from the oven and allow it to cool. When it is lukewarm, remove the lid and replace it with a board, weighing this down by placing something heavy on top. Allow it to cool completely. Cover the surface with a fine layer of melted duck-fat and refrigerate it until needed. It keeps well for a few days. Turn it out of the terrine before serving it.