To poach a pheasant, put some brandy-soaked raisins in a black cone...

Oh, wait, sorry. Cover the breast of the pheasant with fatty rashers (pheasant, unlike goose, is a dry bird), and stuff the inside with an onion spiked with about 20 cloves.

Put some water in a container in the oven to make sure the bird doesn't cook too dry. Cook it hot and fast.

It's nice served with rowan jelly (boil rowan berries with water, a sharp apple and sugar, then strain off and boil the liquid again) or with apple-and-onion sauce (cook chopped onions in butter till soft, add chopped apples and a teaspoon of red wine vinegar, cook till the mix is red and delicious-looking).