Cooking pheasant (and other well hung game birds)

[Jonny69]

I need some advice from all you country folk! My mum brought me up a load of game from her local farm shop. I've got 3 wild rabbits, 2 pheasants, 2 partridges and 6 pigeons. It's all from local shoots and all very well hung.

The rabbit I've been fine with. I butchered it, removed the sinews and made some pretty nice dinner with. I took it off the bone and casseroled the rear legs with leeks, garlic and cream. The front legs I slow-poached in olive oil with whole garlic cloves, a bit like the Italians do. The loins I wrapped in bacon and pan fried. It's pretty strong but rabbit is reasonably mild.

I roasted a pheasant tonight and served it with spring greens wilted in butter and roasted potato wedges. I made a sauce from a reduction of red wine, the cooking juices, cherries and butter to thicken. However, the pheasant has obviously been hung for some time and is incredibly strong tasting, so the sauce was no match for it. I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions?

I'm guessing the partridges and pigeons are going to be similar, so any suggestions for those will go down a treat

Prep-wise for the pigeons I'll probably take the breasts and legs off, pan fry the legs until cooked through and lightly pan fry the breasts so still rare in the middle. Not sure about the partridges. I don't think I've cooked or eaten it before and it's somewhere between a pheasant and a pigeon size wise. What is the meat like?