I don't parboil : too much flavor goes into the stock, and it's slow, anyway. I'll get to that. This is a good time to write down the whole nine yards -- and file it.
I've started soaking them overnight or so -- in plain water ; I don't want *any* avoidable salt. But I may change the water repeatedly. One benefit is that it makes a lot of the fell removable.
After soaking, I cut them up, rinsing off more hair than I could whole, and pulling off any fell I can. Drain in the dishdrainer and then wrapped in paper towel. Then I replace the paper towel with dry, put them into a plastic bag, and age them about a week in the refrigerator.
At that point, I've been freezing most of them ; sometimes cooking.
To cook, I put them in a pressure cooker on a rack, with liquid just up to the rack :water or stock, plus a splash of decent merlot or cabernet sauvignon (or other dry red wine that you mean to have with dinner), with a few peppercorns and a bay leaf under the rack.
Pressure them 20 - 30 minutes according to size & age , and allow to cool naturally: the idea is to have the meat not quite falling off the bones, so that it's still convenient to handle.
When cool, drain, saving the stock. Then refrigerate or go to the next step, as convenient.
That is to flour them, with paprika, black pepper, red pepper, garlic powder (not salt!) and some good herb -- I usually use tarragon -- in 1/4 cup flour. Brown in 1/4 cup of some mixture of butter and/or bacon grease with olive oil, drain, and set aside to keep warm.
Add the rest of the flour mix to the remaining oil/butter/grease, and brown lightly. Add in the stock, stirring constantly, to make gravy; you may need to add water, depending on how much stock you have. (I would not add more wine at this point.) When the gravy is done, add a tablespoon or so of heavy whipping cream, stir in, and return the meat to the pan. Hold on very low, or just turn off heat while you get the rest of the meal to the table.
Serve with brown rice, dressing (if you have some left over from a roast bird), corn bread, dumplings (gotta learn to make them!), biscuits, or whatever, plus a good salad (oil & vinegar, with some crumbled blue cheese sprinkled over, is good -- despite the salt in the blue cheese!) and the same wine that went into the stock.
VARIATIONS :
One of these days I'm going to try putting a tablespoon of curry powder, or Penzey's rogan josh seasoning, or garam masala, or some such, into that flour. Or maybe some chopped mixed nuts. Sometimes I put chopped onion into it, and simmer the gravy extra long ; I ought to try mushrooms ...