Smoking Pheasant

Smoking Pheasant

Pairs4life and Alistair (Mr. Pairs4life) were kind enough to give us some pheasant – I understand Alistair shot it a while back.

My plan is to make this meat tomorrow as the centerpiece of my first smoke of 2010. I consulted Gary’s Low and Slow, and though I didn’t see any mention of pheasant, I’m probably going to follow the basic approach of brining and smoking chicken that is recommended in Step #2.

BUT based on what I read in this thread, I’m wondering if smoking is the right way to go. Brining is mandatory, and the low and slow cooking approach seems good, but I’m concerned the birds may dry out. At the very least, I will wrap them in bacon…but I’m not sure if that will be enough to keep them moist.

Open to direction here.

David Hammond wrote: At the very least, I will wrap them in bacon…

sounds like a good plan, i have no tips, just wishing you luck, and Ill be following this thread to see your results.

I know you want to smoke this, but I can also recommend another preparation: borscht with pheasant.

The CIA Soup Cookbook has an excellent recipe for winter borscht with pheasant.

First, you make a stock with the pheasant (with chicken stock as a base - it comes out like a darker, deeper chicken stock) and then use it to make the borscht. Then you shred the pheasant and put it in the soup to finish.

I hadn't thought of putting pierogis in borscht either, but it's possible that any p-food in borscht yields delicious results.

David,

I would recommend brining, as you have, and following the basic Low Slow for chicken, ie butterfly the bird, pop out the leg/thigh joint and tuck the leg/thigh up over the breast as much as possible. Try not to lay the bird out entirely flat, tuck the breasts up against each other for more density.

Generous application of external bacon and, if the pheasant still have skin, a light application of compound butter under the skin will help keep the birds moist. If the pheasant is the only item on your smoker I'd suggest a slightly higher than typical smoker temp, 300 as opposed to 250. Keep an eye on the birds so as not to overcook.

As Kit says, in your provided link, do not overcook. I'd also venture Kit's recipe, he is both a BBQ man and avid hunter, looks delicious. Borscht with pheasant looks interesting as well.

Nice gift by Pairs4life and Alistair, hope it turns out well.

Enjoy,
Gary

Hi,

I have some pheasants in my freezer from a friend who didn't know what to do with them. I will be very interested in the outcome of your efforts.

Richmond Hunt Club offers pheasant breast omelets. I haven't been back to try those yet.

Regards,

G Wiv wrote:Generous application of external bacon and, if the pheasant still have skin, a light application of compound butter under the skin will help keep the birds moist. If the pheasant is the only item on your smoker I'd suggest a slightly higher than typical smoker temp, 300 as opposed to 250. Keep an eye on the birds so as not to overcook.

Birds are brining in a mixture The Wife developed of orange, onion, honey, vinegar, salt and some other stuff.

Had not thought about butter under the skin but will do that.

I am putting in a rack of Peoria Packing hot links, so I'm guessing the usual 250 degrees is right.

My intention was to follow lesson #2's stern "do not peek" rule until 90 minutes had passed, but I'll give the birds' a look-see after 60 minutes (though it seems a little unlikely that they'll be done that soon...still, drying out is a danger).

I've been trying to get one of my brothers to participate in the other wild game thread.
Later today I'll try to get him to comment here. I've had many kinds of smoked game including
pheasant from him that were outstanding. So far all I can get him to do is read some of threads
and use some of the recipes.The fresh smoked trout he makes are wonderful, from the spring
to the table in under eight hours.

Very much appreciate the advice.

The pheasants had been skinned, so that ruled out the compound butter approach; breasts looked nicely meaty.



We opened birds and bunched them up, per GWiv’s advice, and I was very liberal with the bacon (used about two pounds):



Birds and hot links are smoking up. Dinner in about an hour or so.

I guess we're actually having a little pheasant with our bacon. My daughter in Brooklyn, who will not be joining us tonight, sent me this vid:

One of the advantages of wrapping the pheasants in two pounds of bacon was that at the conclusion, I had a moist bird and two pounds of deliciously smoked bacon.



There was a lot of variety in the texture but birds were delicious throughout, a combination of their inherent tastiness, plus The Wife's fine marinade, the bacon and the smoke, a fine dinner.

Alistair had warned us about possible buckshot, but we detected none, though with all the fowl, bacon and five pounds of sausage there were a few leftovers that may contain metal, but no worries: this was food it was easy to concentrate upon while eating, so careful chewing was part of the deal.

David Hammond wrote:I guess we're actually having a little pheasant with our bacon. My daughter in Brooklyn, who will not be joining us tonight, sent me this vid:

Check out the license plate on the wall at :58!

Hi,

If you do not want smoke flavor, caul fat works very nicely for wrapping pheasants.

Tim

Below is part of an answer from my brother about pheasants. He also sent me some recipes in a strange format (tif).
If anyone wants them PM with a direct email and I'll send them. They are for Broiled Pheasant, Pheasant Pie, Roast Duck and Rice and Roast Mallard.

"I use several different recipes depending on how the pheasant was cleaned. Some people just breast them out,
some peel the skin off and some pluck the whole bird. I pluck the whole bird. All the fat is in the skin."

David Hammond wrote:
Alistair had warned us about possible buckshot, but we detected none, though with all the fowl, bacon and five pounds of sausage there were a few leftovers that may contain metal, but no worries: this was food it was easy to concentrate upon while eating, so careful chewing was part of the deal.

I was worried you would loose a tooth. I can't believe you found no buckshot. I guess Forrest must have been extra careful when dressing.

A friend who gave himself a new smoker for Christmas recently had a smoking-day party, and among the many things that got experimentally smoked was 1-1/2 lbs. of bacon (i.e., already smoked and packaged, and then smoked to cook, as with that in David's photo). Hence, while I have no doubt the pheasant was lovely, all I can see is that smoked bacon -- but that is enough to make me envy your meal. Yum.

pairs4life wrote:

David Hammond wrote:
Alistair had warned us about possible buckshot, but we detected none, though with all the fowl, bacon and five pounds of sausage there were a few leftovers that may contain metal, but no worries: this was food it was easy to concentrate upon while eating, so careful chewing was part of the deal.

I was worried you would loose a tooth. I can't believe you found no buckshot. I guess Forrest must have been extra careful when dressing.

If the birds were shot with buckshot then there would not be any birds left. Birdshot, yes. Buckshot, no. I think.

Indeed AngrySarah! Pheasant in the midwest are typically taken with #4 shot (on the larger end of the scale) to #7.5 shot (on the smaller end of the scale). Double-ought buckshot, I think, is .32 caliber (.32 of an inch in diameter) and would be most noticeable! However, any size shot is potentially a tooth-breaker. There is no "give" in lead....

David Hammond - thanks for sharing the wonderful photos of the smoked pheasant! I've always found the smoked bacon to be a wonderful "by-product" of smoking pheasant and quail.

Davooda

Chef John des Rosiers of Inovasi has a take on how to prepare pheasant: in a chowder.

Interesting that he feels the legs of the pheasant are almost indedible -- ours were very chewy, jerky-like, and though I liked them, much of the leg meat ended up in a soup.