Smoked Pheasant Qview

[tacman]

A friend of mine from Minnesota stopped by earlier and dropped of a couple of pheasants for me.

Since the smoker was already on for the moose (meat) loaf, I thought...."Why Not?"

So I injected both birds and then brined them for 4 hours in a vacuum sealed container.

Smoked them for 3 hours at 250 until I reached an internal temp of 168 in one bird and 172 in the other (wind was blowing and one side of the smoker seemed to be warmer than the other....go figure)

Here is the qview....


Brined Pheasant Going in...


The Finished Product......


The dark meat came out tougher than I would have liked but the breast were perfect....tender and juicy....

 

[cajunsmoke13]

Nice birds Tacman...Man I miss eating pheasant...

 

[forktender]

Those look great !
Next time try this brine for a day, I like to brine wild pheasants for two days .
I use Morton's tender quick home meat cure . I add 3/4 cup of brown sugar per gallon of brine mix. It really makes the dark meat nice and moist and tender. I take the birds out of the smoker at 160-165 wrap in foil then wrap them in a nice thick towel for about 30 minutes.
Nothing better then cold left over smoked pheasant sandwiches with really sharp chedder cheese and ice cold ale.
Yum Time to thaw out a few birds.
Thanks for bring this up.

This works great with wild ducks and geese also !!!
Dan

 

[waysideranch]

Awesome bird. Very nice.

 

[beer-b-q]

Nice looking birds you have there.

 

[dutchoven]

If i have skinless pheasants should i wrap with bacon or will they not dry out without the skin?