I did a smoked pheasant today.
First, a 24 hour brine consisting of:
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup of Pickling Salt
1 can of unsweetened Apple Juice (46 oz)
1/4 Cup of Olive Oil
5 tbs minced garlic
2 tbs onion powder
2 tbs cayenne pepper
Then, rubbed birds thoroughly in olive oil and seasoned with Chachere's Creole. Since these were skinned pheasants, I draped them entirely in bacon.
Smoked with apple at 215 for approximately 3 hours with a Budweiser/Creole seasoning moisture tray.
Raw birds drying after brine:
Note that these birds came out of the "gumbo batch" because they were a little shot up. I decided to smoke them instead. I had to do a lot of trimming of the shut up areas, so there was 1 whole bird, 2 halved, and 1 quartered.
Oiled, seasoned, bacon wrapped, and ready for the smoker:
About half way through smoking-I really need to give the smoker a good cleaning
Finished still in the bacon:
Pretty good color, and decently moist for smoked pheasant:
I threw the legs in a crock pot with a 1/2 Budweiser 1/2 hot wing sauce to make them fall apart a little more. Anyone who regularly eats tendon filled pheasant legs can understand this process.
This was the first time I have smoked ditch chickens. I liked it and will try again, but I'll definitely use birds with the skin on next time. They were a bit on the dry side at 170, and I think the skin would help greatly keeping these dry birds moist.
First, a 24 hour brine consisting of:
1/2 Cup of Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup of Pickling Salt
1 can of unsweetened Apple Juice (46 oz)
1/4 Cup of Olive Oil
5 tbs minced garlic
2 tbs onion powder
2 tbs cayenne pepper
Then, rubbed birds thoroughly in olive oil and seasoned with Chachere's Creole. Since these were skinned pheasants, I draped them entirely in bacon.
Smoked with apple at 215 for approximately 3 hours with a Budweiser/Creole seasoning moisture tray.
Raw birds drying after brine:
Note that these birds came out of the "gumbo batch" because they were a little shot up. I decided to smoke them instead. I had to do a lot of trimming of the shut up areas, so there was 1 whole bird, 2 halved, and 1 quartered.
Oiled, seasoned, bacon wrapped, and ready for the smoker:
About half way through smoking-I really need to give the smoker a good cleaning
Finished still in the bacon:
Pretty good color, and decently moist for smoked pheasant:
I threw the legs in a crock pot with a 1/2 Budweiser 1/2 hot wing sauce to make them fall apart a little more. Anyone who regularly eats tendon filled pheasant legs can understand this process.
This was the first time I have smoked ditch chickens. I liked it and will try again, but I'll definitely use birds with the skin on next time. They were a bit on the dry side at 170, and I think the skin would help greatly keeping these dry birds moist.
