Want to smoke some Pheasant

[joseph maiers]

Has anyone out there ever tried smoking Pheasant? Let me hear some success stories!

 

[len shandruk]

I smoke my pheasant like I smoke a extra small turkey.
Good luck!

 

[venture]

I have enjoyed a lot of pheasant in my life, but never smoked one.

Very lean meat that would have to be handled very carefully.  Maybe some larding or strips of bacon in there.

Having said that, the worst pheasant would be better than the best turkey! 

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[peabody]

Had it smoked for the first time this weekend and I don't believe that ill be making pheasant any other way from now on. It was delicious!

 

[joseph maiers]

How did you do it? what wood? Temp? Time? Did you wrap, brine, marinate, rub, it? If you had success, I'd love to hear the details

Thanks

Joe the rook!

 

[peabody]

Joseph, my neighbor made the pheasant and it was literally the best that I have had. As far as all the ?'s you have about it I will have to get back to you on that on Monday night since he is at a xmas party out of town and not comin back to work til monday. I can also get the recipe for the brine that they used cause it was delicious and think everyone should give it a try.

 

[peabody]

I'll be seeing him sometime this weekend and will get the recipe from him.
 

 

[mdboatbum]

BRINE BRINE BRINE!!!

Did I mention brine? The best I've used is a simple brine made up of soy sauce and water. Any brine will work with whatever flavors you want. The Soy sauce brine just gave a really nice flavor, it seemed to go well with the mild gamey flavor. Pheasant will be terribly dry if you even think about overcooking it, so be careful.

I do hot and fast like any other bird. Apple wood is nice, but since Pheasant has more flavor it'll stand up to hickory as well. I've spatchcocked them and done them whole, and really with birds this small spatchcocking is almost unnecessary.

Wrapping in bacon is a little insurance against drying out, but if you get your temps right, it's not entirely necessary. For wild birds, you can get by with a little lower temp, maybe 150˚-155˚. For farm raised birds it's been suggested to take them to 165˚, as they are raised in pens and generally processed, leading to the possibility (albeit slight) of salmonella.

The last time I smoked game birds wasn't pheasant but Chuckar (partridge). I was at my in-laws and had only an ancient cast iron grill. It actually turned out to be a fantastic grill, but that's another story. Anyway, I did them indirect using apple wood chips. I had brined the birds for a couple hours in the aforementioned soy sauce brine.

This is a family of hunters who have been eating game birds their entire lives. Each and every one (except that one cousin who insisted they were undercooked) said it was the best they'd ever had.

So, in summary, the most important points are to brine and don't overcook them and you'll be fine. 275˚-325˚ for the smoker temperature.

 

[peabody]

http://www.familycookbookproject.com/view_recipesite.asp?rid=2380567&uid=31630&sid=64900 this is pretty close to the recipe. Didn't use ginger.

 

[joseph maiers]

Peabody,

I tried the recipe you posted and it was awesome!!! Everyone loved it including some of the people that don't normally eat wild game! The flavor was awesome! I used apple wood and put in some apple juice in the moisture pan of my MES 30. It was only 8 degrees when I started so I needed to give the MES a start. I will definitely do this again.

Thanks again - This site is AWESOME because of all the users!

 

[peabody]

Glad you liked it!