Smoked duck or pheasant........ help!

[manxman]

I have a good barter system going with a friend, swapping seafood I have caught out in the boat together with a range of smoked food such as brisket, cheese and smoked fish for meat.

This has ensured a good supply of fillet steak and a range of other goodies over the past few months.

They have now asked me to smoke a batch of duck (or pheasant) breasts for them, on the basis that I get to keep half!!

I have searched the forum for a few ideas and found a few references. This looks hopeful from Chez:

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">. Our favorite was to cold smoke the breasts for 3 hours, then traditionally pan fry them until the fat is rendered and the skin crisp. (Even learned you have to dump the rendered fat out of the pan or it won't continue to render.)<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">

Has anyone else got any ideas or suggestions, most of the references I found are 12 - 18 months old so perhaps there are others who have tried more recently?

Not sure if pheasants are found in the US, it is a common game bird in the UK.

I am away on business for a few days, but will be back Friday. Any help much appreciated. [:D][;)]

Manxman.

[tsquared]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Not sure if pheasants are found in the US, it is a common game bird in the UK.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote"> They are definately here in North America. I grew up spitting lead out of mouthfuls pheasant breast when I was a kid in Alberta. The pheasant population seemed to wax and wane according to the year's weather we were having. I know Chez hunts them, maybe Whitetailfan?
T2

[whitetailfan]

<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tsquared</i>
<br /> I know Chez hunts them, maybe Whitetailfan?
T2
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote"></font id="quote">
Not last year, but hope to get out again this year.  With a 2 bird limit, there was never a lot of pheasant to experiment with, and I never had my smoker when there was pheasant around.  I would recommend Chez's idea to cold smoke and then cook as you wish, just to add the flavour, but not cook the breast in the smoker.

Some people don't like any game, so they hide the meat in chinese food with overpowering flavours.  If this is you or your friend, then you could make CHaCheeB's out of them.

Also if you want I would try a brine to force in some extra moisture and then smoke cook.  You could eat them hot off the smoker, or eat later.  Smoked bird makes great sandwiches...


<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

[manxman]

Thanks you guys, depending on how many I get I may experiment with both hot and cold smokes, particularly after whitetailfan's comments.



Manxman.

[Chez Bubba]

Manx,

Duck & pheasant are two completely different critters, at least here. Cold smoking is my favorite for both however, for two completely different reasons.

With duck, the low smoker temps can't render away the high fat content within the amount of time it takes to cook the meat. It works with a pork butt because you've got an 8# hunk of flesh. What does a duck breast weigh, 6 ounces?

Pheasants have paper thin skin & virtually no fat. It's a lot easier to clean them by ripping the skin & all away from the meat. In order to hot smoke them, you'd need a bacon rain to keep them from drying out.

I've never brined birds so WTF may have a very valid point.

Good luck & let us know what you discover,

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?