# Pheasant breasts



## chdolfnz (Nov 3, 2014)

Hello,

A friend of mine shot some pheasants and gave me the breasts to smoke..does anyone have any suggestions on a good way to smoke them?

I have a Green mountain pellet grill and was thinking maybe brining them and wrapping in bacon to help prevent drying out...

Any good rub to use?..and what internal temp should I shoot for for on the breasts?

Thanks for any info!!

Curt


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## sb59 (Nov 4, 2014)

No recipes, but always internal 165 with fowl!


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## mdboatbum (Nov 4, 2014)

Definitely brine them for a few hours. Any brine will do, and if you want to taste the flavor of the bird, keep it simple. Pheasant can dry out really easily, and the brine will help. As for the finished temp, if they're farm raised (IE: shot at a pay and play game farm) I'd definitely take them to 165. Salmonella and other nasties is the result of the living conditions and processing of farm raised birds, not an inherent trait of the birds themselves. So if they're wild, you can get by with a lower temp, say 155-160 to further guard against drying out. I'm kinda on the fence about the bacon wrapping. I know everyone swears by it, and it does offer protection from the ambient heat of the smoker, but I really don't think it ADDS anything in the way of moisture. Plus, if you eat the meat with the bacon still on it all you're going to taste is the bacon. Nothing against bacon, but if you want to taste bacon, just save the bird all the trouble and cook some bacon. I did a turducken style thing a few years ago in which I stuffed a pheasant with a chuckar partridge and then wrapped the whole thing in bacon. In my opinion the bacon pretty much obliterated all the effort I put into hunting,cleaning, deboning and cooking the poor birds.
Anyway, that's my take. Enjoy your pheasant!!


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