Pheasant Suggestions

Any suggestions as to what to do with some pheasants ? We killed several the day after thanksgiving.

I kept two whole, and am brinning them now to smoke on the pellet smoker.

the rest I just cut the meat off the breast, and was thinking of frying them up like chicken strips....

We had a pheasant cooking contest at Chaney years ago.

I can not remember all the different ways the guys cooked the pheasants

But the pheasant that was cooked fried chicken style "won hands down"

everyone else's pheasant was almost to dry to eat.

CL is correct. Dry is what you want to avoid it will be rock hard about ten seconds after dry.

You can almost cook it with a match. Battered & Fried like chicken is probably the best way but I would start with maybe 45 seconds in hot oil, like french fry fryer. In cast iron I would experiment starting around 30 seconds.

You know how you cook quail? think along those lines. I never thought bacon wrapped....mebbe worth a try. I bet a duck recipe would be a good starting place.


California pheasant hunt in a cotton field north of Fresno. I missed every one but there were plenty to go around.

Sounds like "batter and fry" is the way to go.. My "health freak" wife may bake a few just to see...

Using a brine for birds will never hurt your feelings.

For birds I plan on seasoning when it's time to cook, I like to use a ratio of 1.25% salt & 1% brown sugar....all by weight. Use the total weight of the meat + the total weight of the water it takes to cover the meat.

Bring water to boil, add salt & sugar, allow to completely cool. Soak the meat anywhere from 4 hours to 2 days. Light rinse & pat dry before seasoning & cooking

we use it to make white chili

Pan fry it with lots of butter and garlic. After you are done pour the butter over the pieces on your plate.

A coworker brought in a dish that is still memorable even though it was at least 20 years ago. He cooked them in a crockpot with cream'o mushroom and served over rice. That was some of the finest wild critter I've ever et.

Boll Weevil":20s7rnh9 said:

A coworker brought in a dish that is still memorable even though it was at least 20 years ago. He cooked them in a crockpot with cream'o mushroom and served over rice. That was some of the finest wild critter I've ever et.

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add some chopped up onion and celery.

we do quail the same way. after its been cooking for a while the meat will fall off of the quail bones.

get a beer and spoon the quail. get a beer and spoon the quail. get a beer and spoon the quail, etc.

I cook and eat quite a bit of pheasant, my favorite to date is pan seared breasts in coconut oil with chipotle seasoning. Cook slow until lightly browned. That of course is my healthy version....if I wanna go all out....wrap them in bacon and put them in an smoker for a couple hours....mmmmmmmmmmmmm they are good!

I had saved two whole birds. My son brined them, then smoked them for several hours in the pellet smoker with a competition blend. Was actually pretty good, the skin was a little dry but I liked it.

i cut the meat off the breasts on the rest of them, and will play around with diff ways.

if the snow melts a little, i plan on making another trip out east to the plains, and get a few more(hopefully). If successful, I may pluck of few and save whole with skin on.

smoked red pheasant curry or more traditional pheasant thai curry with jasmine rice. warms the soul on a snowy day.

gtk":9347lytz said:

if the snow melts a little, i plan on making another trip out east to the plains, and get a few more(hopefully). If successful, I may pluck of few and save whole with skin on.

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Check out some of Hank Shaw's suggestions on pheasant. Looks like he's not a fan of the skin because it's so tough, but I'm sure it cooks better skin-on.