Gamebird Gourmet: Chicken Fried Pheasant Gamebird Gourmet: Chicken Fried Pheasant

Learn how to make Chicken Fried Pheasant with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below.

Pull off Skin Batter Fry in Skillet Pheasant Sandwich Preperation

Since we are deep frying these we want them to be boneless and skinless breasts(you can do them with the skin if desired). In a pan or deep bowl lay out some regular flour and mix in the desired amount of Bloody Mary Wing Shake (choose your own seasoning but this is the best we have tried) making sure that the seasoning is well mixed in. Then in another bowl crack and beat enough eggs to coat all of your pheasant breast.

In a cast-iron skillet bring peanut oil up to 350°. We did this on the side burner of our Broil King Gas Grill so clean up was easier.

Process

Fully coat your pheasant breast in the flour and then move to the egg wash. Keeping a dry hand and a wet hand will help speed things along. After it has gone through the egg wash you can go back again to the flour and seasoning mixture for a thicker fried coating.

After all pheasant has been coated lay pheasant in the cast iron skillet filled with 350° oil and cook until 165°. You will know the pheasant is close to being done when it floats and turns a nice golden brown. Remove pheasant from oil and lay on an oil rack, giving them the ability to drip some excess oil.

Serve

We made sandwiches with lettuce, tomato, coleslaw, and Terrapin Ridge Farms squeezes and aiolis. These sandwiches were amazing but they would have been nearly as good if we had just cut them into strips and done “pheasant tenders” and dipped them into the sauces we put on our sandwiches.

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#tasty
#yummy
#pheasantsforever
#quailforever

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Wild Game Banner Gamebird Gourment Pheasant Snack Sticks

Learn how to make homemade pheasant snack sticks with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below

Pork Fat Grind Without Fat Protein Extraction Stuffing Snack Sticks Finished Pheasant Snack Sticks What Is A Snack Sticks?

Snack Sticks are a meat snack and semi-dried sausage that is stuffed into a smoked collagen casing and then hung in a smokehouse for cooking. Many Snack Stick will have a pH between 4.5 and 5.2 to give it some shelf stability and the classic tangy flavor. They are most often made from pork and beef but almost any protein will work when making a snack stick

Meat Block

10 lb of Pheasant Breast
2.5 lb of pork straight pork fat or 10 lb of untrimmed pork butts
1 Bag of Willies Snack Stick Seasoning 13.5 oz for 12.5 lb
1 oz of Sure Cure (Included with purchase) 14 grams for 12.5 lb
Water (2 lb per 25 lb batch of meat) 16 oz of water for a 12.5 lb batch

OPTIONAL Additives
1 Bag of Sure Gel 3 oz for 12.5 lb
Encapsulated Citric Acid 2 oz for 12.5 lb

Equipment

Weston #12 Butcher Series Grinder
Weston 44 lb Meat Mixer
Walton’s 11 lb Sausage Stuffer

Casing Preparation

We are using 19mm Smoke Collagen Casings which will fit easily over our 12mm stuffing tube. These casings require no preparation, simply take them out of the package and put them on the stuffing tube.

Process

Make sure your pheasant breast is properly trimmed and all bones have been removed. Start out with mostly frozen breast, we had it frozen to the point where we had to use a serrated knife to cut it into chunks that would fit down the grinder and that worked wonderfully.

Grinding

Make sure your plates and knives are sharp and lubricated with white oil. Grind all Pheasant breasts through a 3/8" plate one time. Then grind again through a 1/8’ plate and add pork fat at this point. The fact that it was still partially frozen sped up the 2nd ground significantly.

Pork Fat -

If you are adding just pork fat to your meat block you should add somewhere between 20-25% of the weight of your pheasant meat in fat. In this case that meant we added 2.5 lb and we added that while we were grinding, this allows it to start mixing in with the pheasant as it grinds. We also made sure the pork
fat was almost frozen to help it grind faster and better.

Pork Butts -

If you are adding pork butts make sure that they are untrimmed, meaning that they have a good fat cap on them and that the skin is removed off of the pork butt. You will be able to tell if the skin is still on by looking for small hair follicles if you see that then the skin is still on and you will need to trim that off while leaving as much fat as possible on the meat.

Meat Mixing

Next, you need to mix the seasoning and cure into your meat. To do this you can either use a meat mixer or do it by hand. Because this is a product that we are going to cure and smoke we need to achieve a high level of protein extraction so doing this with your hands is difficult but can be done. When using a mixer add the meat to the mixer, then the seasoning and cure and finally the water, you will want to mix in both directions until all seasoning and cure have been mixed in and you have good protein extraction. You will know that a good level of protein extraction has been achieved when the meat is sticky and tacky if you can pull a handful of it apart and it stretches that is a good sign.

Sausage Stuffing

Next, choose the largest stuffing tube that your casings will fit over and begin stuffing. Stuff until the casings are full and smooth but leave yourself enough room on the end to close with a hog ring.

If you can just faintly see a swirl pattern running down the casing that means you have stuffed them correctly if that pattern is obvious then they are understuffed which will lead to excessively wrinkled casings and an odd texture.

If you cannot see that pattern at all then you have overstuffed the casings and you run a risk of the casings popping when you hang them in the smokehouse.

Note

If you added Encapsulated Citric Acid or other cure accelerators you need to go directly from stuffing to smoking. If you did not use a cure accelerator of some sort then after you’ve stuffed everything the product has to be held in the refrigerator overnight to allow the cure time to work.

Thermal Processing & Smoking

Set up your smoker and hang your sausage on smoke sticks or lay on racks and smoke at
125F for 1 hour
145F for 1 hour
160F for 2 hours
180F until internal meat temp of 165F

When they have reached 165° internal temperature remove from the smoker and put them in an ice bath to bring the heat down and help set the casing.

A water bath is not sufficient for this, the water needs to be ice water or shower them with a fan pointed at the hanging sticks.

Cooling

Lastly, leave them out at room temperature for about an hour before vacuum packing them, this will ensure you don’t get additional moisture in the vacuum bag which would affect the shelf life of your meats.

Wrap up

The light taste of pheasant really makes finding pork fat instead of pork butts a big difference, the pork fat has little flavor and light color to it, allowing the seasoning and the pheasant to stand out!

Other Notes

Depending on your pH and your Water Activity your sticks might be shelf-stable but without a way to test this you should vacuum pack and refrigerate these and since these are wild game they wouldn’t be considered “shelf-stable” technically.

Watch WaltonsTV: Basics For Making Summer Sausage Shop waltonsinc.com for Bratwurst Seasoning Shop waltonsinc.com for Meat Grinders Shop waltonsinc.com for High-Temp Cheese Shop waltonsinc.com for Boning Knives

Wild Game Banner Gamebird Gourment Pulled Pheasant Sandwiches

Learn how to make Pulled Pheasant Sandwiches with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below

Trimming Pork Puller Adding BBQ What Happens With “Pulled” Meat

Whether it is Pork, Beef or Poultry “pulled” meat all works similarly. What you are wanting to do here is cook your meat for long times at lower heats BUT you want the meat to get much hotter than normal. So, 160° is done for most types of sausage, with a pulled product you want to cook it all the way up to around 200°! This is because you want all of the collagen and connective tissues to breakdown. This will let it tear apart easily and doing it at lower temps will stop it from burning

Meat Block:

5 lb of Pheasant Breast

Seasonings:
Chipotle Ranch Marinadel
Sweet & Tangy BBQ Sauce
Beer of choice

Equipment

Weston Slow Cooker

Preparation

Clean your pheasant breast, making sure all shot and feathers are removed. Then take the skin off of the meat, you should be able to pull it right off, if you are having problems with this try holding on to the skin with a paper towel to prevent the skin from slipping. Flip the breast over and you will see a tendon that should be cut out of the meat

Process

Place your meat in the crockpot and add your dry marinade of choice, then pour your beer (or other liquid) into the crockpot. Make sure all the marinade is dissolved in the beer and stir it thoroughly.

Cooking

Cook on high for 3.5 hours with lid on, then drain 90% of the liquid and “pull” the meat. If you have a Pork Puller this works just as well with pheasant as it does pork, for anyone who hasn’t used one of these they attach to your drill and it automatically pulls or tears your meat. Then, add in the desired amount of your BBQ, replace the lid and cook on medium for 30 more minutes.

Plate

Use tongs to create your sandwich, cover with more BBQ sauce or other condiment and enjoy!

Note

Swiss cheese slices would be excellent on the bun with this recipe.

Watch Waltonsinc: Pulled Pheasant Sandwiches Shop waltonsinc.com for Marinade Shop waltonsinc.com for Pork Puller Shop waltonsinc.com for Sauces