Hot-Smoked Pheasant Breast with Bacon and Sage
Tender pheasant breast is rubbed with an aromatic bacon-sage spice blend and then hot-smoked. Beechwood gives the lean meat a deep, golden-brown crust with a savory finish. A classic game recipe with Mediterranean influence.
Ingredients(for 1 kg)
Instructions
Preparation
4-5 hoursWash pheasant breast, remove tendons, and place in the brine (30 g salt per liter water) for 4 hours. Remove, pat dry, and rub all sides with the bacon-sage rub. Rest in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
Preheat Smoker
30 minutesPreheat the smoker to 110-120 °C. Add beechwood chips and a few fresh sage sprigs to the smoke chamber. Ensure sufficient smoke is developing before placing the meat inside.
Smoking
2-3 hoursPlace pheasant breast in the smoker and smoke until a core temperature of 74-76 °C is reached. After the first hour, optionally baste with a little melted bacon fat. Check core temperature regularly.
Resting & Serving
10-15 minutesRemove the finished smoked pheasant breast from the smoker and loosely cover with foil, resting for 10-15 minutes. Slice across the grain and serve.
Pro Tip
Pheasant breast is very lean and dries out quickly – never cook above 76 °C core temperature and optionally baste with a little melted bacon fat during smoking.
Glossary Terms
Save this recipe to your smoking journal?
With Curination you can scale recipes, track projects, document by voice and browse over 1,269 recipes.