The Magic Of Brining
 | Author:
Eileen Clarke - Rifles and Recipes
Author: Rifles and Recipes |
The Magic of Brining
Eileen Clarke
Rifles and Recipes
Several years ago, brining became a big thing. Every cooking show and magazine was urging us to brine our commercially grown holiday turkeys—so they’d be more moist—for 2-4 hours. Well, I don’t see that much anymore, and I don’t see that those force-fed, baby turklets needed much brining in the first place. But wild game birds are not turklets tripping over grain-filled troughs. As bad a wing shot as I am, I’ve still brought home some pretty cool rooster spurs over the years and, while a brine won’t do much to tenderize the spurs, brines are pure magic when applied to the flesh of wild game birds. (Not to mention any tough elk, deer or moose meat lurking in the freezer.)
The best part is that brining is also simple, but it does take more than the turklet’s 2-4 hours to work its alchemy on older, working-class birds. Give wild birds 24-48 hours and they’ll be tender, ready to cook them quick and hot and, with all the extra hydration the brine added, you’ll have a little fudge room just in case you overcook them. All good points. As for flavor, despite the sugar in the brine and honey in the sauce, this is not a very sweet recipe and, as long as you don’t add more salt before you’ve tasted the finished dish, I’ve never found brined meat to be overly salty.
Tangy Pheasant Breast
Serves 4-6
Ingredients
For the brine:
4 cups cold water
2 tablespoons Kosher or non-iodized salt
2 tablespoons brown sugar
Boned breasts of 3 birds
For the cooking:
3 tablespoons oil, in all
1 yellow onion, chopped
½ pound fingerling potatoes, sliced in ½-inch rounds
1 teaspoon dried leaf thyme
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon coarse ground black pepper
½ cup Pinot Grigio (or other dry white wine, no oak-aging however)
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
Brining
Combine the water, salt and sugar in a gallon-sized resealable bag and shake until the salt and sugar are diluted. Add the boned breasts and refrigerate for 24 hours before cooking.
Cooking
1. After you have brined the pheasant breasts for 24-48 hours in the fridge, preheat the oven to 500°F.
2. In an 8 to 9-inch cast iron skillet, or baking dish, measure 1½ tablespoons of the oil into the skillet. Dredge the pheasant breasts in the oil, both sides.
3. Toss the chopped onion and sliced potatoes in a plastic bag or large bowl with the rest of the oil and the thyme, salt and pepper. Pour that mixture over the pheasant breasts.
4. Combine the wine, water, Dijon mustard and honey in a small bowl, and give it a good stir. Pour that over the pheasant breast and potatoes.
5. Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven for 25 minutes, until the pheasant registers 170°F internal temperature on a meat thermometer and the potatoes are tender. Serve immediately with a green salad.
*The 4 cups cold water, 2 tablespoons non-iodized salt and 2 tablespoons brown sugar are enough for this recipe, but if you’re feeding a crowd, multiply the brine as many times as you need to make sure all the meat is submerged loosely—more swimming in the brine than sardined into a can. (If you are diabetic, the sugar is optional, but I always feel one thing game meats are missing is the sweetness of good fat. So I add it.)
Going turkey hunting? Check out Eileen’s book Tenderizing the Wild: Marinades, brines and rubs. And keep the thighs and drumsticks. That book has several suggestions for making every tidbit of that turkey tender and delicious. https://www.riflesandrecipes.com/406-521-0273. (100 recipes, spiral bound for easy reading while cooking.)
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PhotoCredit: Photo Credits: Eileen Clarke
Image 1 Caption: Tangy Pheasant Breast
Photo Credits: Eileen Clarke
