Soaking Meat in Fridge

[You]

How long do you let your birds soak?

How long is too long before one should discard?

Do you add anything to the water during the soak period?

 

[Allen]

24 hrs is enough, and yes...salt the soak water. It is one way of killing off any bacterial contamination. Doesn't have to be enough salt to constitute a brining for smoking, just enough to kill/prevent bacteria.

 

[camoman]

I might be careful about salting the water and assuming it's going to kill all the bacteria. There are many bacteria, halophiles, that actually love a salty solution, Staph. aureus is one example that can cause some pretty scary infections and diseases. The one thing you have working in your favor is putting the birds in the fridge. The cool temperature might be the only thing from promoting bacterial growth.

 

[DirtyMike]

Your normal flora contains staph. aureus. Soaking with salt water, in fridge, should be fine considering you're not eating it raw.

 

[MuskyManiac]

You have way more of a concern of contamination with factory farm raised birds. Why do you want to soak meat in saltwater? Would you do that to a steak? Give them a rinse, cook 'em medium at the most, and enjoy the flavor of the game.

 

[Enslow]

After cleaning and rinsing the birds i place them in a cooler with ice water and let them sit for a few hours, then i cut the meat off the bones and get them sealed up. Letting the meat sit in water for extended periods of time isnt the best thing for any meat. If you do leave the meat for a couple days in water make sure to rinse the meat again and pat dry prior to freezing.

 

[Account Deleted]

Why is this a moose thread?

 

[guywhofishes]

Brined fowl and pork is superior to unbrined. Brining involves more than just salt, isn't done for sanitation's sake, but is instead done to add moisture and enhance natural flavor. Google it people. Squirrel, pheasant, etc. benefit greatly from brining.

 

[deleted_account]

what's the purpose of soaking a bird in water?

ive soaked pheasant breast and duck breast in milk for a few hours in the fridge, and it seemed help help with gamey taste

 

[Enslow]

What do you use for a brine on pheasant guy?

 

[Kickemup]

When I had a well I used to clean birds and run water over them for a couple hours. Now I just cover with water and put in fridge over night.

 

[guywhofishes]

Cut pheasant into parts (thighs, breasts, back) etc and brine them in pasmokers overnight IF you are smoking them. Use half strength overnight or soak for only 4 hours if you plan to fry/bake rather than smoke.

a simple brine of salt, sugar, water also works just great for totally natural flavor but enhanced flavor and jucier. Good info and pasmoker's recipe here.

http://www.susanminor.org/forum/categories/brining-and-curing.13/

that susanminor archive has tons of good advice/recipes

I encourage everyone to brine, then flour, fry,and then bake pheasant thighs, legs, neck, back, breasts until tender in a covered baking dish. Eating tender juicy pheasant off the bone once will have everyone keeping the whole pheasants. The thought of people breasting them and tossing the rest makes me sad, like trolling.

- - - Updated - - -

My understanding is that chicken-like birds brine well but waterfowl is not improved, maybe even worsened, by brining. "Dark" animals like duck, beef, moose aren't helped.

 

[Enslow]

I leave the bone in the thigh and drumstick but have never left the bone on breasts. I should start doing that.

 

[NDwalleyes]

Over my years of guiding, I have handled thousands of pheasants. There are two reasons people soak birds. 1) To help remove any areas of blood clots, feathers, and shot that may be in the meat, this generally only takes less than an hour of soaking to prep them for cleaning and packaging. 2) To help remove any game tastes (some are more sensitive to this than others). Salt does enhance flavor, but remember that water follows higher concentrations of salt. Be very careful not to use too much salt in any brine or you will draw moisture out of your meat. I have heard of people using milk too.

The mistakes most people make, like muskiemaniac said, is over cooking foul. Over cooked is the cause of almost all "gamey" taste. I am willing to bet most have not tasted the true flavor of pheasant because they do too much prep work to the meat and follow that by over cooking it. Well cooked and cared for pheasant has a very mild almost earthy flavor without seasonings.

The other big mistake people make is not taking care of their meat. Just like deer hunting, get the meat cooled down ASAP. After a walk, take 2 minutes and rip the breast bone out of the bird and toss them (wings and all) into a cooler of ice in the back of your truck. Clean the guts off the leg portion, leaving some ID feathers/feet and throw them in too. Especially on these warm days, birds lying in the back of a truck all day, are going to taste bad simply because they spent the afternoon in the sun riding around in your truck bed geting dusty. Remember, you are going to eat these things so take care of them

The best pheasant I think is simply cleaned, soaked for 1 hour in 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup of soy, then seasoned with Lowrey's, prime rib rub or similar. Grilled to slightly rare. I like to dip my bites in a mix of sour cream and horseradish.

 

[Enslow]

I grill pheasant, geese, ducks, grouse, and partridge just like that ndwalleyes. The meat is very tender and delicious that way. I get grill very hot and start flipping as soon as i have the last piece on the grill. No more than 4 minutes total cook time on the grill.

- - - Updated - - -

I also cut the meat into small strips for this method.

 

[MuskyManiac]

Over my years of guiding, I have handled thousands of pheasants. There are two reasons people soak birds. 1) To help remove any areas of blood clots, feathers, and shot that may be in the meat, this generally only takes less than an hour of soaking to prep them for cleaning and packaging. 2) To help remove any game tastes (some are more sensitive to this than others). Salt does enhance flavor, but remember that water follows higher concentrations of salt. Be very careful not to use too much salt in any brine or you will draw moisture out of your meat. I have heard of people using milk too.

The mistakes most people make, like muskiemaniac said, is over cooking foul. Over cooked is the cause of almost all "gamey" taste. I am willing to bet most have not tasted the true flavor of pheasant because they do too much prep work to the meat and follow that by over cooking it. Well cooked and cared for pheasant has a very mild almost earthy flavor without seasonings.

The other big mistake people make is not taking care of their meat. Just like deer hunting, get the meat cooled down ASAP. After a walk, take 2 minutes and rip the breast bone out of the bird and toss them (wings and all) into a cooler of ice in the back of your truck. Clean the guts off the leg portion, leaving some ID feathers/feet and throw them in too. Especially on these warm days, birds lying in the back of a truck all day, are going to taste bad simply because they spent the afternoon in the sun riding around in your truck bed geting dusty. Remember, you are going to eat these things so take care of them

The best pheasant I think is simply cleaned, soaked for 1 hour in 1/2 cup olive oil and 1/2 cup of soy, then seasoned with Lowrey's, prime rib rub or similar. Grilled to slightly rare. I like to dip my bites in a mix of sour cream and horseradish.

I agree 100%. Mallard cooked medium rare at the most is very steak-like in both taste and texture. I bet a lot of people would have a hard time believing it's duck if they tasted it cooked right.

Sharptail grouse cooked medium rare to medium at the most is very flavorful as well and has absolutely no "liver" flavor that some speak of as well.

 

[You]

reading this, sounds like i soak my birds too long

i do salt on occasion, not always, and not a ton of salt. more like a half ton.

 

[deleted_account]

You =

Old time fboer's will know what I'm talking about. And you're welcome for my excellent detective work.

 

[Account Deleted]

You =

Old time fboer's will know what I'm talking about. And you're welcome for my excellent detective work.

No way! I will need confirmation on this.

1911's are far superior to Glocks in every way imaginable.

 

[espringers]

really? i never would've guessed. but, now that you've let the cat out of the bag, i will have to admit that the internetpersonalityattitudeisms are very similar.

- - - Updated - - -

btw... as another person so kindly noted in another thread where i mentioned FBO... "blah, blah, blah, something about living in the past, blah, blah, blah"