(One of) my Christmas project(s)

[jenkinsbrynmair]

this season they seem to be quite lightweight around here.

sign of the times - many people who shoot pheasants now don't really care about eating the bird - it's all about bragging of getting the best shot of the day. pheasants are bread solely for speed and high flying to keep the target pluggers happy.
I can remember the first pheasant I shot, there was enough meat on the bird for me and my grandfather to have a hearty Sunday dinner and enough left over for a sandwich for my sister's tea when she came back from Sunday school.
The last one I shot - on an organised driven game shoot down West would probably have struggled to fill the sandwich.
Both were mediocre flavour wise

 

[Wilco]

sign of the times - many people who shoot pheasants now don't really care about eating the bird - it's all about bragging of getting the best shot of the day. pheasants are bread solely for speed and high flying to keep the target pluggers happy.
I can remember the first pheasant I shot, there was enough meat on the bird for me and my grandfather to have a hearty Sunday dinner and enough left over for a sandwich for my sister's tea when she came back from Sunday school.
The last one I shot - on an organised driven game shoot down West would probably have struggled to fill the sandwich.
Both were mediocre flavour wise

I shoot occasionally. I heartily disagree with people shooting animals which are not going to be consumed. Those paying to blast tens or hundreds of birds out of the sky should turn their attention to clays and stop giving everyone else a bad name.

Some of the birds these days have a decent amount of meat on them, it depends on the shoot. Flavour is ok but best fresh IMO, none of this letting it hang/rot. Partridge is much nicer though. One day I may be lucky enough to try wild duck. I imagine that might smoke well.

@JamezF that cabinet looks fantastic. I need to sort out my workspace so I can use it in Winter.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Partridge is much nicer though. One day I may be lucky enough to try wild duck. I imagine that might smoke well.

Partridge knocks spots off pheasant every time. Grouse is pretty tasty too, woodcock is in a different league. I've only recently cleared the last wild duck from my freezer - totally different to domestic duck - has no fat worth talking about - I prefer to breast them and fry/griddle them and eat the meat pink.

Unless gut shot, all game benefits from a few days hanging (apart from rabbit - although technically not game) you just have to apply some common sense - only an idiot would hang anything until it stinks, in f the weather is fairly mild an muggy, a few days tops, but if it's proper freezing winter weather, a week is no issue.

 

[JimBee463]

They're not my favourite it has to be said, and this season they seem to be quite lightweight around here. On the other hand they were free, so they'll probably get used in pheasant phajitas or something like that if I don't experiment with smoking them.

I've read that the tail feathers make good disposable bee brushes too, so I might save a few to try out. Not that I use a bee brush very often anyway.

James

If you're in Wivvy then you have a very expensive shoot quite close to you on the Tone down near Bulland Ford. I wonder how many of those birds are eaten or just thrown away.

 

[Wilco]

Partridge knocks spots off pheasant every time. Grouse is pretty tasty too, woodcock is in a different league. I've only recently cleared the last wild duck from my freezer - totally different to domestic duck - has no fat worth talking about - I prefer to breast them and fry/griddle them and eat the meat pink.

Unless gut shot, all game benefits from a few days hanging (apart from rabbit - although technically not game) you just have to apply some common sense - only an idiot would hang anything until it stinks, in f the weather is fairly mild an muggy, a few days tops, but if it's proper freezing winter weather, a week is no issue.

Redleg or grey? Only been able to try redleg, I'd love greys to be as common as they used to be. Not tried grouse and whilst I wouldn't mind trying woodcock I don't really want to shoot one. Will have to speak to a friend about ducks...

Sadly we rarely get proper freezing or even cold weather (14°C here today) so there's not opportunity to hang them at the right temperature and even then I personally prefer gamebirds fresher, having hung them in the past when we used to visit grandpapa in Yorkshire but perhaps it's worth trying again. A friend of mine was fully into the 'until the body is about to drop from the head' approach. No thank you!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Redleg or grey

You'll be lucky to find grey - been on the red list for years, and it's only people like the GCT and shooters who have worked hard to preserve them

I wouldn't mind trying woodcock I don't really want to shoot one

Fantastic sport - if hunted and flushed properly, hard work but wonderful watching the dogs work and proper hunting not like the awful lazy man's driven shoots that Dawnay and his cronies made popular in Pembrokeshire years ago. A lot of disinformation is spread about woodcock being on the red list etc. The indigenous British Woodcock is on the red list, but being migratory birds, once the winter comes, they fly to the Mediterranean (probably why they're on the red list as they get a hammering from hunters in Corfu and such areas) and further South for the winter. The ones you see in the UK during the shooting season migrate ahead of the cold weather in Scandinavia and the Russian steppes and are plentiful.

 

[Wilco]

You'll be lucky to find grey - been on the red list for years, and it's only people like the GCT and shooters who have worked hard to preserve them

Fantastic sport - if hunted and flushed properly, hard work but wonderful watching the dogs work and proper hunting not like the awful lazy man's driven shoots that Dawnay and his cronies made popular in Pembrokeshire years ago. A lot of disinformation is spread about woodcock being on the red list etc. The indigenous British Woodcock is on the red list, but being migratory birds, once the winter comes, they fly to the Mediterranean (probably why they're on the red list as they get a hammering from hunters in Corfu and such areas) and further South for the winter. The ones you see in the UK during the shooting season migrate ahead of the cold weather in Scandinavia and the Russian steppes and are plentiful.

Yes, I know where there are some greys but like the woodcock not something I'd shoot for numbers reasons.

For some reason I hadn't thought the UK ones migrated. Was aware that the ones shot are usually Scandi/Russki. Had one fly at/past me the other day at head height and about 2' away. Wonderful experience.

 

[JamezF]

If you're in Wivvy then you have a very expensive shoot quite close to you on the Tone down near Bulland Ford. I wonder how many of those birds are eaten or just thrown away.

Not familiar with the shoot, but I know where you mean. There's another one at Combe Sydenham. I've heard they shoot so many that they can't even give the birds away

James

 

[Sutty]

I love smoked foods of all types, Almost never buy unsmoked bacon, and smoked cheese is ace!
Bit of a shame it's carcinogenic - doesn't matter whether you breathe it or eat it, smoke can still cause cancer
Everything in moderation!

 

[JamezF]

Everything in moderation!

Including moderation

James

 

[beeker]

James fantastic work, especially that it's all recycled. I now have smoker envy [still using a cardboard box] to go with my envy of your polytunnel
Not tried Stilton yet,though the cheddar went very well. And I'm spoilt working at a trout fishery so have a ready supply of fish and duck.
A cheapo aldi vacuum sealer was a game changer with the smoker though.

 

[Aneebe]

The smoker I was given for Christmas 2021 used a double cardboard box as a cabinet. It was ok, but clearly wasn't intended to last long and didn't. I had to keep it in the greenhouse because it stank the house out. So this Christmas I gathered up loads of bits of scrap timber and made a new one.

All the wood was stuff left over from other projects or scrap left out by a local business. The ply was a touch tricky to work with because it wasn't even flat. The racks I saved from an old oven and the two trays are from the original smoker -- the lower one to put the smoke generator on and the upper one for a drip tray. Even the door hinges were saved from something else, though I can't remember what any more.

Today I'm doing a first test run with it empty.

It all seems to be going ok so far and there's a gentle trickle of smoke coming out of the hole in the top, so I think we'll be buying a few blocks of cheese this week to do a proper test at the weekend.

James

Incredibly envious of your many talents. The upcycling/ repurposing is genius. In a nutshell - superb!!! Ps. mouth now watering at the thought of smoked cheese. Scrum.

 

[BBC]

I take it this is a cold smoker you’ve constructed.
I fly fish and have a hot smoker, but it doesn’t taste great and of course, it’s cooked.
If it is cold, I’d be interested to know how you create and feed the smoke end of the equation.

 

[Rob H]

yes, pheasant works well and the brining also makes it a bit more moist when it is cooked bear in mind that it is game o a strong (ish) flavour already so don't smoke for as long - it is trial and error

Just for info, you've probably had pheasant that has has been hung for several days, if its eaten a day or two after getting it fresh then is really not "gamey" at all.

 

[JimBee463]

Just for info, you've probably had pheasant that has has been hung for several days, if its eaten a day or two after getting it fresh then is really not "gamey" at all.

I know, but I like a pheasant hung for days, my workshop is often seen with hanging pheasants at this time of year (a good friend of mine manages a local shoot, so I get plenty of birds when I want them )

 

[blackcloud]

Project further quadrupled in credibility from the use of reclaimed materials alone.
Going to B&q or timber yards for new would have been irresponsible when there's a chance to repurpose

 

[JamezF]

Not tried Stilton yet,though the cheddar went very well. And I'm spoilt working at a trout fishery so have a ready supply of fish and duck.
A cheapo aldi vacuum sealer was a game changer with the smoker though.

I'd love to have a ready supply of fish and duck A vacuum sealer is a wonderful thing to have. I'd use mine even more if it weren't for the single-use plastic involved.

James

 

[JamezF]

Incredibly envious of your many talents. The upcycling/ repurposing is genius. In a nutshell - superb!!! Ps. mouth now watering at the thought of smoked cheese. Scrum.

Thank you

James

 

[JamezF]

I take it this is a cold smoker you’ve constructed.
I fly fish and have a hot smoker, but it doesn’t taste great and of course, it’s cooked.
If it is cold, I’d be interested to know how you create and feed the smoke end of the equation.

It is indeed a cold smoker. I do also want to build a hot smoker at some point, but that's for another time.

For Christmas 2021 I was given this kit:

Eco Cold Smoking Set

the metal "spiral" is packed with sawdust and a tea light used to get the outer end smouldering, at which point the tea light is removed and the spiral placed in the bottom of the smoker. That's what you can see in the bottom of the cabinet in the last of the photos at the start of the thread. Because it's just smouldering (there's no flame at all) it produces very little heat at all (otherwise using cardboard for a smoker cabinet wouldn't work, I guess). It's not a perfect arrangement (it can be awkward to insert and remove the tea light for instance), but it's a relatively cheap way to get into it.

That smoke generator is good for cabinets of up to 150 litres I believe, and they do a slightly larger one too. The other way I've seen DIY cold smokers work is with a remote burner where the smoke is piped into the cabinet. I've not really looked at those because I don't smoke the kind of volume of food where I think it would be useful.

James

 

[JamezF]

Project further quadrupled in credibility from the use of reclaimed materials alone.

Thank you. I'm doing a lot of that sort of stuff at the moment. Whilst I don't have a proper job I can't really justify buying new unless we really need it or it's dirt cheap (which timber just isn't, right now).

James