Cooking Sandhill Crane Breast

Sandhillcranehunting wildeats fieldtotable sandhill crane is one of the best tasting game birds out there.

Cooking sandhill crane breast.

Mix all rub ingredients together thoroughly then on a plate brush olive oil on sandhill crane breast. Grill on bbq using a flat screen style tray other wise the thinly sliced crane will fall on to coals. Once the meat is thawed out and cleaned mix up 1 tsp. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees when you are ready to cook the breast melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan and sear the breast skin side down to start.

Cooked rare it tastes just like a ribeye. Cook crane until nicely browned just as with all waterfowl do not over cook as meat is thin it will cook very quickly depending on how hot your coals are. When you have breasted your sandhill crane you will get two steaks you want to take the time to wash the meat off cut all of the silver skin off and trim any fat from the meat. Crane can be tough and a challenge to cook.

Next put the breast on a pre heated grill and cook over high heat searing the breast for 2 3 minutes per side until rare to medium rare. I start out with the montreal steak seasoning and slap ya mama cajun seasoning. This pre meal entree goes very well with a fine bottle of your favorite beer. Cut bacon strips in half crosswise and wrap each piece of crane with a section of bacon securing with a toothpick in the center.

Sear for 4 5 minutes on each side then transfer the breast to a baking sheet and put in the oven while you make the sauce about 8 to 10 minutes for medium rare. Let them sit in the fridge for at least 3 hours or over night. The thighs are tasty the lightest colored and most moist meat on a crane. The legs are relatively huge and full of tendons worse than any bird out there.

Cook indirectly for 30 45 minutes until the internal temperature of the breast reaches 120 125 degrees. Place the seasoned crane breasts on your soaked cedar planks and place them on the grill. Liberally coat breast in wild game rub ensuring meat is covered but rub is not caking off the breast. The older birds are as tough as shoe leather.

Garlic salt and tsp. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Next i add about a quarter to half of the bottle of the allegro marinade depending how many crane breasts i have. Onion powder in a small bowl or cup.

Brine crane breasts for 24 hours in enough water to cover the breasts with 3 5 tablespoons of salt. Red chile powder 1 tsp. Cooking the sandhill crane. Dry meat and cut into bite sized pieces.