Smoked Pheasant Tortilla Soup

Written by Jeff Davis

Prep Time: 12 hours - Cook Time: 3-4 hours

A few of our kids were in the High School Marching Band for several years, so we traveled around a lot to watch them perform. If you have ever been to a high school marching band competition, you know these things last ALL DAY LONG, sometimes we wouldn't get home until 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning. My wife wanted to get more involved with the program, so she volunteered us to cook for the kids. She wanted to ensure they could have a good, hot meal after their performance. Coupled with a few other parents, we'd hauled our grills, fryers and propane tanks, plus coolers and coolers of food and drinks to all these different high schools where the kids performed. We'd spend most of our time setting up and cooking, so we'd miss some of the kid's performances, it was a sort of double-edged sword being as it was one of the boy's senior year. I swear we made a of version of this tortilla soup for the band kids that year, however the wife is telling me I'm wrong, which nothing new, but that we actually made this for a fund raiser for one of our co-workers. Regardless of who is right or wrong, this soup is always amazing and it's the perfect meal for those cold, windy, wintery days. We've actually made this several times at home for ourselves and will eat on it for days and days. It's one of those meals that just seems to get better and better the longer it sits in the refrigerator.

I started this recipe by brining my pheasant for 8 hours in the fridge. I tried to get a little too fancy with my pheasant brine by adding a few extra ingredients, but you don't need it, it'll just get lost in the bold flavor of this soup. Water, Salt, Sugar and few seasonings is all you need to make a good brine. If you don't have 12 hours to brine and smoke your pheasant, a huge timesaver would be to cook the whole pheasant in 3 gallons of water, creating a pheasant stock at the same time. Another time saver would be to just roast the pheasant in the oven and use premade chicken stock as opposed to making your own stock. The biggest part of this recipe is cooking the pheasant meat, once you have that, the soup comes together pretty fast. We fried our own corn chips with flour tortillas in hot oil, but you can skip this step by just crunching up some store-bought tortilla chips or corn chips into your soup. You can top with Sour Cream, Avocado, Jalapenos, Cheddar Cheese and/or Cilantro.

I served this dish with some Tropical Margaritas, inspired by some drinks we had at the Shrimp Basket in Gulf Shores, Alabama on a recent family vacation. We loved their Margaritas!! So much so, that we stopped on the drive back home just to buy the stuff we needed to make our own version. This was our go to drink for the first couple of weeks after we got back, but we evenly just stopped making it. Maybe this wasn't the best drink pairing for this dish, but when is it not a good time for Margaritas?!

Ingredients

Mexican Seasoning Blend

2 tbsp Chili Powder

1 tbsp Cumin

1 tbsp Coriander Powder

1 tbsp Garlic Powder

1 tbsp Paprika

1 tbsp Salt

1/2 tbsp Dried Cilantro

1/2 tbsp Crushed Red Pepper

1/2 tbsp Ground Black Pepper

1/2 tbsp Onion Powder

1/2 tbsp Cayenne Pepper

1 tsp Ground Cinnamon Powder

Pheasant brine

3 gallon(s) Water

3 cup(s) Kosher Salt

1 cup(s) White Sugar

1 cup(s) Light Brown Sugar

4 tbsp Mexican Seasoning Blend

3 Bay Leaves

2 Limes, Sliced

Smoked Pheasant

2 Whole Pheasant

1 Large Orange

2 Limes, Sliced

Bunch Fresh Cilantro

Mexican Seasoning Blend

Vegetable Cooking Spray

Butchers Twine

Pecan Wood Chips

Tortilla Soup

2 Jalapeno

1 Large Yellow Onion

6 Garlic Cloves

6 Mini Sweet Peppers

15 oz Can of Whole Corn

15 oz Can of Low Sodium Black Beans

4.5 oz Chopped Green Chilies

10 oz Baby Tomatoes, diced, or one can of diced tomatoes

2 tbsp Unsalted Butter

6 cup(s) Pheasant Stock

2 Limes

1 cup(s) Fresh Cilantro

6-8 Flour Tortillas

Mexican Seasoning Blend

Black Pepper

Kosher Salt

Vegetable Oil

Tropical Margaritas

Pineapple Margarita Mix

Tequila

Orange Liquor

Orange Juice

Sprite

Margarita Salt

Lime

Orange

Ice Cubes

Instructions

Mexican Seasoning Blend

Step #1 Measure all the ingredients out into a small mason jar.

Step #2 Once complete, seal the lid and give it a good shake.

Smoked Pheasant

Step #1 Bring 3 gallons of water to a boil, adding all ingredients, reduce heat to simmer and cook for 15 minute.

Step #2 Turn off heat and allow to cool. Submerge pheasant in brine and place in refrigerator for 6-8 hours.

Step #3 Brine birds 8 hours in refrigerator or cooler filled with ice. Remove birds from brine and pat dry with paper towels. Place on wire rack, then place back in the refrigerator for another hour, allowing the skin to dry. Starting soaking wood chips in water.

Step #4 Remove birds for refrigerator and spray outside of birds all over with cooking spray.

Step #5 Stuff with sliced oranges, limes and a few sprigs of Cilantro. Tie legs

Step #6 Sprinkle seasoning all over the birds, inside and out.

Step #7 Cook at 225 for 2 to 3 hours or until temperature reach about 160 degrees.

Step #8 Allow the pheasant to cool, then shred the meat from the bone.

Tortilla Soup

Step #1 Chop Onion, Jalapeno Peppers, Mini Sweet Peppers, Tomatoes and Garlic.

Step #2 Add 2 tablespoons of butter to large stock pot and set heat to medium high. Allow butter to melt then add onions and peppers. Sprinkle in some salt. Allow to cook for 5 to 7 minutes

Step #3 Add diced garlic and allow to cook another minute.

Step #4 Rinse your black beans in colander and add to pot. Add one 15 ounce can of whole corn and one 4.5 ounce can green chili's. Sprinkle in some more salt.

Step #5 Add 1 1/2 tablespoon of Mexican seasoning. Add 6 cups Pheasant Stock

Step #6 Add 10 ounces of sliced baby tomatoes or one can of diced tomatoes

Step #7 Add juice from one lime

Step #8 Add 1 cup chopped cilantro

Step #9 Bring to a boil, reduce to simmer for 30 minutes

Step #10 Turn off heat and add shredded cooked pheasant and allow to warm through

Step #11 Heat up a skillet on medium high heat, adding enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Cut some flour tortilla into thin strips.

Step #12 Drop a few at a time into the hot oil. Cook for about one minute and flip each strip over. Cook for another minute until strips for browned.

Step #13 Removed from hot oil to a wire rack lined with paper towels. Sprinkle with salt. Repeat until all strips are cooked.

Step #14 Chop up some peppers and cilantro as garnish.

Step #15 Slice up a few limes

Step #16 Fill bowls with soup.

Step #17 Top with Cilantro, peppers, sour cream, cheese and Tortilla chips.

Tropical Margaritas

Step #1 Fill shaker with ice. Pour in 6 ounces of Pineapple Margarita Mix, 1 ounce Tequila, 1 ounce of Orange Liquor, 2 ounces of Orange Juice into shaker and give it a good shake.

Step #2 Cut lime and run around rim of glass to coat with lime juice, this will help salt stick to glass. Turn glass upside down and twist in Margarita Salt, to coat the rim.

Step #3 Add ice cubes, then pour mixture into glass. Top with Sprite.

Step #4 Add sliced Limes, Oranges and Cilantro

Recipe Card

Smoked Pheasant Tortilla Soup

Written by Jeff Davis Visit : Visit authors website

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Prep Time: 12 hours - Cook Time: 3-4 hours