A day spent chasing roosters can often easily push the 10-mile mark—nearly a half marathon. A solid breakfast packed with protein is essential if you want to maintain the energy necessary to fill your bag limit. Great taste first thing in the morning never hurts either. This recipe is quick and easy and will help clear your freezer of leftover pheasant in order to make room for fall roosters. As an added bonus, the smell of pheasant and bratwurst sizzling in the skillet is guaranteed to flush even the latest risers from bed.
Makes five servings.
Pheasant and bratwurst patty ingredients
- 16 ounces pheasant breast meat, skin removed, coarse ground
- 2 Johnsonville bratwurst link meat (skin removed, approximately 6 ounces)
Other sandwich ingredients:
- 5 English muffins, sliced and toasted
- 5 fried eggs, yolk busted with light dusting of salt and pepper
- 5 slices of American cheese
- Optional: Thin drizzle of Lee Kum Kee Hoisin (Korean barbecue) sauce, or Huy Fong Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce
Method
To grind pheasant breast meat, pre-chill (10-15 minutes in freezer) as many grinding materials as possible—grinder, bowls, grinding plates, and meat—in order to keep meat from becoming mushy during grinding. When grinding, use coarse plate. Add ground pheasant to large mixing bowl. Cut skin from two bratwurst links and add internal meat to bowl with ground pheasant. Mix thoroughly. Cover and place in refrigerator until ready to cook.
Heat a large skillet on medium heat. Hand-form 4.5-ounce patties in palm of hand to approximate shape of English muffin (perfect circle not necessary). Spray skillet with no-stick cooking spray and add formed patties (typically two at a time to allow room to simultaneously cook fried egg) to one side of skillet. Cover with lid and cook for approximately 3 minutes, until patties sweat. Remove lid and flip, cover and cook for another minute. Remove lid, add eggs to skillet and bust yolk, lightly salt and pepper. Flip eggs once solid base forms, cook for 30 seconds, then place fried eggs atop patties and cover each with one slice of American cheese. Cover with lid to cook thoroughly.
Slice English muffins and toast to desired doneness. Before adding patty to muffin, consider adding a thin drizzle of Hoison or Sriracha to either top or bottom bun or both. Place cooked patty, complete with fried egg and cheese, in English muffin and enjoy!
Former line cook and passionate denizen of the outdoors, Jack Hennessy is the author of the blog “Braising the Wild.” He lives with his wife in St. Louis Park, Minnesota. Follow him on Twitter @WildGameJack or on Facebook at Facebook.com/BraisingtheWild.