Sandhill Crane Pellet Grill Recipe

[NDGuy]

Anyone cooked crane on their pellet grill? Looking at my options after my dad and I shot some this last weekend.

 

[Boxerboxer]

I've not had crane but since I understand it to be somewhat beef-like red meat: salt, pepper and smoke til 120 internal then reverse sear ought to be pretty damn good. Hickory would be my go-to. Even if the pellet grill has a sear function I'd still sear in ripping hot cast iron or grill. This is for breasts. I don't know if the legs are tough like a turkey - if so I would braise them, or maybe par cook before you finish on the pellet grill.

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[Boxerboxer]

This Meateater recipe for the leg meat does indicate that it's very tough in comparison to the tender breast meat.

 

[rustyN]

I would do exactly as boxerboxer said. I'd love to try some sandhill crane someday, but they're protected in Nebraska.

 

[NDGuy]

I've not had crane but since I understand it to be somewhat beef-like red meat: salt, pepper and smoke til 120 internal then reverse sear ought to be pretty damn good. Hickory would be my go-to. Even if the pellet grill has a sear function I'd still sear in ripping hot cast iron or grill. This is for breasts. I don't know if the legs are tough like a turkey - if so I would braise them, or maybe par cook before you finish on the pellet grill.

This is close to what I was thinking. I reverse seared with some sea salt, coarse black pepper, garlic/onion powder. It was amazing....never in the crock pot again! HA

 

[Boxerboxer]

This is close to what I was thinking. I reverse seared with some sea salt, coarse black pepper, garlic/onion powder. It was amazing....never in the crock pot again! HA

Nice! Crock pot is fine for the tough stuff although I prefer to just manually braise in a dutch oven because I feel like the crock pot gives things a weird flavor, but for duck breasts or crane or anything that's good rare it's a crime

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[ShortMountain91]

I've not had crane but since I understand it to be somewhat beef-like red meat: salt, pepper and smoke til 120 internal then reverse sear ought to be pretty damn good. Hickory would be my go-to. Even if the pellet grill has a sear function I'd still sear in ripping hot cast iron or grill. This is for breasts. I don't know if the legs are tough like a turkey - if so I would braise them, or maybe par cook before you finish on the pellet grill.

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This is what I do with mine. Just drew my crane tags so hope to be doing this recipe again in December

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[Santa]

Crane ABSOLUTELY lives up to the hype. Did my first hunt last year and can't wait to go back. 2 important things on breasts. 1) Trim off the silver skin fully. It can be a bit tedious but it makes a huge difference. 2) Don't cook past Med-Rare. Rare is also just fine. I love coating in Carnivore's HardCore Black seasoning (saw that on a meateater episode) and grilling quickly over high heat. You'd never know it isn't a beef product.

Also, crane hearts are often overlooked but super tasty. Most of my hunting party didn't want them so I took them all, marinated in a red wine, soy, and a few spices and grilled on shish kabobs. Killer!

For legs, here's a recipe to try. I've used on turkey and crane legs and it's great:

Beer and Citrus-Braised Wild Game Carnitas Street Tacos

The best street tacos I’ve found were sold at a small Mexican grocery store in Colorado. For a few bucks, you could load up on a variety of carnitas tacos made from beef tongue, pork shoulder or chicken thighs. They were simply prepared, seasoned perfectly, and garnished with only a few...

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