We had some friends over for dinner, and thanks to Jack Withrow we had three Sandhill Cranes to work with. They turned out really well, and this recipe will work for ducks or geese, too.

Smoke-grilled crane
three cranes: breasts filleted, legs and thighs still together
1 Cup of an olive oil/garlic/oregano mop
2/3 Cups shallots, scallions, or diced onions
1 jalapeño
basil
1/4 Cup red wine

I didn’t have a lot of time, so I got the water smoker ready (full water bowl, wet wood chips in the bottom on the electric element) and turned it on half an hour before I had the meat ready. Why a water smoker? All that steam helps keep the meat moist. I needed some of it to be done in two hours, so I butterflied four breasts to make them thin enough to finish fairly quickly. I washed everything, then patted it dry. Then I mixed up the mop and laid the legs and thighs on the lower grill and mopped them well. Then I put in the second grill above the first, laid out the breasts, and mopped them well, too. Half an hour later (one hour on the smoker) I added wood chips. I always need to have the heat on High on this unit, and the temperature gauge never seems to get out of high “Warm.” So I have to watch things carefully. After an hour of smoking, I carefully deconstructed everything, flipped all the meat over, mopped it all well again as I put it all back together, then waited (adding more wood chips on the hour).

Sauce in foil ready for the cooked meat

As the two-hour mark approached on the meat I had all my remaining chopping done, lined a large bowl with aluminum foil and put the onions/shallots, jalapeño, basil, wine, and the remaining mop in the bottom. I brought this out with me and checked the meat temperature: the thin ones were done and the thicker pieces would need another 30-45 minutes. I put the thin ones into the foil, wrapped it up tight, and put it into the oven at 170 degrees to stay warm until people arrived about half an hour later. The stewing of the sauce in the bottom with the meat juices is superb.

Water smoker doing its thing

I didn’t know how we’d eat this and had no plan. Backup meats were ready for the grill in case this all went south. Folks came, we pulled out the breasts, and I just started cutting thin slices by the dozen. Fresh out of the foil, still hot, we just sampled pieces with our fingers. It was a little dry, but not too much, and the flavor was superb! Nobody seemed to mind eating it this way. Then we began to make little personal hors d’oeuvres with all the various other foods and condiments. A slice of crane on a cracker with cheese and horse radish was excellent, as was crane, cracker, and pickle, crane and fresh salsa, and crane with the chunky sauce it had stewed with at the end. When they were done, I’d turned down the remaining pieces of meat and brought them in as the butterflied breasts diminished, and we tore into those, too. Delicious!

Smoke-grilled crane breasts

Today we had some of the leftovers chopped finely in an egg dish with asparagus and mushrooms. Wow. It just hit me that I used no salt or pepper and didn’t notice. Next time…

Thighs and drumsticks ready to eat