Venison backstrap pastrami

[squirtthecat]

I've been asked by my coworker (actually, bribed with promises of beer) to make pastrami from the backstraps of his recent 'acquisition'..

The pastrami side (rub, smoke, etc.) I can handle - but what about the initial curing?     These things are pretty lean (and probably not real big - even though this deer was huge), so I'm leaning more towards a brine/pickle cure to get some moisture in it.  Perhaps even pump it a bit with the brine.

Any opinions one way or the other?

I don't know how big they are yet...  We'll find out in a few days when he goes to pick it up.

TIA.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

That's going to be a tough one (pun intended).  Your issue is not water content but fat content, or actually lack of it.  It will, as you suspect, be extremely lean.  If it were mine I wouldn't be looking at backstrap for pastrami.  But if you must ...

I think I would approach it as if curing and smoking a pork loin or maybe a turkey breast, not beef brisket.  It should be low in fat and collagen (at least as collagen in wild deer goes).  I would use a traditional wet cure, including pink salt, as for beef pastrami, then season as for pastrami and hot smoke at ~ 180 F to your desired IT.  I think that would be 150-152 °F for food safety reasons.  It will probably be extremely lean and seem dry by comparison to the usual pastrami.

A few options to consider would be after the cure and the traditional pastrami rub to wrap it in bacon and tie it to keep it all in place (or you could decorate it with a weave) and proceed with hot smoking.  Or possibly wrap it in cured bacon, then a pastrami rub, then hot smoke, or season both before and after a wrap.  Another variation would be, after the cure to bard it with cured bacon - this would help with supplying fat (and some flavor) to the interior of the meat.  Alternatively, if you have either some pork back fat or fresh pork belly you could lard it before the cure, cure the larded piece, then proceed.  This last option will probably give you the best shot at a moist venison pastrami.

If you want to try or consider the larding, I have a larding needle I can loan you - it will make the task fairly easy.  Say the word and I'll send it tomorrow.

edit - wrong term (barding), should have been larding

[squirtthecat]

Thanks.   I'll play around with this a bit...   
Maybe start with curing like I was making Canadian bacon, then finish with the pastrami rub + smoke.

I had mentioned CB to him, but his heart is set on pastrami.

What about a butter/EVOO injection?  Or maybe just melt down some lard and pump it in down the length of it?

[Tenpoint5]

A back strap tough?? never heard of such a thing. Like having a tough fillet mi non (sp)

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Okay, tough isn't right .. but it can/does tend to dry out if over done.  Then it gets tough (from being overdone).

Cure -- if you want pastrami, why not used the typical pastrami or corned beef cure that includes the spices?  Here is Ruhlman & Polcyn's:

For 5# of beef plate / brisket:

1 gal water
1.5 cups kosher salt
1 cup sugar
1.5 oz pink salt (8 tsp)
1 Tbl pickling spice
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
5 garlic cloves, minced

1. Combine all brine ingredients in a pot large enough, bring to a simmer, stirring until the salt and sugar are dissolved.  Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temp, then refrigerate untilthe brine is chilled.

2.  Place the meat in  the brine, place a plate on top to keep completely submerged. Refrigerate for 3 days.( I have used large ziplock bags, which keeps things covered.)

3. Remove the meat from the brine, rinse it and pat dry.  Discard the brine.

The rest is the spice coating, rub and smoke.

I doubt an oil injection will buy you as much as solid fat.  Once the IT starts getting up to ~ 140 the shrinkage that squeezes out the water from within the muscle cells will also tend to squeeze out an oil. Trying to inject melted butter or lard into a cold piece of meat would probably work if you could get it in and distributed, but the hard part is getting it in.  I tried that once - very short injection followed by plugging of the needle as it chilled.  Larding with solid fat is the best way to go for internal fat.  If you don't want to go that route then just wrap it up in bacon.

[squirtthecat]

Ok, thanks guys.   I'll mull on this for a while.     Thanks for the offer of the larding needle, but I'd probably hurt myself, and make a mess out of the backstrap.   :D


Aside..  What's the minimum safe IT for Venison?

[BuyLowSellHigh]

Whole muscle cuts 145 °F, which should be medium rare, everything else (ground, sausage, etc.) 160 °F.

[dilly]

I've done venison backstrap using the "Canadian bacon" recipe and it turned out great.  It was tender and moist and was really good cold and shaved on a meat slicer.  Also good thick sliced and pan fried on an egg and muffin...

[Piker]

I just finished making pastrami with moose backstrap using H.B. recipe and it turned out excellent. I have to hide it from my friends. I did fill the water pan during time it was in the smoker. Piker

[BuyLowSellHigh]

I think dilly is on to something.  As soon as "pastrami" was mentioned I had beef brisket on the brain as my base for reference.  But after dilly's post I think the right way to approach it is much like a pork loin. which means think like Canadian bacon.  There is no reason you can't basically duplicate a Canadian bacon recipe but add the pickling spices to the cure, and then before smoking / cooking do the pastrami rub thing.  Should turn out great and be fairly straightforward.

Thanks, dilly, that was a whack on the side of my head that was needed.

[squirtthecat]

Yep, that's exactly what I'm going to do!    Thanks guys!