Venison butterfly chops

clearhawk · November 26, 2005, 05:48:36 PM

Any Ideas? First time with venison. Thanks

JJC · November 26, 2005, 10:04:37 PM

Welcome to the Forum, Lauren. Unfortunately I don't any exerience with venison, and it seems to be a weak point in the experience of most Forum members. I did a search for venison recipes, and while I could pull up lots of "hits", most of them were about venison sausage.

There was one hit that might help:

http://bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=2411&SearchTerms=venison,recipe

The only modification I might suggest would be to take the final internal meat temp up to 170F for safety reasons when smoking game, according to the USDA and FDA guidelines.

Anyone else out there have venison smoking hints? We really need to deer up this area . . . [;)]

John
Newton MA

ritzdeliman · November 27, 2005, 07:39:43 AM

Any venison that I have used has been with a beef type recipe and have had pretty good results. The only thing that I have modified is the fat content which I have substituted with pork fat, but you are right the majority of recipes are for sausage. The smoking times for any of the off cuts are about the same though and I agree that you should take the temp up about 10 degs higher. Try brining in wine or beer first and then smoking, depending on where the deer was shot. if it was hit in an area near water plants and was mainly eating them then a low acid brine will work well if not and it ate a lot of cedar then acid and alcohol works well. ritz

clearhawk · November 27, 2005, 01:24:25 PM

The deer was shot in Iowa, it,s corn fed. Thanks for the advice, I'll post the results after I smoke it next weekend.

JJC · November 30, 2005, 03:23:39 AM

Definitely let us know how things tuen out, Clearhawk . . . we need more experience with venison and other bigger game.

John
Newton MA

whitetailfan · November 30, 2005, 09:19:19 PM

I would consider cold smoking them for flavour, then bag in the fridge over night. Next day finish off on your grill, or even pan fry them with a touch of oil as there will be no fat. You could marinade also with some italian dressing or other favorite marinade.

My deer goes into jerky and sausages, but I do have some elk this year that I T-boned and that's what I'm planning on.

<font color="green">whitetailfan</font id="green">
"Nice Rack"
Lethbridge, AB

Phone Guy · December 20, 2005, 11:28:34 PM

Venison is best dusted in flour fried and served with fried potatoes and onions. Make a nice sauce ,maybe a milk gravey with the drippings. You dont want to over cook it. Treat it just like beef. Just remember that its really lean and it will cook fast and if you over cook it, it will be dry. 170 is too high. Its not like beef that you have to cook for safety reasons. Remember its wild meat it has never seen a hormone.

JJC · December 21, 2005, 05:22:04 AM

Hi PG,

I'm just quoting the USDA recommendations . . . the 170 is not to kill any hormones--it's to kill parasites or other pathogens that might be present. I'm not familiar with deer diseases, so maybe 170 is unnecessarily high, but that's the recommendation . . .

John
Newton MA

Phone Guy · December 21, 2005, 08:55:21 PM

JJC,
I know you are just quoting USDA recommendations but if you cooked a beef filet to 170 it would be terrible. I'll bet not many of those USDA guys would eat a steak cooked to 170 deg.

Mike

JJC · December 22, 2005, 01:08:59 AM

I bet you're right, PG . . . wonder if that recommendation will be lowered, like they did with chicken recently.

Manx--what are your thoughts on a reasonable safe temp for game?

John
Newton MA