Dried Venison

jaeger · November 22, 2006, 09:47:55 PM

Here are some pictures of the venison I am curing to make Dried Venison. This is the venison version of Dried Beef. This was the first deer of the year and about the right size of batch that I wanted to make. I have been wanting to try this for a long time so here goes!!!
I used a brown sugar cure. I pumped them each and then rubbed them with cure. They will stay refrigerated for 7 days. I will then rinse and soak for 2 hours. I am going to smoke for 3 hours with pecan and have the Bradley temp at 175f.
If these are as big a hit as I think they will be, I will use the Reveo to tumble the meat next time. I wanted to make the first batch this way so other hunters or smokers interested in making dried beef can make this without using the Reveo.
I will post pictures of the finished product next week when completed.

owrstrich · November 23, 2006, 03:50:37 AM

anxiously awaiting the dried beast of the highway...

or would that be skunk...

you gotta eat...

owrstrich

MRH · November 23, 2006, 07:32:31 PM

Jaeger,

I will be waiting to see the results too. You got me interested the other night on the chat. I am glad to see the pictures.

Mark

jaeger · January 07, 2007, 05:46:12 PM

Quote from: owrstrich on November 23, 2006, 03:50:37 AM
anxiously awaiting the dried beast of the highway...

or would that be skunk...

you gotta eat...

owrstrich

You probably thought I forgot about the highway beast. Not quite, I had a major set back during this project but I now have the end results.

Here is a picture of the dried venison after slicing.

Habanero Smoker · January 07, 2007, 05:52:07 PM

Glad to see you back on the boards. Can't wait to see the final results.

jaeger · January 07, 2007, 06:05:54 PM

Thank you Hab!

Here are some pictures of a dried venison spread that we used on crackers. I sliced the dried venison thin with a slicer and than put it in a food processor and chopped very fine. I mixed 1/2 cream cheese and 1/2 sour cream with a small amout of seasoning salt and added the chopped dried venison.
It turned out good and had a nice mild smoke flavor as well.
( I set a container on my neighbors table and he could smell the smoke right away! )

Here are the pictures.

West Coast Kansan · January 07, 2007, 08:17:32 PM

oh my, that looks way to good to post! my my...

coyote · January 07, 2007, 08:51:44 PM

Look'in good ! Can't wait to see the finished product. I'm gonna try my hand at this.

Coyote

Habanero Smoker · January 08, 2007, 02:47:34 AM

I'm with coyote; I'm going to have to try this also. This looks real good. What cut of beef would you suggest?

Wildcat · January 08, 2007, 04:59:27 AM

Wow! :o

jaeger · January 11, 2007, 08:49:45 AM

Thanks for the feedback! I am happy with the results.
There is a lot more a hunter can do with deer than make chislic ::)
Especially when you own a Bradley!!!

Quote from: Habanero Smoker on January 08, 2007, 02:47:34 AM
I'm with coyote; I'm going to have to try this also. This looks real good. What cut of beef would you suggest?

I would use an eye of round or a bottom round. With either choice you will want to uniformly inject the muscle with cure and use a rub on the outside as well. When I mix the water/cure I tend to go lighter on the amount of cure(salt) than it recommends. The mix I used called for 2# cure per gallon of water. I used 1.75# of cure to one gallon (equivilant/I didn't need a full gallon for the pump brine).
The venison was not to salty and it had a nice even cure. No cure spots.

( I would also increase the cure time to 10 days, especially if the muscle is large/thick/big).

Habanero Smoker · January 11, 2007, 02:13:28 PM

Thanks for the recipe. I'm sure I will be trying this in about two weeks. I may cut the bottom round into smaller cuts before applying the dry cure.

bunnydude · April 28, 2007, 05:01:24 PM

I have a buddy that is going to give me a Elk roast to try and dry do you think this will work out as well as your venison? ;D

Wildcat · April 28, 2007, 05:15:49 PM

Welcome to the forum bunnydude! Keep up posted on this one. I personally have never had elk, being a southerner and all. Is it similiar to deer?

bunnydude · April 28, 2007, 08:26:19 PM

No Elk is in a world of its own. To me it tastes and has the texture of prime grade angus beef. I am a cook going on 25 years and have been very fortunate to be able to cook Moose,Blacktail deer, Muledeer, caribou, and bear meat. ;D

I have only smoked deer and various upland game such as ringnecks, grouse and chukar. Elk is hard to come by I have been hunting them for about 12 years and have only had a handfull of shots so when I get a roast or some steaks I treat them like gold. ;D

So if you get the chance to try Elk I highly suggest you do. ;D

It was nice meeting you ;D

B.dude