"deer roast" ??

[kaiser]

So my office-mate has something he is calling a deer roast in his freezer that his father gave him and for lack of any better ideas of what to do with it he wants me to smoke it for him.

I'll be running the GOSM this weekend with hickory chips anyway for a couple pork butts so I might as well fill it up - but I don't really know what to do with it.

I have no idea what part of the deer it is from. I think the hunk of meat is maybe coffee-can sized based on his description.

I figured I could just coat it with mustard and rub and smoke it to 170 or so... is that a good plan?

Should I cook it to a higher temp? Should I take it all the way up to 205 and pull it? Should I brine it, inject it, marinate it, or do some kind of voodoo dance around it? Should I post qview?

How long can I expect it to take to cook compared to the pork?

Thanks everyone!
Glen

 

[pineywoods]

A marinade in MoJo Chirillo or Allegro goes pretty well with venison. You may also consider wrapping in bacon or pinning some bacon on it since the venison is very lean. Personally I would smoke it to 140 for rare and no more than 150 at max it just doesn't have the fat content to go higher

 

[caveman]

That's funny! I can picture you doing a ritual right in front of the smoker, paint on your face, weird headress on, chanting in low tones......coma gimme flava.....Of course post the qview!!

 

[meat hunter]

Personally, I would do what Piney said, take it to 140. The size of meat your describing sounds like a hind roast. Not exactly the most tender cut on a deer, but certainly worthy of a good smoke. Wild game, like deer, is naturally low in fat, especially internal muscle fat as they tend to put fat on the outside of the meat.

If I were doing this roast, I would do the following. Smoke at a temp of 225-230 degrees. If you have any bacon fat, ( I save it in the fridge for certain recipes ) take some and set it in the freezer to harden. There is a tool called a larding needle. I assume you do not have one, not many people do, but this close to the same process. Take the roast you have and make several slits in it vertically. Punch straight down from the top going to the bottom but not thru it. Take the hardened bacon fat and cut into strips so they look like really thick toothpicks. Do this quickly because they will start to soften. Insert them into the holes you made in the roast. This will help with internal basting so to speak. Rub it down with a favorite rub that you have or a basic salt and pepper rub work well too. Smoke till the internal temp hits 130 degrees, remove from smoker and wrap in foil. Add 1/8 cup beef broth to that and wrap it all up tight. Put back on the smoker till 140 degrees. Once it hits 135-140 degrees, remove from smoker and let it sit in the foil for at least 30 minutes so all the juices can absorb. It will continue to cook a few degrees while doing this. Should come out nice and tasty.

 

[rbranstner]

Very interesting process.

 

[kaiser]

Hmmm - I do have a jelly jar full of bacon fat in the freezer... I could melt some of it and inject it.

Cool ideas - thanks.

 

[hookup]

Mmm. Have to try that bacon fat idea.

I do not hunt, but get allot of bambi from buddies.

I'll usually rub them with olive oil - use allot of it, then add kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and let sit overnight.

Smoke at low temps basting with a beer/oliveoil/salt/pepper mop sauce.

Another thing I've done is to marinate in italian dressing, then smoke.

When the deer is done, pull it paying close attention to removing all the membranes and sinew. After pulling it, mix w/ bbq sause of choice with a little olive oil added.

On a side note, deer makes excellent chili - mix with sausage of choice (1 part sausage and 4 parts bambi) and brown. Add to chili pot with ingredients of choice. Cook on low for hours.

 

[south jersey bbq tim]

i would say inject as well,,, bacon fat ...lol

 

[jerseyhunter]

You could also get some beef fat/suet from your butcher or supermarket, freeze, and and bard it with that.

 

[kaiser]

Ooooo - kay!

This turned out really well. I ended up being lazy and just using rub and smoking the thing... no fancy injections etc (though I appreciate the suggestions and I might try that next time)

I took the deer to 165 (foiled at 150) because I was really nervous about under cooking wild game I got from someone else. I wouldn't call it overdone, but I think I would take it off a bit earlier if I were to do it again - maybe 155.

I also did 2 boston butts (which I foiled at 165 and took just shy of 205). The pork took 15.5 hours. The deer took 8.5.

Pics!
Deer:

Pork:

 

[devilmutt]

that is some tasty lookin morsels right there

 

[harleyguy]

I still have 2 or 3 deer roasts in the freezer from last winter. Never really gave it much thought about trying to smoke one until now. Mostly because I wasn't sure about how to prep it & what temp to pull it. Thanks guys for the tips. Maybe we'll have some Qview later this week. By the way Kaiser, that looks YUMMY!! Almost forgot to compliment you !!

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks GREAT Kaiser!

Easily worth a few of these------>>

Bearcarver

 

[coffee_junkie]

Make cowgirls deer pastrami....you will not be disappointed!

 

[matts]

The deer is really good after a brine. A good week soak, wrap in bacon and smoke. I have done this with roasts and whole hind quarters and it always turns out great. The whole hind quarters are always from young deer, so that is always a plus for flavor and tenderness.

 

[jaso]

I treat my venison like beef and it turns out great

I like to combine Dale's seasoning, garlic, and a lil spicy mustard inject it and then put some rub on


I always get the temp around 155-160 and the finished product is like sliced brisket




hope you enjoy

 

[caveman]

That was excellent.

 

[wlkwichita]

That looks like a mighty juicy deer roast!!!!

 

[kaiser]

Thanks, everyone. So far everything to come out of this smoker has been gold - and it's 100% due to the solid advice I've found on SMF.

 

[DougE]

Man that looks great. I you deserve some

for that smoke.