Smoked Venison Dried Beef

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Bearcarver

Gone but not forgotten RIP
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Sep 12, 2009
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Macungie, PA
My son gave me about 8 pounds of Deer hind quarter.
Gotta try making some Venison Dried Beef.

Day #1:
I cut the quarters into easy to cure pieces, trimmed all of the fat, some of the other stuff & small loose pieces off.
Rinsed it all real good and patted dry with paper towels.
Then I weighed each piece, calculated how much Tender Quick to use, and weighed those amounts in paper plates (1/2 ounce of TQ per pound of solid meat).
Next I rubbed those amounts of cure, along with equal amounts of Brown sugar on each piece, and put the pieces of meat into zip-lock bags. I was very careful to put anything that fell off of each piece into the bag with the piece that it fell off of, so the right amount of cure stays with the piece of meat it was designated for.
Then I put those pieces in my meat fridge at a constant 37˚/38˚.
The thickest piece of meat was 2", so I calculated the length of time to be 6 days in cure. (See "Note" below)
I massaged & flipped each bag over every day.
Note: I Never cure for less than 8 days.

8 Days Later:
I drained and rinsed each piece, and soaked them in ice water for 1/2 hour.
I then removed one piece & sliced a few little sample strips, and did a fry test---Perfect--Not salty at all!
I pulled them all out of the ice water, and dried them all off real good.
Then put them on my MES racks, and seasoned them with a coating of CBP, Garlic Powder, and Onion Powder.
Then back into the fridge uncovered for an overnight air drying.

Next Day #9:
Outside temp at start was 14˚.
6:40 AM----Pre-heat smoker to 130˚.
7:00 AM----Put meat in smoker at 130˚ (no smoke---to dry better before adding smoke).
8:00 AM----Load A-MAZE-N-SMOKER with Hickory Dust, light both ends, and put in bottom of smoker.
11:00 AM--Bump heat up to 140˚.
1:00 PM----Bump heat up to 160˚.
1:30 PM----AMNS burned out. Removed and put Hickory loaded 6 X 6 AMNS in dry water pan.
3:00 PM----Bump heat to 180˚
5:00 PM----AMNS 6 X 6 burned out. Removed AMNS & bumped heat up to 190˚.
6:00 PM----Bumped heat up to 200˚.
8:00 PM----Checked all pieces for at least 158˚. All pieces were between 159˚ and 172˚.
Removed & spread out on two dishes outside of smoker (19˚ outside).
After cooling down good, I took the meat in & put it in the microwave (keeps the cat away) to cool some more.
After cooling down to about 90˚, I wrapped all pieces in plastic wrap & put in fridge overnight.
Slice real thin the next day.

This stuff is Awesome!
Qview with comments below.


Thanks for looking,

Bear




6 1/2 pounds of Venison Hind Quarter meat:
DSC01745-2.jpg


Cure weighed out to match the 6 pieces of meat in the first picture:
DSC01747-2.jpg


Meat & cure & Brown Sugar in bags, ready for fridge:
DSC01750-2.jpg


Soaking in ice water, after 6 days in cure:
DSC01753-2.jpg


Test frying a few slices----Perfect!
DSC01759-2.jpg


Pieces all seasoned up, ready for overnight in fridge, uncovered to dry well:
DSC01761-2.jpg


Pieces after smoking, and overnight in fridge (wrapped), and ready for slicing:
DSC01767-2.jpg


All sliced up---MMMMmmmm............
DSC01771-2.jpg


All ready for freezing and eating:
DSC01775-2.jpg
 
Last edited:
Looking tasty!! Thanks for the step by step and pictures.
 
Also if people use the original recipe how much difference do you think it would make and if any would it be for better or worse
 
Well in your dried beef tutorial you first injected the pieces of eye round with a tq/ water solution and I didn't see anything saying about the cbp, garlic powder, and onion powder rub you applied o the venison. They were just subtle changes and was really wondering if what I,m doing is right also how do you figure out a cure time. I was just wondering as I am trying this as we speak. I really appreciate your work in everything I've seen that you done. I will try my first q- view with this as well. Keep up what you are doing so us newbies can follow along and keep gaining knowledge. This site has really helped me out. Thanks
 
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Well in your dried beef tutorial you first injected the pieces of eye round with a tq/ water solution and I didn't see anything saying about the cbp, garlic powder, and onion powder rub you applied o the venison. They were just subtle changes and was really wondering if what I,m doing is right also how do you figure out a cure time. I was just wondering as I am trying this as we speak. I really appreciate your work in everything I've seen that you done. I will try my first q- view with this as well. Keep up what you are doing so us newbies can follow along and keep gaining knowledge. This site has really helped me out. Thanks
OK, good questions:

The seasonings I put on the Deer & not the Beef is just trials. I always put that on my Bacons, and on a few other things, but I tried it without on the Beef to see what would happen. Then this Deer Dried Beef I put a lot on. I have since come to the conclusion that none is too little, and the amount I put on this time was too much (a lot falls off anyway). In the future it will be the same ingredients, but only about half as heavy as you can see in these pics.

TQ injections:

Any time I have meat thicker than 3 1/2", I inject a mixture like I did in the "Smoked Dried Beef" post. It helps cure the inside of the meat, because it's a long way for the cure to go from the outside to the center. If I remember correctly, those eye rounds were about 4 1/2" thick at their thinnest mid-point.

Cure Time--My method:
After determining the proper amount of cure, & bagging all of my pieces for the fridge, I measure the thickest point of the thickest piece.
Then say, "How many 1/2" are there in that thickness?"
Then add 2 to that number.
That will be the "minimum" number of days the meat should be in cure.

Example:
Pork Belly measured thickest point = 3"
3" has six 1/2" in it.
6 + 2 = 8
8 days is the minimum cure time for that batch of meat.
9, 10, 11, 12 days is fine, but 7,6, 5, or less is not good.
Any other questions, feel free to ask away,

Bear
 
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Looking good Bear.  I'll try that.  Do you make SOS(creamed chip gravy) out of that?  Or is the main eating means sammies?

Thanks


Thanks RW,

It is good in SOS, and I like SOS (Dried Beef Gravy), but I like it sooooo much in white bread with American cheese & Miracle Whip, that I consider it wasting my tasty Dried Beef, by cooking much of the flavor out of it.

That's just me.

Bear
 
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We are going to have to calltyou the Bear Carver ?Wiki Man. You always do a great job on explaining things in great detail too. Now your dried beef/venison looks awesome.
 
That looks so good!!!
Thanks Neighbor!
 


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We are going to have to calltyou the Bear Carver ?Wiki Man. You always do a great job on explaining things in great detail too. Now your dried beef/venison looks awesome.
Thanks Mark,

I write these things up, so it is easy to follow for anybody, including ME !

I clicked on "Dried Beef" in my signature, and printed out my instructions, and used them to make my game plan for this Venison Dried Beef.

Once I got something that works really good, why change.

Some might say this stuff is a little too moist, as it is more moist than most Dried Beef, but I like it that way in my sammies.

If anyone wants it drier, all they have to do is keep it in the smoker at 150˚ for as long as they want.

Bear
 
 
Bearcarver, I am going to try this-have had venison curing for a week-going to smoke tomorrow. I have a couple of questions-1.-what is the seasoning that is called CBP and 2- is it necessary to do the smoke in the different temperature settings or can a person start the smoker out at 200?  Thanks for the recipe and any tips that you can give me-I just found this site a few days ago-alot of very good information here. 
 
Bearcarver, I am going to try this-have had venison curing for a week-going to smoke tomorrow. I have a couple of questions-1.-what is the seasoning that is called CBP and 2- is it necessary to do the smoke in the different temperature settings or can a person start the smoker out at 200?  Thanks for the recipe and any tips that you can give me-I just found this site a few days ago-alot of very good information here. 
Since this is your first post, how are you curing it (how much cure per pound of meat, etc, etc).

Most newbies don't know anything about cure & curing, and if it's not done right, it can be very dangerous.

You should also go to "Roll Call", and introduce yourself, so everyone can give you a proper welcome.

Your questions:

CBP = Cracked Black Pepper.

I keep it lower for hours to get a good amount of smoke on it & to dry it some.

Starting at 200˚, and keeping it there would #1 not give much time for smoking, and #2 It would be much too moist because it would get done to quick.

Bear
 
That's just some awesome looking venison, Bear!  Thanks for the recipe.
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Great Job once again there bud!!! I can remember going to the butcher shop when I was a kid and getting their dried sliced super thin beef for lunch and it was soo great. I need to try my hand at making some. I should try it with venison but we normally cut up the roasts so we have meat for making sausage, sticks etc. and also my wife would kill me if she saw me using up one of the few roast I saved for her as venison roast in the crock pot is one of her most favorite meals for some reason.
 
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