- Nov 15, 2012
- 1,025
- 105
There have been a number of great posts circulating recently on curing and smoking venison ham. One I have referred to several times is from Woodcutter:http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/131711/cured-venison-ham-s. Thanks Todd and many others for your great posts.
Anyway, here is my version of venison ham from My Husband's First Deer.
I processed My Husband's First Deer on our kitchen counter by way of you-tube videos and with some technical assistance from a neighbor who has done it before. Most of it went in the freezer, but I left out a deboned hind leg to make venison ham using Pops brine recipe.
Here is deboned leg section....I used the shank end for stew meat, and just used the upper part of the leg for the ham.
Nicely trimmed up and dehaired. My gosh but those white tail deer have a lot of hair!
In Pops brine which was fine-tuned for 2.4% salt and 200 ppm sodium nitrite.
As the thickest muscle section was about 2 inches thick, I cured for 14 days including the equilibrium time from the cold smoking process. After taking it out of the brine, I seasoned the inside with a little ground thyme, ground black pepper, and ground juniper berries. Then I rolled it up and tied it into a roast. If you close one eye and squint the other, it is a fairly uniform size. I let it rest overnight to form a pellicle.
Then I cold smoked the ham for just a few hours using apple pellets. I would personally like to have gone with more smoke, but I have to keep the smoke light for my husband's taste.
I let it rest overnight to let the smoke mellow, then draped the top in bacon.
And baked it in a 325 deg F oven in a casserole dish with about 1/4" of apple cider in the bottom. I went to an IT of 140 deg F, then let it rest for 20 minutes. The IT climbed to about 151 deg F.
Here it is all sliced up. Saltiness was perfect for our taste. The flavor was great and very similar to ham, and quite juicy given how lean the venison was. The light sprinkling of seasoning on the inside of the roast really complemented the flavor of the deer ham. I'm pretty happy with how this came out. I might try using a larding needle next time I make a venison roast, but the bacon cap really did help with keeping the outside from drying out.
Thanks for looking, and thanks especially to all you venison ham posters who provided inspiration and the know-how.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Clarissa
Anyway, here is my version of venison ham from My Husband's First Deer.
I processed My Husband's First Deer on our kitchen counter by way of you-tube videos and with some technical assistance from a neighbor who has done it before. Most of it went in the freezer, but I left out a deboned hind leg to make venison ham using Pops brine recipe.
Here is deboned leg section....I used the shank end for stew meat, and just used the upper part of the leg for the ham.
Nicely trimmed up and dehaired. My gosh but those white tail deer have a lot of hair!
In Pops brine which was fine-tuned for 2.4% salt and 200 ppm sodium nitrite.
As the thickest muscle section was about 2 inches thick, I cured for 14 days including the equilibrium time from the cold smoking process. After taking it out of the brine, I seasoned the inside with a little ground thyme, ground black pepper, and ground juniper berries. Then I rolled it up and tied it into a roast. If you close one eye and squint the other, it is a fairly uniform size. I let it rest overnight to form a pellicle.
Then I cold smoked the ham for just a few hours using apple pellets. I would personally like to have gone with more smoke, but I have to keep the smoke light for my husband's taste.
I let it rest overnight to let the smoke mellow, then draped the top in bacon.
And baked it in a 325 deg F oven in a casserole dish with about 1/4" of apple cider in the bottom. I went to an IT of 140 deg F, then let it rest for 20 minutes. The IT climbed to about 151 deg F.
Here it is all sliced up. Saltiness was perfect for our taste. The flavor was great and very similar to ham, and quite juicy given how lean the venison was. The light sprinkling of seasoning on the inside of the roast really complemented the flavor of the deer ham. I'm pretty happy with how this came out. I might try using a larding needle next time I make a venison roast, but the bacon cap really did help with keeping the outside from drying out.
Thanks for looking, and thanks especially to all you venison ham posters who provided inspiration and the know-how.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Clarissa