Smoked Venison Dried Beef

[Bearcarver]

What would happen if I hung one of the pieces of cured and cold smoked venison ham to age? Would it spoil or is there a change it would turn into a dried "venison proscuitto"?

I'm gonna finish them in the oven tonight but was just curious what would happen if I hung one.

Patrick

If it's just cured like I do them in this Step by Step, it would spoil if unrefrigerated for a long time.
There may be ways of doing what you're asking about, but That would call for a different way of curing it, and I believe the use of Cure #2. That's over my Pay Grade, as I was never interested in doing that. I like My Venison Dried Beef too much the way it is.

Bear

 

[Psmowrey]

Thanks! Was just curious. About to pull off smoker and put into the oven to finish.

 

[archeryrob]

Like Bear said cure #2 would need to be used and then it is smoked cold and hung around 50° and in a humid environment and then progressively less humid. If it gets too dry they meat case hardens and the center rots. It is an entirely different learning process. Very old school and I would love to do it if I could make a root cellar to do it, like old Italy. I am not interested in the fridge setups.

Look up curing fridge for more information.

I took some duck and a goose breasts done like bears recipe and dry hung them. wrapped in old sheets. They did not spoil at all. They did dry out something awful and were very hard to eat. I soaked one and it got softer in spots and was not very palatable. It would keep you alive and not get you sick, but you're not going to crave it. After spending some time on it, I think you need the fatter cuts of meat to keep it edible. The fat oil can be made to not spoil where water would. Just like dry cured sausage is fatty and not just ground meat.

Now, I'm no where near an expert on this. I am just sharing my finding from my limited trials and reading on it.

 

[Psmowrey]

Alright! After 8 days of curing, 12 hours of cold smoke and 4 hours in the oven......they were finally ready! They turned out great for my first try...I will be doing this on many more deer this season....just going to wait until i have a big batch and do it all at once. Our biologist says we need to shoot 100 deer at our family place this year, so it may be a VERY big batch! haha.

Thanks for the guidance along the way. See below for some pictures that I took during the process.

 

[archeryrob]

100, wow, did you buy the extra freezer yet or find people to take them all.

Look good.

 

[Bearcarver]

Looks Great P !!
Best to slice that stuff as thin as possible.
You'll Love It !!

Bear

 

[Psmowrey]

Looks Great P !!
Best to slice that stuff as thin as possible.
You'll Love It !!

Bear

After doing my first batch, I'm itching to make more. I've got another doe cut up and ready, sitting in the freezer and some friends collecting backstrap. Like I said previously, it's probably going to be a big batch considering how many deer we need to kill this year.

My issue is with the bigger batches is the storage room in my refrigerator. And I'm considering doing a wet brine instead of the TQ dry cure, as I can put the vessels in my walk in cooler at the ranch and leave them for a week or so.

I've looked up "POP'S" wet brine, will this have a similar result to the dry cured venison hams that I just made?

Thanks!

 

[Bearcarver]

After doing my first batch, I'm itching to make more. I've got another doe cut up and ready, sitting in the freezer and some friends collecting backstrap. Like I said previously, it's probably going to be a big batch considering how many deer we need to kill this year.

My issue is with the bigger batches is the storage room in my refrigerator. And I'm considering doing a wet brine instead of the TQ dry cure, as I can put the vessels in my walk in cooler at the ranch and leave them for a week or so.

I've looked up "POP'S" wet brine, will this have a similar result to the dry cured venison hams that I just made?

Thanks!

I think Pops has an actual Dried Beef Thread someplace.
I can tell the difference, and I like mine better, but I'm sure most people couldn't tell them apart.


Bear