Venison Bacon on 40" MES Question

[yankee bill]

Hi folks,

I've got my first batch of Venison Bacon (Curley's Recipe) mixed and setting up in the fridge and I'm going to smoke it in the A.M. I have a 40" MES that I haven't used very much yet and will be doing the smoke with it. My question is regarding using water in the pan during the cook, the instructions for the recipe say to cook @ 130 deg. for the first hour or so (no smoke) until the meat dries out before bumping the temp up and adding smoke.

I was wondering if having water in the pan during this drying out phase of the cook would hinder the meat from drying out, seems to me it would. Have any of you guys made this recipe using a MES, and if so, could you share some pointers with me.

Appreciate any input you might have.

Thanks,

YB  

 

[blzafour]

I have made venison bacon plenty of times and I have water in the water pan from the start and have had no problems. Being that it is ground meat it takes smoke real well... You will be makin' this stuff again for your friends and family... just as I have!!!     Good Luck... Blza

 

[dnovotny]

whats your recipe  for  venison  bacon??/

 

[mossymo]

I've done it with and without water, doesn't seem to effect anything one way or the other. MES is a great tool for smoking venison bacon; set it, later add smoke and forget it till it hits temp. Look forward to your thoughts on the end product!

 

[tjohnson]

Hey Bill,

I don't use water unless it's dry meat.  Your venison bacon will have plenty of moisture in it.

Some people use water and some don't.  I personally believe it's more used for a "Heat Sink" than moisture.

I ran mine up to 160° internal.

Take Lots of Pics!

Todd

 

[Bearcarver]

Hi folks,

I've got my first batch of Venison Bacon (Curley's Recipe) mixed and setting up in the fridge and I'm going to smoke it in the A.M. I have a 40" MES that I haven't used very much yet and will be doing the smoke with it. My question is regarding using water in the pan during the cook, the instructions for the recipe say to cook @ 130 deg. for the first hour or so (no smoke) until the meat dries out before bumping the temp up and adding smoke.

I was wondering if having water in the pan during this drying out phase of the cook would hinder the meat from drying out, seems to me it would. Have any of you guys made this recipe using a MES, and if so, could you share some pointers with me.

Appreciate any input you might have.

Thanks,

YB  

Definitely no water until you dry the loaves out on their exterior.

They're only talking about wanting the outside dried, before hitting the smoke on it.

An hour at 130˚ is usually enough.

I do that with most of my cured stuff, for the first hour.

Then you can add smoke & water to the pan (if you want).

Bear

 

[yankee bill]

Thanks for the replies fella's. I went ahead and did it without any water for the whole cook. Had quite a few temp spikes, might try sand in the waterpan next time to see if that helps. A couple of the loaves were thinner than others and had the internal temp run up to 175 deg. I hope that didn't screw them up too bad. I've got the loaves resting in the fridge before slicing in the A.M.

I wasn't able to get pics as my camera was packed away in the back of the truck, I just got back from 2 weeks of hunting in the mountains and was making sausage and grinding burger all day in between tending the smoker. I'll try to dig it out and get some pics of the finished product tomorrow.

Thanks again for the input folks.

YB