Venison Ham!


 
B

B Mann

TVWBB Member
My girls are out of town this weekend and my cousin just shot a buck. I've been wanting to smoke something different so I will be throwing a 9lb venison ham on my WSM today. Although it might be tough, my goal is to have a pulled final product, so i'm assuming i'm going to need to take it up to at least 190 internal. I will be documenting my progress and procedure with photos and such throughout the day...

Since I had short notice it has been sitting in a saltwater, red wine, meat rub brine since 6pm last night. I plan to throw it on in a couple hours. Before then, I will take it out of the brine and put deep slits across it and stuff it with fresh garlic and butter (i have refrigerated bacon grease, but too flammable?). I will then wrap it in thick bacon and secure with toothepicks I soaked overnight.

Pictures to follow!
 
Into my cook and need some advice since I rushed this whole thing... i think taking it all the way up to 190 would be a bad idea... right now its on and has been cycling between 250-275. I would like a pulled product, but the more i think about it the harder i think it would be to get it on a smoker, instead of of a slow cooker, so i'm thinking I'd settle for sliced.

Any advice on heat to cook at and what internal temp to take it off at for best result? I've heard anywhere from 140-165 internal. I think i'm going to foil as well.
 
I think you will have a very difficult time pulling a cut of meat that is that lean. I would suggest using a larding needle and loading it up with fat if you were to slow cook. I usually cook venison rare to med. rare so it does not turn into shoe leather. Another option would have been to ust into strips, marinade, and then slow smoke to make jerkey. Venison makes excellent jerkey!

I am looking forward to seeing your final product.
 
Thanks DK... I have an idea tho. I'm going to bring low/slow to about 120 internal, then I'm going to put it in a makeshift dutch oven (lipped alum pan tented with HD foil), and fill the pan with stock and herbs. I think i'm going to then bring the smoker temp up to 300-325 for the duration of the cook. Not sure when it will be done or when to take it off, going to just have to do the fork test.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Took it up to 120 internal and put it in the dutch oven... </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Wow. That's the ticket. How's the taste?
 
Taste is outstanding... not as much game flavor as i thought, and a nice nutty smoke flavor. Used 3 chunks of pecan and 1 chunk of cherry. I removed the bacon and added some cherry chips 30 mins in as i was a bit hungover and realized the smoke would only penetrate the bacon wrap mostly. It was in the dutch oven for 2 hrs. It weighed roughly 8#.

...though a few questions still linger...

I took it off at 190. Did not get the pulled product I wanted... produced nice juicy (potroast like) slices however i still had a tough time separating the smaller meat from the bone which tells me it could have been undercooked, as lots of the muscle fibers were still in tact. This is my first smoked venison, and could mean one of two things- 1) they are more like short ribs and just have to be fork tested until done, or 2) I overcooked them and should never have taken it up to 190.

I made the mistake of not testing it for the 2 hr duration in the dutch oven. I have plenty more meat, and this was a great start, however i am still in search of a smoked pulled product. I will definitely give it a second try as the meat had a PHENOMENAL flavor.
 
Gary thanks for the post and btw I grew up in Westfield, NJ. I'm down in ATL now but my folks still live in Holmdel, I'll be heading up there for some striper fishing next week!
 
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