Deer bacon

[Eterry]

My dear friend passed and his wife gave me several boxes of cure. One was for Buckboard Bacon. Said it was for pork butts but any cut of meat would do.

I took the flank steaks from a huge buck my brother shot and used the dry rub cure on it for 5 days, overhauling it twice. Next to my homemade smoker and used hickory sawdust for smoke.

It came out thinner and leaner than bacon, but taste like corned beef. I'll post some pics after I take some. I'm very pleased with this.

Most guys don't mess with the flanks, dad fed it to the dogs. But I decided if fajita meat is from flank why am I not saving this? I've also made fajitas with it.. really good stuff.

 

[64Springer]

The trick to a substandard cut of meat is low temp and long cook time.

When cutting it, slice 90 degrees to the grain structure.

That meat will melt in your mouth.

 

[sheriff john]

I had a deer "ham" cured along with several pork hams at my local butcher shop. Nasty.

 

[Eterry]

The last meat I had cured at the butcher was inedible, they don't cure enough meat to be proficient in it.
I've been smoking my own meat for 25 years, used over 2lbs of instacure #1 in my smoking meat, stuffed 5 hanks of real pork casings. I've read Rytek Kutas' book cover to cover, twice. 90% of his recipes are really good, 5% awesome, 5% dreadful.
The thin pieces are like smoked jerky, the thicker one's corned beef.
I use a dual electric hot plate for heat, never get above 180°. But you MUST use a cure or botulism is a real thing.

Many today buy a wood fired grill at the big box and call that smoking. It is nothing of the sort. It's barbecue.
What I do is smoking, like your great grandparents did.

 

[Eterry]

The trick to a substandard cut of meat is low temp and long cook time.

When cutting it, slice 90 degrees to the grain structure.

That meat will melt in your

Will a ham melt in your mouth? How about a barbecue brisket?
That's the difference, I made a deer ham, your talking about bbq.

 

[sheriff john]

Ours was old-timey salt/sugar cured alongside the hams. Hung, smoked, cured for weeks. First bite just kept getting bigger and bigger the longer you chewed. Fried in a cast iron skillet with bacon grease...dogfood.

Corned venison - excellent. Stew, chili, most every other way ..very good.

 

[Eterry]

Ours was old-timey salt/sugar cured alongside the hams. Hung, smoked, cured for weeks. First bite just kept getting bigger and bigger the longer you chewed. Fried in a cast iron skillet with bacon grease...dogfood.

Corned venison - excellent. Stew, chili, most every other way ..very good.

I've ruined a wild hog ham, by leaving it in the brine too long. You can't get it out, or I couldn't. Terribly salty, and tasted... burnt?? Just horrible.

Usually a smoked meat that's mushy has been smoked then frozen, sometimes more than once.
I've learned curing deer takes half a long as pork, because it's so lean. That maybe where the problem lies with your deer.
Had some corned deer and fried eggs for breakfast today...omg was it good.

 

[Eterry]

Finally stopped long enough to take a pic. Here's my deer bacon and eggs. Just need warming up...I like my eggs over easy... but not THAT easy.

 

[Brokennock]

The last meat I had cured at the butcher was inedible, they don't cure enough meat to be proficient in it.
I've been smoking my own meat for 25 years, used over 2lbs of instacure #1 in my smoking meat, stuffed 5 hanks of real pork casings. I've read Rytek Kutas' book cover to cover, twice. 90% of his recipes are really good, 5% awesome, 5% dreadful.
The thin pieces are like smoked jerky, the thicker one's corned beef.
I use a dual electric hot plate for heat, never get above 180°. But you MUST use a cure or botulism is a real thing.

Many today buy a wood fired grill at the big box and call that smoking. It is nothing of the sort. It's barbecue.
What I do is smoking, like your great grandparents did.

I really enjoy your topics on those subject. Do you have a picture of your smoker set up that you could,,,, or maybe I should say that you would share? I understand if it's "classified" information.
Thanks.

 

[Eterry]

I really enjoy your topics on those subject. Do you have a picture of your smoker set up that you could,,,, or maybe I should say that you would share? I understand if it's "classified" information.
Thanks.

Broken, it's far from classified. It's a larger version of what Rytek Kutas has in his book.

It began life as an upright freezer, but died. I scored it for $20, but have been given several over the years.

I removed all the shelving, went to a discount center and bought 2 small floor vents aka trailer house vents, metal screws and stove bolts, ($20.00). I used a skil saw with blade reversed to cut a rectangle at the bottom of the door and center of the roof. Screwed in the vents.

I took two 1x4s (free) and cut notches for 3/4" dow rods ($10.00), then holes for stove bolts. Mounted them about 6 inches from ceiling, to keep the meat near the top. Drilled small hole on side for dial thermometer to regulate temp.

I use a 2 burner hot plate, electric, for heat, ($20.00). When the hotplate was new one burner would reach 180° in under 30 minutes. Now it needs 2 burners to do that. I use a garage sale stainless skillet ($1.00) to put hickory sawdust in, aluminum skillet will melt; also don't use chips. The large chips have greater chance of catching fire, don't use them. I've seen this firsthand.

I've smoked 2 huge hams and 4 hocks at once, (takes several days). Also smokes over 50 lbs of sausage at once. The designs call for a 2nd row of sticks half way down. I don't do commercial so never installed them.

I've had the smoker almost 25 years, I'm on my 3rd hotplate.

But I have a 50+ lb smoker for under $75.00. It sits next to my grill on the patio. My wife loves me.

I'll post some pics later today. It's nothing fancy, but gets the job done.

 

[Urban Coyote]

I don't know where it was made, Wisconsin perhaps, but a fellow in our fish camp gave me some venison bacon and it was fabulous. It looked to be made from ground and pressed meat. It even made one heck of a BLT.

 

[Eterry]

I don't know where it was made, Wisconsin perhaps, but a fellow in our fish camp gave me some venison bacon and it was fabulous. It looked to be made from ground and pressed meat. It even made one heck of a BLT.

I've made that before. You grind the meat, season and add cure, press into a rectangle cake pan and smoke. Then use a deli meat slicer to make the even cuts. Followed Kutas' recipe. The name escapes me.

 

[appalichian hunter]

I had a deer "ham" cured along with several pork hams at my local butcher shop. Nasty.

Actually, the deer ham should have been sliced really thin, think store bought dried beef, then you make a white gravy put in the thinly sliced cured deer, like you would for sausage gravy and eat on biscuits and fried potatoes. Have had a few of those made at the local butchers and its very good. As I am the only one in the el rancho delux who eats deer since the boy moved out one cured ham lasts me a good while.

 

[Eterry]

Ours was old-timey salt/sugar cured alongside the hams. Hung, smoked, cured for weeks. First bite just kept getting bigger and bigger the longer you chewed. Fried in a cast iron skillet with bacon grease...dogfood.

Corned venison - excellent. Stew, chili, most every other way ..very good.

You know John, the more I think of it, the more I'm convinced they didn't get enough of the white/silver skin off your deer.
I had more "bacon" this morning with grits and eggs. I found a piece I couldn't chew. I tried, and kept chewing until the culprit presented itself. I masticated until the thin membrane was revealed. I guess I missed some doing prep work. It was dark and I was on the back porch. I've had 3 proper servings and as many snacks and this is the first I've found.
So methinks the butcher left the silver skin on. As had been my experience, modern butcher's do so little smoking they don't get proficient in it.
My jack Russell puppy loved it. Her canines are much sharper than mine.

 

[Brokennock]

Broken, it's far from classified. It's a larger version of what Rytek Kutas has in his book.

It began life as an upright freezer, but died. I scored it for $20, but have been given several over the years.

I removed all the shelving, went to a discount center and bought 2 small floor vents aka trailer house vents, metal screws and stove bolts, ($20.00). I used a skil saw with blade reversed to cut a rectangle at the bottom of the door and center of the roof. Screwed in the vents.

I took two 1x4s (free) and cut notches for 3/4" dow rods ($10.00), then holes for stove bolts. Mounted them about 6 inches from ceiling, to keep the meat near the top. Drilled small hole on side for dial thermometer to regulate temp.

I use a 2 burner hot plate, electric, for heat, ($20.00). When the hotplate was new one burner would reach 180° in under 30 minutes. Now it needs 2 burners to do that. I use a garage sale stainless skillet ($1.00) to put hickory sawdust in, aluminum skillet will melt; also don't use chips. The large chips have greater chance of catching fire, don't use them. I've seen this firsthand.

I've smoked 2 huge hams and 4 hocks at once, (takes several days). Also smokes over 50 lbs of sausage at once. The designs call for a 2nd row of sticks half way down. I don't do commercial so never installed them.

I've had the smoker almost 25 years, I'm on my 3rd hotplate.

But I have a 50+ lb smoker for under $75.00. It sits next to my grill on the patio. My wife loves me.

I'll post some pics later today. It's nothing fancy, but gets the job done.

Interesting.
I could never get away with that set up here at home. (I can just hear the comments about the yard, "looking like Uncle Jessie's place)
I have an electric smoker that I have to make foil cones of soaked wood chips for. To get smoked trout done to the point I like them it takes a few replacements of those cones. How many skillets of wood dust does it take to smoke something for 3 days?

 

[Eterry]

Interesting.
I could never get away with that set up here at home. (I can just hear the comments about the yard, "looking like Uncle Jessie's place)
I have an electric smoker that I have to make foil cones of soaked wood chips for. To get smoked trout done to the point I like them it takes a few replacements of those cones. How many skillets of wood dust does it take to smoke something for 3 days?

I kept it painted the first 10 years, then My wife found some bamboo screens to hide it... lol.
It takes a bunch of sawdust. I buy it in a 50lb box from butcher and packer. Any stainless container will work. I took the handle off the skillet so it'd be more compact. You might try that instead of aluminum cones.

 

[Steve Wagner]

Flanks and 'rib meat'. What about the coyotes ? They're starving out there ! Eatin' deer nostrils, scrotums and ears gets really tiresome for them. Don't be cruel. And friends don't let friends eat venison liver-ever. As for tongue-well, try not to think of where it's been while eating it and watching your buddy, Rover. SW