Smoking meat

[BKhunter]

Hey all,

Just bought a master built propane smoker in preparation for the hunting season as I want to give it a go smoking some venison this year. Anyone have any good recipes or good links to find smoking recipes on. I would like to start experimenting now so I don't waste my prized venison.

[crappyice]

I do a lot of smoking of beef brisket and pork on my weber charcoal grill. I never tried smoking venison. I would be nervous that the venison would be very dry due to the lack of fat that is so necessary for great smoked meats. I would go the jerky route since dry is what is intended.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Are you looking to smoke just the meat or are you planning on processing into things like snack sticks and sausage?

[gfdeputy2]

I smoke venison & is pretty good need to keep it at a low heat I try not to go over 200

I will inject it with a fruit Juice  or Vodka keep a spray bottle very close by to mist the meat I do every hour with everything but Venison is every1/2 hour I fill the spray bottle with Sam Adams Lager or a hard cider

outside can come out a little like Jerky but insde will be very good as long as you keep the outside cool & moist with the spray bottle Roasts I find are the best to smoke off a deer

 I agree with Crappyice

Beef: you can beat a brisket

 

Edited August 7, 2013 by gfdeputy2

[Fletch]

I do not smoke whole cuts of venison it is too dry. I have done pork, beef, chicken, turkey(turkey legs are great), salmon, sausages....so many good things. Bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos. Great for making smoked sticks and smoked kielbasa and such out of venison though!

[gfdeputy2]

Fletch I have done a lot of smoking with Venison it is not always dry you need to just tend to the meat more then you would other meats & at a cooler temp. Also try making slits in the meat & put some bacon in the slits.

That also helps but I prefer just a shot of juice in the meat

Edited August 7, 2013 by gfdeputy2

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I have never had anything dry out when I used a bath in my smoker.

[BKhunter]

Are you looking to smoke just the meat or are you planning on processing into things like snack sticks and sausage?

Culver I made sausage last year for the first time and they were awesome. This year I would like to make a go at it and smoke some snack stix. I'm also open to any other good recipes in the smoker as I just bought it and am new to the smoking world.

[Culvercreek hunt club]

Culver I made sausage last year for the first time and they were awesome. This year I would like to make a go at it and smoke some snack stix. I'm also open to any other good recipes in the smoker as I just bought it and am new to the smoking world.

 

 

I have a very good snack stick recipe and a very good pepperoni but a great summer sausage recipe. We did 200# of sausages last Feb. TTHe summer sausage disappeared in the blink of an eye...lol. We are makes far fewer snack sticks and way more summer sausage this year. It is easier to stuff and this time we are going to throw in some cheese and hot peppers for some of it.

 

PM me an email address and next week I will send you the recipes.

 

One this to purchase is a remote read thermometer. They have one in Cabelas that has the probe and a cable and the readout has an alarm and a magnet so it can sit right on the smoker. Takes alllllll the guess work out of the smoking and you don't have to keep opening it up.

[2012_taco]

Culver can you post the summer sausage recipe? I do snack sticks in the smoker they are awesome although I tend to burn the tips, I don.t know if it's me or the smoker but, the ends always get too dry. Back to the OP I have done venison back straps on the smoker, I cut a pocket lengthwise in each piece marinate them for 1/2 hour in Montreal steak seasoning, vinegar, oil, and water.(equal amounts of each) then stuff hot Italian sausage in the pocket. add some more Mont. as a rub and smoke @200* for about 4 hours, until 150* internal temp. I use a probe thermometer. Let cool and slice. The sausage adds juice to the meat from the inside out, and the outside gets a nice bark. I can't make enough of them. Maybe I should try using roasts, as you only get 2 straps per deer.

[virgil]

Culver, I'd love to see your sausage recipe, if you don't mind sharing it.

[WNYBuckHunter]

good thing you said recipe virgil

[Culvercreek hunt club]

I don't mind. I will type them up and post in a new thread. They are jsut hand written and, trust me, you guys don't want to try an read my hand writing..lol

 

As far as the burned tips on the snack sticks. I had the same problem the first time. I now use a grate to hang them and get them as high in the smoker as I can, BUT I only make them 20" long, fold them in half and feed through the wire rack.. SO basically  they are sticks 10" long and you are only putting the meat in the top foot of the smoker. They cook much more evenly that way. I put everything as high up as I can get it to get away form the burner. as an added benefit when you cut them at the bend over the wire they will fit sideways in an 11" vacuum sealer roll.

 

[shawnhu]

Culver, I'd love to see your sausage recipe, if you don't mind sharing it.

All I keep seeing is virgil asking to see sausage and a lot of 20", 10", and 11" thrown around, but no pictures.

[Early]

For those of you who do not have smokers...it is possible to make very, very good snack salami (aka summer sausage) using liquid smoke in your recipe.  I do both, smoker and non-smoker....I defy you to tell the difference.

[2012_taco]

I don't mind. I will type them up and post in a new thread. They are jsut hand written and, trust me, you guys don't want to try an read my hand writing..lol

 

As far as the burned tips on the snack sticks. I had the same problem the first time. I now use a grate to hang them and get them as high in the smoker as I can, BUT I only make them 20" long, fold them in half and feed through the wire rack.. SO basically  they are sticks 10" long and you are only putting the meat in the top foot of the smoker. They cook much more evenly that way. I put everything as high up as I can get it to get away form the burner. as an added benefit when you cut them at the bend over the wire they will fit sideways in an 11" vacuum sealer roll.

I lay my snack sticks right on the racks in the smoker, it has 4 racks and I get about 10 pieces on each rack. the top ones always get done first so I rotate them 1/2 way through. the tips on all of the racks seem to burn, I will try to hang them next time and see if that helps, not sure if I can get as much in the smoker that way?

[WNYBuckHunter]

Heres a good idea of how many you can get in a standard cabinet smoker by folding them over the racks like Culver is saying. I cant remember how many lbs it was.

 

[Culvercreek hunt club]

The trick with any of this smoking is to not allow the mea to touch. In the reicpes I will post, going to have to be next week, (sorry but I let somone borrow my recipe note book and I won't have it until this weekend), SO I will posat next week.

 

the pepperoni and the summer sausage I hang them from the rack and flip them over once during the smoking. at around 115-120 degrees internal temp. I tied the casings. with loops and made some wire S hooks . made it very easy to flip them. I should have taken more pictures. when we do it after this season I will do step by step pics.

[growalot]

Thats what I do Early for I have a big Cabelas dehydrator...and can process a lot of sausages and jerky

[Early]

Grow....do you ever use that dehydrator for fruit/vegetables??

[growalot]

will be putting the last of the blue berry pickings in it and will be trying out the kiwi soon....I like when pineapples go on sale and I dry apples...it dries herbs really well

[Culvercreek hunt club]

The only way I like watermielon is in a dehydrator. very very sweet and kind of like a kids fruit roll up. but it takes forever, a ot of water in there. I also do mangos.