Been asked to smoke deer meat. Need advice.

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ol'smokey

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I have been asked to smoke some venison for a wife's friend. The problem is I have never smoked venison before. Needless to say, I have some questions.


  1. Which parts of the deer are best to smoke?
  2. Which type of wood would you recommend?
  3. What type of rubs go best with venison? (Salt and pepper? Store bought? Make my own?)
  4. Any other recommendations when it comes to smoking venison would be great!
 
In for responses.

I hunt, but I have yet to smoke venison and like it. There is so little fat in venison I havent had good luck cooking (or eating others) smoked venison that was any good. I make jerky from the entire deer except for the loins...anything else I would rather have beef, so hopefully others chime in with some wisdom
 
How do you cook the loins?
Do you have any good sites with venison jerky recipes?
 
Loin and tenderloin sliced and fried in butter with S&P, and hearty variety of mushroom and scallions is absolute heaven.
 
ol'smokey said:
How do you cook the loins?
Do you have any good sites with venison jerky recipes?
Click to expand...

Tenderloin? Seasoning, cream cheese, jalapeno, and bacon. Cut down the middle long ways, but not all the way through. Stuff the meat with the vut up pepper and cream cheese and wrap the whole thing in bacon. Pin shut with tooth picks.
 
I do roasts of the hind 1/4, I dont know the names of the particular sections. but any of the roast on the hind will work good.

with any cut, you need to make sure you get all of the silver skin off, it does not have a good flavor or texture to it.

I season with whatever rub you like and smoke until IT of about 170. much further and it starts to get dried out.

tenderloin I usually cut out when I gut the deer, salt pepper it up and throw in a hot cast iron pan for a few minutes and have for breakfast with some sunny side up eggs.

backstrap I leave whole. salt pepper garlic and either grill on a hot grill or pan roast it to med rare.

good stuff
 
ol'smokey said:
How do you cook the loins?
Do you have any good sites with venison jerky recipes?
Click to expand...

tenderloin (and sweat meat) cooked hot and fast with salt and pepper...rare to med rare as she cooks quickly. Some good ideas above also.

For jerky, I use both ground meat and muscle meat (strips). I like to use Rocky Mountain Jerky seasonings. Have mixed and matched my own before as well, but its just easier to use them for me. I have smoked it and used my Excalibur dehydrator and the Excalibur yields better results. I have also tried cheaper bass pro and cabelas dehydrators and they are not too good compared to the excalibur.
 
I usually make Summer Sausage. It's great. Cabelas kit is pretty good. I have made jerky and usually marinade with some soy sauce, brown sugar, pepper, minced onion, minced green bell pepper, and minced garlic. Turns out pretty good.

Wood I use hickory, cherry, Apple blend.

Steaks I use Mel's or Misty's. But I bet Oakridge Santa Maria would be awesome also.
 
Just smoked a backstrap this past weekend. Injected with Cajun Butter and sprinkled Zick's Venison Seasoning. Smoked to 140 at 225 using cherry. Wrapped in foil and let rest for 30 min. Oh my goodness was it guuuuuud.
 
I've only ever done it once, and it was amazing.
>> Here's a thread << where I took some pics and how I prepped mine (along with a bunch of other meat).
Hope that helps, and welcome to the forum!
 
I eat deer year round. About the only time I eat beef is when I cook a brisket, or eat a hamburger out somewhere. No kidding I bet I eat beef less than 20 times a year if that much. On the other hand we harvest enough deer and we process them ourself. All of that to say, we never smoke it. Venison just loves Hot and Fast. Maybe you can just grill it for them? We grind most of them, save the loins, and we keep some roasts for jerkey or a roast. On the loins we slice them into medallions, marinade in low sodium dales sauce, with a splash of worcestisire ( sp? ) a little garlic powder and onion powder. Grill them on high heat til just medium. They are delightful. I have also grilled whole loins wrapped in bacon and they are just fine. Hard to mess that up with bacon. I cut the briskets out of a deer we harvested this past monday just for fun. I expect we will just flash fry them in a hot skillet and cut up for biscuits. Either way, just relax and have fun.
 
gtsum said:
the little oysters along the back under the tenderloin...most tender part of the deer
Click to expand...

Under the tenderloin? Never noticed any other meat in there. They are oyster sized?
 
Victory said:
Under the tenderloin? Never noticed any other meat in there. They are oyster sized?
Click to expand...



Sorry, I meant the tenders inside the rib cage...whereas I call the outside ones the back straps. I should of said backstraps and then the inner tenders, or sweat meat, as they r called here in va. I got confused there for a minute!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Tenderloins inside, Loins or backstrap outside - Filet Mignon vs Strip/ ribeye /.
I would only smoke a shoulder, and that I wouldn't do. Good advice -
Hot and Fast said above. RARE to Rare was missed I think.
No way can you eat a loin with a brown middle. You've just made stew meat.
Here's a bone-in 3 boner -


RARE - You can obviously cook it a bit more, but blink and it's ruined.
I ate this whole thing.

 
gtsum said:
Sorry, I meant the tenders inside the rib cage...whereas I call the outside ones the back straps. I should of said backstraps and then the inner tenders, or sweat meat, as they r called here in va. I got confused there for a minute!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

So sweet meats are just another name for the tenderloins. Never heard them called that.
 
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