Venison ham (boned)

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

I have one Venison ham from last year left. I took it out of the freezer yesterday morning. It will be thoroughly thawed by this evening. I will begin injecting it with Cajun Butter. I saved the whole trimmed fat cap from last weeks brisket to wrap the injected and rubbed ham in. I am planning to tie the fat cap on with cotton sting to insure that it stays in place. My intention is to cook at approx 200 degrees until interior temp reaches 180. I will then double wrap in HD foil and hold in the smoker until we are ready to eat.

I am trying to achieve a moist, tender roast but at the same time one that is well cooked in the center.

If anyone has suggestions or feel that I am doing something that could be done better a different way, please feel free to offer constructive criticism. I have thick skin.

Thanks,

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[smok "n" beer]

sounds interesting, I usually cook deer to medium at most. thats just my preference. I need to clean out my freezer so I'll be watching to see how yours turns out. good luck.

[Teleking]

What exactly to you mean by venison ham. Is it cured like a ham or just a roast? Personally I think if you take it to 180*F and let it rest in a hot/warm smoker for however long you will have shoe leather.

I wouldn’t take it much past 155*F and wrap it and put it in a cooler to rest.

Just my $0.02
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“Franken Smoker”

“The Bride of Franken Smoker”

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

This is exactly why I posted here!

Personally I prefer my venison rare. (cooked but rare) There are others in my family who prefer (read demand that it be if they are going to eat it) beyond pink. I realize this is a personal problem on their part but I try to keep the peace.

it is the physiological "ham" of the deer rather than a cure ham of sorts. I boned it out before freezing and it fits nicely in a 1 gallon ziploc bag. Yes it was a smallish deer, I have found those to be the best table fare.

I have never done one of these before and perhaps taking it to 155 would be a better choice. I am hoping that the fat cap will keep it from drying out too much.

Thanks for the response.

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[Teleking]

[smok "n" beer]

I agree, I also would pull at 150-155 and rest. When I do backstraps whole on smoker I pull right around 150. I never tried injecting venison, I think I will try it.

A side note a friend of mine had a venison ham cured like you would a hog. I tried it, not bad, definately different, but I probably wouldn't pay to have that done to mine.

[Alien BBQ]

However....... to kill any possible parasites, you might want to figure your carryover to top out at 165. I know that many folks don't like it that way, but safety first.
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[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

Thanks for the responses and the advice (and the anatomy lesson as well). I have just called the whole portion of a deer's hind quarter, specifically that containing the Femur, a "ham" for my entire life. I can only blame parents and grandparents for this. The only curing of deer meat I have ever done is sausage and jerky.

I may try taking the temp to 155 and if things look like they are going well I may go to 160 or 165 and then let it rest.

Thanks again.

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[trapper]

I am interested to hear how this turns out so keep us posted. I think the hindquarter of the deer consists of 5 different cuts of meat (not counting the shank) and they are the rump roast, top round, bottom round, eye of round, and sirloin tip. The top and bottom round are excellent, tender and flavorful. The eye of round we cook like the tenderloin, it is my favorite cut of venison. The rump roast is pretty good but I usually grind it. The sirloin tip I have never found to be good for anything except grinding. It is the toughest piece on the deer in my opinion. I am thinking part of your experiment is going to be great and part is going to be disappointing, but I have been wrong a lot!

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

When I pulled the fat cap that I had been saving out this morning it had become discolored. I discarded it and got some bacon ends and pieces, separated the long strips and chopped most the ends, 8 green onions and two jalapenos. I stuffed the cavity left by the bone with this chop. I had already injected the last of the marinade. I then capped the cavity with larger slabs of bacon and draped the strips over the slabs. I then wound cotton string around the whole mess, adding strips of bacon until the whole "roast" was covered. I gave the whole thing a good coating of "essence" and have started searing it right now. I'll keep turning until seared and then move to a cooler part of the smoker to finish cooking.I'm running the smoker at around 250 right now.

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

Sorry for the crappy pictures. I took them with my computer, one of them is sideways but y'all can figure it out. These were after the first turn.

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

I can't talk right now, gotta go, supper's waitin!

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[Limp Brisket]

Well!.............!!! It sure looks good.

As far as tenderloins somebody mentioned, I take them to 135 on the smoker and then move to a hot waiting grill to to crisp outside, about 7 minutes over charcoal or wood.

Let us know how your hind quarter turned out when you wake up lol.

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

It was great but there are a few things I am going to do differently next time. I am going to cut the individual roasts out and do them separately. I normally crosscut these frozen hindquarters (hams) on the band saw and make Swiss Steak with them. I never got around to doing that this year so I decided to cook this one, as above, whole. Overall it cooked up very moist but as you can imagine it is way more meat than two people can eat (my youngest son and myself). I think smaller roasts cooked in the smoker will be better in the future. The bacon and the "stuffing" was very good and certainly protected the outer layer.

It's going to make some great sandwiches for lunch next week.

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[Teleking]

Glad to hear it turned out good. What temp. did you decide to pull it at???
_________________
“Franken Smoker”

“The Bride of Franken Smoker”

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

I kept the smoker at 200 - 250 as much as I could. I certainly went higher at times but never lower than 200. There was one time when the bacon was actually sizzling. It never burned through to the roast and I think It probably got the bacon grease to running better when the temp went up. It took about 4 hours for internal temp to get to 160 and I pulled it there. I wrapped it in double foil and put it in a small cooler for 45 min.

As good as it was hot off the grill it is delicious cold too. I am looking forward to a good deer roast sandwich for lunch.

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[Pit Boss]

Dont' worry about what you call it...it looks good!

From one fellow who has dressed out many deer in his life...when we quarter one out we take off the shoulders and the "hams".

[Alan R. McDaniel, Jr.]

I shot a little buck last weekend and muscled out the "hams". I intend to do a little roast up similar to the loin in the post by "stillsmokin".

Alan
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Food is at the core of hunting and fishing.

[deersteak]

Boy that looks good!

I call the deer "hams" too.

As far as ham being pork specific, you don't get HAMburgers from a pig.