Venison cook. (LIVE Stream!)

KiterTodd

okay, it's not really a live stream.  But the deer is on now and I'd love some feedback...

I got some great input on cooking Venison in THIS thread, took some of that to heart, and am trying to put my own twist on this cook.  It's on the egg now, and I'm open to any tips to make this a success!

I have 5 lbs. 3 oz of Venison roast.  So, it looks like two cuts of about equal size.  Here they are thawed and ready;
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I received mostly slow cook advice with suggestions to braise.  That sounded good, but somehow I wanted to bring the egg smoking ability in to this.   So, my plan is to smoke them for a couple hours, cube the meat, lightly brown those cubes and then toss in a bag for venison stew next week.  Was going to freeze them in some beef stock and just throw in a crockpot with my other ingredients next week.

How does that sound?
Is there a particular time or temp you think I should smoke them to? 
I don't need to cook them all the way, I just want to give them some smoke flavor so I thought 2 hours at 250 would do the trick.

The other rationale is... I would have difficulty getting my wife and two kids to go through these 2 big venison roasts, but next week I'll be on vacation with a bunch of close friends, and they'll tear through any meat I put up. 
So it seems like a good time to experiment. 

Here they are rubbed up on the egg.
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And when should I eat that little tasting morsel that fell off during trimming? 

KiterTodd

Well, the venison chefs must be working this afternoon but I'll update y'all anyway!  This came out great.

I mean, I overshot my temp and didn't end up with exactly what I was going for, but the finished product tasted and looked excellent and taught me I can cook these as standalone meals w/o fear.

So, I should have been down near 225, but the egg was closer to 270 most of the time.  As I was telecommuting this afternoon (really) I didn't pay close attention but just pulled them at two hours.

They were fully cooked so I didn't bother browning them, just cubed, and froze...and ate a fair portion along the way.   WOW!  No gamey taste at all.  Just a really tender prime rib like taste.  Good stuff.  I'd make it again for certain.

I'll post the finished stew pics next week (I'm pot committed to that now) but here is how it looks now...  

(off the grill)


(and a few slicing shots.  yup, it was fully cooked.  And it was yummy.)

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Yes, I could slice and serve it for dinner but have nobody to eat it!  So I'm going with the stew concept.  Time will tell...

bgebrent

Looks awesome brother!  Nice crust!

KiterTodd

To close the loop on the thing, I have to let you know that the venison stew made with previously smoked roast was excellent!

This was a good quick stew as the meat was already cooked.  Basically, I sauteed my veggies and added flour when they were soft, tossed them in a pot with stock, carrots, potatoes and the venison.  Season to taste.  When the potatoes were done, we served the soup.

The stew had a light smoky taste and the venison was tender.  I'll definitely do this again.  Good flavor, no gamey taste.  The only thing I'd change is I threw in some dried chili peppers to the mix and the soup got way too spicy for some.    But I liked it. 

Here is me putting away the leftovers...


...and enjoying a bowl for lunch the next day. 


In short, it was a good way to bring BGE cooking on vacation with you, when you couldn't bring the egg along.

jak7028

I see from your post you are in Maryland.  What region was the venison from? and what kind of deer?   

Cooked pics look more like beef than venison.  I have cooked Whitetail deer from Kansas in various ways and it more resembled sirloin.  Most of the Whitetail deer from Texas are smaller, and tougher.  If someone could smoke one of their hams and have it turn out well, I want to know their secrets.  We either grind them up or cut into steaks and sear at high heat to rare/medium rare, or chicken-fry them.  

Looks like you nailed it though, well done!

KiterTodd

jak7028 said:

I see from your post you are in Maryland.  What region was the venison from? and what kind of deer?   

Cooked pics look more like beef than venison.  I have cooked Whitetail deer from Kansas in various ways and it more resembled sirloin.  Most of the Whitetail deer from Texas are smaller, and tougher.  If someone could smoke one of their hams and have it turn out well, I want to know their secrets.  We either grind them up or cut into steaks and sear at high heat to rare/medium rare, or chicken-fry them.  

Looks like you nailed it though, well done!

Your questions have exceeded my knowledge...

I live NW of DC and the deer came from my backyard.  (friend hunted there)
Looks like a whitetail to me, in that it's tail is white.

I have never cooked a venison roast before and was very impressed with the results.

I also got some leg steaks from him that I cooked last week.  Those I just blackened in cast iron, sliced against the grain, and served like london broil.  Was also pleasantly surprised that those tasted like beef and cooked up well.

Both cuts were lean, with good flavor.  I think for most I had overcooked both cuts, but to everyone I served it to, it was enjoyed and finished. 

jak7028

Just curious.  I kill and process myself at least 3 deer every year, so I am always looking for different ways to cook deer meat.  

As far a region - important as far as the meat goes.  Like I said, I have killed deer in Kansas that more resembled sirloin.  Those deer are bigger 200+ LBS and have plenty of food.  Corn, milo, Soy, Wheat, etc...they can pretty much sit around and eat all day.  The deer I mainly kill are in Texas, smaller deer 100 LBS or so, and liver in rockier environments, and scavenge more for whatever food they can find.  A lot of areas in Texas are overpopulated with deer.  On these deer, I grind up all 4 quarters into hamburger meat.  I only keep the tenderloins and backstraps (loins) to cook for steaks.  Some people will use hams from the hindquarters for other uses, I just don't like to on Texas deer.

Type of deer matters also.  Whitetail or Mule deer are probably the most hunted in the US.  These are lower quality as far as meat goes.  Axis or sika deer have better meat.  It is actually illegal to sell game deer like whitetail.  A lot restaurants in the US serve farm-raised Red Stag from New Zealand for their "Wild-Game Venison."

Long story short, I am always looking for new ideas to cook Texas deer other than hamburger meat or chicken-frying.  Judging by the pictures, you have a lot higher quality deer meat.  I have smoked hams and used the crock pot, and havent been happy with either way yet.  Right now, if I want to do something different with the hams, I just cut it into strips and make jerkey.

saluki2007

That looks amazing. What was the IT when you pulled off the egg?  I would have shot for 120-130. 

KiterTodd

jak7028 said:

... Judging by the pictures, you have a lot higher quality deer meat.  I have smoked hams and used the crock pot, and havent been happy with either way yet.  Right now, if I want to do something different with the hams, I just cut it into strips and make jerkey.

That's good to know.  I don't have a lot of experience cooking venison.  As you saw, the raw roasts looked like this;



I guess that's good?  I was surprised by the amount of fat in the center when I sliced it after cooking.  The meat, though, as you can see is still lean.   I think the deer eat pretty well around here.  He got these with a bow in the winter so they were probably scavenging more than usual, but they have a lot to pick around and eat.  Mostly my neighbor's shrubs! 

KiterTodd

saluki2007 said:

That looks amazing. What was the IT when you pulled off the egg?  I would have shot for 120-130. 

I overcooked it...the first Google search I did (yup) said cook it to 160.  I was going to pull it at 140ish as I knew I'd be cooking it more later, but it was all near 160 when I pulled it.   Still, as I was slicing and chunking it up I ate a lot of it and it was excellent. 

I think I'd like it a little rarer next time, but I'd have a tough time serving red venison to the family, so M to MW is what I'd have to do.  Not tough at all, though.  I'm sure every animal is different.  I got lucky.