May 25 2008
Smoked venison (red and roe)
Red and roe venison can, for all practical purposes, be dealt with together. The treatment is identical, the only differences being in brining and cooking times on account of the differences in size and weight. Only the haunches and saddles are suitable for smoking as the more frontal areas have not sufficient depth of flesh; in fact the saddle of a roe has only just enough depth of flesh to render smoking a viable proposition.
Venison should have hung a minimum of 1 week before brining, but on no account should it be allowed to go ‘high’. A haunch of roe will require brining for 3 hours in 80% brine, a saddle of roe 2 hours, whereas a haunch of red deer will require 6 hours in the brine and a saddle from the same animal will need 31/2 hours in the pickle. I am assuming that the red deer venison will come from ordinary hill beasts, and it is surely a matter of commonsense that a haunch from one of those monsters from Thetford Chase would require considerably longer in the brine. Continue Reading »
