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Thursday, January 5, 2012

Venison Pastrami

I love this stuff!! :)
I used a small roast from the hind quarter of this year's little white tail buck

For my dry cure, I mix...
5 tablespoons Tender Quick
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground paprika
1 teaspoon ground bay leaves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

This is enough for 5lbs of meat



I trimmed the roast and butterflied it a bit to even out the thickness of the meat. (for even curing)



Rub the cure into the meat on all sides, shake off any excess.....



Wrap and place in a container to catch any drippings. Let it cure in the fridge for 5 to 7 days depending on the thickness of the meat. ( I cured this for 5 days)



After the venison has cured, RINSE well and soak in fresh cool water for about 2 hours to remove some of the saltiness...



Before smoking, rub the meat with a mixture of allspice, garlic, crushed bay leaves, crushed juniper berries, onion powder, black pepper and mustard seeds.... I use about a tsp of each, and 2 cloves of the garlic minced. You can add more if needed.



Into the Hasty Bake on the "smoke" setting... also added hickory for the smoke.



I caramelized a few onions...



made a cheese disc by mixing several of my favorite cheeses and adding crumbled crisp bacon...



After the venison pastrami smoked to an internal temp of 145 F... I sealed it in foil with some beef stock...



Back onto the smoker to "steam".
I also added my cheese and added kraut to the caramelized onions to catch a bit of smoke.



Last.... I toasted some buttered bread...





I pulled the venison pastrami from the heat at an internal temperature of about 160F.. and let it "rest" covered in the beef stock until it came up to an internal temperature of 165F.



The venison pastrami is so moist and tender...



The "make your own" sandwich fixin's..
Venison pastrami, smokey cheese, kraut with caramelized onions, brown spicy mustard, russian dressing and assorted toasted bread.



I love venison pastrami. :)


This recipe works well with beef too!

20 comments:

Hank said...

What beautiful results. Who's your food stylist? When are you going to share some not so successful efforts, lol.....

cowgirl said...

Thanks BuckHead Trad! I'm not sure what a food stylist is...but I use my little "point and click" Kodak easy share camera and my kitchen counter.
You must have missed my bologna-on-a-stick posts and burnt biscuits! Also the canned smoked oysters sittin' on cracker. lol
I like to stick to foods that are easy to make and hard to screw up. :)

LindaG said...

Again you leave me hungry after just eating.
I wish I could download your blog for study!
Thanks as always for sharing your meal with us, Cowgirl! :-)

becky3086 said...

That REALLY looks good!

Mrs. JP said...

Wow, that looks delicious and pretty simple. I bet JP will be trying this recipe--at least I hope so!

lisa said...

I need to get a smoker and try that! We just filled our freezer with venison a couple of weeks ago!

cowgirl said...

Thank you Linda! Hope your week is going well. :)

cowgirl said...

Thanks Becky! I appreciate you stopping by. :)

cowgirl said...

Thanks Mrs JP! I bet the pastrami only takes 30 minutes to make... 15 to put the first batch of cure on, do something for a week, come back and spend 15 minutes putting the second batch of spices on...then throw it in the smoker and sit back til it's done.
Hope you give it a try.. it's good on beef too! Thanks again :)

cowgirl said...

Lisa congratulations on the deer meat! Hope you give this a try..it's tasty. I bet you could slow smoke it on a grill using indirect heat too.
Thanks for stopping by. :)

Chris C said...

Perfect Jeanie! You answered my question about how long to smoke it! I pick up my Elk on Sunday so it will have to partake in the pastrami test! I just have to locate some Tender Quick. (Which I have a few ideas where to get them locally!) Thanks again for a well detailed dinner idea!
Chris

Frugal Canadian Hermit said...

Those goodies look delicious Jeanie. The pastami sandwich reminds me of a reubin sandwich, which I hav'nt had in a long time. I'm gonna get me one soon though. I now have this weird little craving for sour kraut and meat.

wannabe chef said...

wow I could hurt myself on that I am a huge (literally) pastrami fan.

cowgirl said...

Hey Chris! Congratulations on your elk, that's great! If you try the pastrami, let me know how it goes.
Good luck finding the tenderquick too... I know they sell it online but it's usually cheaper in stores.
Hope you are having a great weekend! :)

cowgirl said...

Mark thanks! I love rueben sandwiches too.. I don't have them often enough.
Hope all is well in your neck of the woods. Good to see ya. :)

cowgirl said...

:) WannabeChef..Thanks!! Hope you try the recipe sometime. It works great with beef brisket too if you don't have venison.
Hope you are having a great weekend! :)

David said...

Interesting, I did a brine cure for my pastrami, might have to your dry cure method. It looks delicious. I wish I had thad sandwich for breakfast!

cowgirl said...

Thanks David! I've had great luck with this recipe. I seem to have all the ingredients on hand most of the time so it's easy to throw together.
Bet your brine cured pastrami is tasty too!!

Greywolf said...

I've followed this recipe several times with deer. Makes the BEST pastrami! I'm about to make some with a friend's deer meat that she gave me to make for her.

cowgirl said...

That's great to hear Greywolf! It's my favorite for venison.
I just cured two beef briskets with the recipe. Canned one and will be smoking the other Sunday.
Congrats to your friend on getting a deer. Nice of you to cure it for her!
Thanks for stopping by!