My buddy in Houston wants to smoke a deer leg...about 9 lbs bone in. I've never smoked Venison...and am guessing to treat it like a brisket with maybe a wrapping of bacon so as to add moisture. Thoughts? Brine?
Thanks!
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Never done a whole leg, but did find a couple posts on other forums. Some disagreement as to final temp. Some say 150ish others go to pulling temp.
http://www.smokingmeatforums.c...-of-venison-whole/20
http://www.smokingmeatforums.c...70754/whole-deer-leg
http://www.baitshopboyz.com/fo..._posts.asp?TID=10155
http://www.smokingmeatforums.c...9748/smoked-deer-leg
http://www.smokingmeatforums.c...-of-venison-whole/20
http://www.smokingmeatforums.c...70754/whole-deer-leg
http://www.baitshopboyz.com/fo..._posts.asp?TID=10155
http://www.smokingmeatforums.c...9748/smoked-deer-leg
A friend of mine and I smoked a deer leg for a little party we had following his return from a hunt in central Florida a few years ago. We brined and smoked the leg pretty much along the lines of this recipe, though we doubled the ingredients.
Prior to brining, we cut a lot of slits in the meat and inserted garlic slivers. As I recall, we used at least 2 heads of garlic. We thought about wrapping it in bacon but discounted that as we didn't want to impart the bacon flavor to the venison. We did, however, rub it pretty well with rendered duck fat and then wrapped it in caul fat. We applied the rub and smoked it at 185° to an internal temperature of 145°. I don't recall the exact time involved but I would estimate that it was between 3 and 4 hours. We FTC it for about and hour then sliced and served.
The leg turned out great. It was very tender and moist with a lot of flavor. It didn't last long at all.
Prior to brining, we cut a lot of slits in the meat and inserted garlic slivers. As I recall, we used at least 2 heads of garlic. We thought about wrapping it in bacon but discounted that as we didn't want to impart the bacon flavor to the venison. We did, however, rub it pretty well with rendered duck fat and then wrapped it in caul fat. We applied the rub and smoked it at 185° to an internal temperature of 145°. I don't recall the exact time involved but I would estimate that it was between 3 and 4 hours. We FTC it for about and hour then sliced and served.
The leg turned out great. It was very tender and moist with a lot of flavor. It didn't last long at all.
quote:Originally posted by dls:
The leg turned out great. It was very tender and moist with a lot of flavor. It didn't last long at all.
dls,
What did the leg weigh?
quote:Originally posted by Mr.T:quote:Originally posted by dls:
The leg turned out great. It was very tender and moist with a lot of flavor. It didn't last long at all.
dls,
What did the leg weigh?
Mr. T - I don't recall the weight, if I ever knew at all. A friend of mine brought the leg to my house to smoke following a successful hunt. It wasn't the entire leg and it was bone in from a whitetail. As a guess, I would say it was around 8 lbs.
Thanks for the feedback gents.
@ Andy - yeah, quite a bit of the diversity in the methods and finish temps.
@ dls - that brine recipe looks good. Think I'll give that a try, take the meat to an internal of 150 and then decide how to best finish it.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
@ Andy - yeah, quite a bit of the diversity in the methods and finish temps.
@ dls - that brine recipe looks good. Think I'll give that a try, take the meat to an internal of 150 and then decide how to best finish it.
I'll let you know how it turns out.