First venison roast

Congrats.

We get some requests about venison, but not a lot.

Glad you had some success.

Smokin'

Sounds good. Bacon can really help out with lean wild meat.

I've been asked to prepare a venison shoulder roast for one of the roast beasts we'll be having on Thanksgiving day.

Just wanted to let you know that this was exactly what I was looking for; I did NOT want to do a pot roast with this thing.

It's a bit smaller than 5# (about 3-3.5), but the idea for keeping it moist by wrapping it in bacon is what I needed to be able to smoke it without me worrying about it drying out.

I'll be finishing it on a high-heat rotisserie rather than a grill with a maple syrup-based glaze instead of teriyaki, but the principle's the same.

Any ideas for getting some flavor in there before it's cooked? Maybe an herb rub or a marinade or even a brine? This is the first time I've smoked venison, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

I'm leaning towards sage or maybe rosemary.

Oh, and important questions:

When you wrap it with the bacon, do you leave space in between the slices for the smoke to penetrate the venison?

And if so, how much space?

Also: should I tie the roast into a cylinder shape or leave it in its natural state? (it's boneless)

Thanks!

You lay the bacon on the top side only. I usually overlap it. You will need to cook at a high enough temp from the start to melt the bacon fat into the meat. (225*?) You can also inject melted lard immediately before putting into the smoker. Take the bacon off and discard or feed it to the dogs before glazing. The tying up will work fine and should help with the rotisserie.

quote:

Originally posted by Prospero:
Oh, and important questions:

When you wrap it with the bacon, do you leave space in between the slices for the smoke to penetrate the venison?

And if so, how much space?

Also: should I tie the roast into a cylinder shape or leave it in its natural state? (it's boneless)

Thanks!

What I've done over the years with shoulders is to debone like you have.... then I spice up both sides..... lay about 4 or 5 strings out and then lay the meat over the string and roll up the best it will...... then cinch it down as tight as I can get it starting with the middle strings.

Even with my older smokers they came out reasonably moist. I've done one with the 055 without bacon and it is plenty moist.

There is lots of flavor that gets rolled up.

Richard

Thanks for the tips, guys!

esfishdoc: "Even with my older smokers they came out reasonably moist. I've done one with the 055 without bacon and it is plenty moist."

About how long did you smoke it and/or to what internal temperature?

Basically, I'm wondering what temp/ballpark cooking time I should take it out at and move to the rotisserie.

quote:

Originally posted by Prospero:
Thanks for the tips, guys!

esfishdoc: "Even with my older smokers they came out reasonably moist. I've done one with the 055 without bacon and it is plenty moist."

About how long did you smoke it and/or to what internal temperature?

Basically, I'm wondering what temp/ballpark cooking time I should take it out at and move to the rotisserie.

If serving it up hot I would use internal temperatures same as beef... if you like it rare and bleeding in the middle like I do as low as 125 to 130... most will probably want around 135 to 140 for rare.

I don't keep notes... a 5lb shoulder rolled with the smoker set around 200 would maybe take 3 hours.....I'm real bad about those kinds of things... I watch temperatures and don't worry about time (although I'm going to cook a turkey today and want it ready by six.....)

One thing to consider since this meat was given to you...... worse case scenario there was a gut shot or untidy butchering that exposed the meat to abdominal contents.... you cook rare and get a bacterial gastroenteritis... not likely to happen but.....

Consider a higher internal temp around 145 to 150.... especially if you were going to serve cold and thinly sliced.

Richard

quote:

If serving it up hot I would use internal temperatures same as beef... if you like it rare and bleeding in the middle like I do as low as 125 to 130... most will probably want around 135 to 140 for rare.

quote:

Consider a higher internal temp around 145 to 150.... especially if you were going to serve cold and thinly sliced.

Thanks again. Those are the ballpark figures I was looking for.

Since I'm serving it hot, I figure I'll take it out of the smoker at about 140-145 and put it on the rotisserie to glaze and crisp up. It'll probably take about 20-30 minutes to finish that way.

I figure that I'll get it to a nice medium that way - just pink in the middle. Unfortunately, I know there will be people eating who won't appreciate it medium-rare like I do.

I'll let you guys know how it turns out. Feel free to post any more tips; I'll be checking this thread up until I start cooking it!

Well, I wound up smoking it with bacon draped over the top for about 4 hours (1.5 hours too long!) because I fell asleep. Hehehe. It was just a bit dry, but not too bad.

It came out of the smoker looking like a piece of road kill, but the taste was fantastic! So what I did was carve it into slices and serve it over a bed of new potatoes with some rosemary and sage on top as a garnish, then spooned some of the maple syrup/red wine mixture over the top to moisten it up and add some contrasting flavor.

I got rave after rave, with several family members who are big hunters and eat the stuff all of the time telling me it was the best venison they'd ever had.

I thought I had screwed up royally, but I guess not.

Thanks again for everyone who supplied tips and tricks! This venison, along with my smoked and rotisseried duck, roasted center-cut pork loin, and my aunt's roast turkey with stuffing, as well as numerous side dishes, had a couple of people saying that it was the best Thanksgiving meal they'd ever had, including my mother. Very nice day.

Hope you all had the same.

Good job.

Yep, we had a good meal also!