I have been a registered user for 6 years Andy,, maybe its your browser? But nobody can even leave a remark without being registered. So I will try again and go into depth with best recipe I have for deer in the last 62 years now.
This is what I have found makes one of the very best cuts on the whole Deer,, most carve bits and pieces off of, or make a roast out of it, to me this makes it less desirable than the back straps! I found 3 years ago,,,,, from another younger hunter,,, about 35 years old, just how good the neck is. For me, the neck w/esophagus removed, is my favorite cut on the whole deer,,,, yes the finest most precious cut on the deer with the bone left in!!! I always cut and carved and got what I could for burger,,,, what a waste!! T will always take em to the ears, and as far to the shoulder as I can,,,,, once the backstrap has been taken.
It is now the only cut I leave the bone in, and the whole thing cooks fer 10 or 11 hours to be one of the finest dishes on the entire deer! I did the first one in the crockpot with dried pinto and great northern beans,,, instead of ham I smoked the neck for 2 hours @ 235* in the cookshack with hickory and apple wood, then set it in the 6 quart crock pot with beans on high for another 6 hours,,,,,,,,,,,fall off the bone tender and the best batch of beans I ever had! There are other excellent ways to smoke cook this piece, but to me if no wood is used, it's a waste for this piece of meat!
BUT,,, we experiment and continue to learn as we age, if you can't smoke it for 10 or 11 hours controlling your temps, size of neck means slightly more or less time, this is average, for 4 or 5 hours of smoking low and slow is all you really need, the last 5 or 6 hours could be done in the oven,, I prefer the smoker, even though I am not adding anymore smoke or wood to the cook. One more huge advantage of the Q25 (SM025 today) cookshack smoker! It get rubbed with Olive Oil and seasoned with my favorite brisket rub and wrapped in cellophane over night and then the next morning, (I like to it leave wrapped fer 12 to 16 hours) it goes in a "cookshack" smoker @ 240* with 4 oz cherry and apple wood 50/50, for 2 hours, then I add another 4 oz. of the same wood, for 3 more hours.
So 5 hours later at this time I take the whole neck out and have a foiled baking pan ready with one green pepper sliced, and one yellow onion 1/2'd and 1/4'rd and 4 cloves of fresh garlic sliced in half, waiting in for the neck. Once it is in the foil pan I cover and seal it with HD aluminum foil then back in the smoker fer another 2 hours. At this time with 7 hours total cook time, as we are now just cooking "low and slow".
But now with the 7 hours total, and after 2 hours in the pan, I open the foil and add 2 3 more yellow onions, depending on size and your taste's, and 1 lbs of fresh sliced mushrooms from the market I season everything liberally with the meat removed with my favorite "FAST EDDIES BBQ SEASONING". This is available from "COOKSHACK". I used to use Western Barbeque Spice I would buy at "Gordon Food Service". The Gordons is good and easy to get locally most places but the Fast Eddies is killer dry seasoning for a lot of stuff!!
Now back in still at 240* until it's done, and this is when your finish times will vary. With this dish the old saying "IT'S DONE WHEN IT'S DONE" does not refer to internal temp. It's done when you can take a fork or hot dog tongs and lift each vertebrae out of the meat. I check it every hour after the 10 hour start time point, and this is all I look for. Once I can lift a vertebra out, and any meat left can be wiped off with a fork,, we are ready! The meat should be starting to split away and expose the bones like you see in this picture.
I wrap the pan with the foil back on in a blanket, and let it set for 30 minuets to 1 hour,,, if you can control yourself I prefer 1 hour! At that time I open it back up, take the meat and put it in another pan and strip it of the bones, since I butcher everything with a boning knife this easy as there are no chips or small sawed pieces to be left behind!! Before the juices are removed, when the meat is removed, I take the 8 haves of the garlic cloves out. They are easy to find before pouring the juice off, as everything is an undisturbed layering. Then I pour off the liquid in the bottom of a pan into a jar and save it, leaving a small amount to mix in the finished dish,, good stuff!!! Later I can use what is in the jar to flavor other stuff, or when reheating the meat mixture in a pan on the stove I hate microwaves), you can add it to keep moisture where you want it without diluting the flavor,, just the opposite! So you will be eating this for a few meals,, unless you invite others to devour it. Just a word of warning, if you do, they will probably coming around more often so you might want to leave yer mother in law or brother in law off that guest list,,,
When the meat is pulled add the meat into the peppers, the onion and the mushrooms, and mix thoroughly. Now I take SUPER SUB bun's or HOAGIE BUN's, whichever the store has at the time, some may like large onion buns er whatever, I like these two bun styles because,,,,, now I will lightly butter the inside surface after carefully opening them flat inside facing up. The with my large Cast Iron skillet ready and on low heat, I lay the butter side down like you would if making a grilled cheese sandwich. As soon as they are lightly browned, I turn them so the outside of the bun is laying in the skillet while I dress them!!
This when I add either Provolone or Pepper Jack cheese to one side then pile on the shredded meat mixture and I add my favorite condiment for this which is "Woebers" Horseradish sauce,,, then place it on a dish and prepare the next one, trust me the hit bun is a big part of this feast!!
Trust me I know why the sale of wild venison is illegal,,, these would put every sub shop in the country in chapter 11 if they were legal to sell,,,,,,
