Dried Venison

[IOWA DON]

A long time ago a neighbor gave me a couple packages of dried venison. It was as good as dried beef, and even my wife, who does not like venison, thought it was great. Over the years I took venison to two or three different meat-processers to have it made into dried venison. The price was high and they botched it up. Instead of being a red color all the way through, the meat would have brown spots in it. Also, the meat was too wet. The processers did not leave the meat in the curing solution long enough to cure all the way through, and then failed to smoke/dry it for a long enough time. A friend of my son, who now runs the meat market where the good stuff came from gave me some info on how to make it myself. He said the largest muscles from a deer may only take three days to cure, but injecting the cure solution into them would speed the process, and one can leave the meat in the cure soulution for at least 3 weeks without any problems. He said that after taking the meat out of the cure, one should rinse the cure solution from the surface or it will be too salty. It should be meated to 160 degrees F initially to kill any bacteria not already killed by the cure, then kept at about 100 degrees F until the moisture content has been reduced to the preferred level. He also said that the smoke would not be absorbed into the meat until the meat's surface is no longer wet. ----- Anyway, the meat I used was the backstraps and the larger muscles from the back legs of a fairly large button buck. I separated the mucles from each other and trimmed all the outside membranes from them. I bought a cure of sugar, salt and saltpeter, the same as one would use to cure a ham. The mix was one pound of the cure into one gallon of water. I injected the cure into the meat and then let the meat set in the cure (in a 2-gallon stainless pot) for almost 2 weeks. I moved the meat around every couple days or so to be sure all surfaces would be in contact with the cure solution. Optimum temperature is suposed to be 38 degrees F to I kept it in my garage which is about that temperature in the winter. After taking the meat out of the cure, I rinsed it off and put it in the oven with the temperature set at 225 degrees F. When the inside temperature of the meat got to 160 degrees F it had lost some moisture and the outside surface was no longer wet. At that point I moved it to my electric smoker (with applewood chips in it) and smoked it at at 100 degrees F until it seemed dry, which took about 20 hours for the largest pieces. At that point I cooled them in the refrigerator and cut them into slices about 1/16th inch think. A large, very sharp kinife works best. It was perfect and I plan to make at least 3 deer from the upcomming January season into dried venison.

[Randy_che]

Sounds tasty. Nice writeup. Thanks Iowa Don.

[The Gamemaster]

The reason why the meat processors couldn't duplicate your recipe was because it was too time consuming.

Could you imagine them trying to do that with a couple of hundred pounds of deer meat?  Especially if they didn't have the room in their cooler and had to turn down other work to do yours?

It sounds like a really awesome recipe, and I would love to try it sometime.

My only question is - where do you get the saltpeter?

I never saw it in a store before.

[Beers]

Saltpeter works just fine, but some kind of commercial curing salt is a much better bet, it's cheaper and easier to find.

Check out Butcher-Packer.com - for dry cured meats like this you want D.Q. Curing salt #2. $2 will buy a pound of the stuff, which is more than you're likely to use up anytime soon (roughly a teaspoon will cure 5 pounds of meat). They are a great resource for just about anything related to curing meats or sausage making.

BTW. It looks like your venison turned out just fine, but the ideal drying environment for dry cured anything is roughly 60 degrees F w/ 50 - 60% humidity & good air circulation. Large leg muscles may take 3 weeks to a month to dry. The meat is done drying when it's lost 30% of it's weight. IT IS ABSOLUTELY UNNECESSARY to heat or cook the meat in any way. If you're going to cook it, there's no point in curing it. Also, if you're going to smoke your dry cured meat, COLD SMOKE IT, that meat should never go above room temperature. The texture, flavor and appearance will be vastly improved this way.

[IOWA DON]

Randy_che - Thanks. I've been busy taking advantage of our January antlerless rifle season but have got four deer cut up and soaking in the cure for more dried venison. We have until January 27 and I still have nine deer permits left, and enough containers left to make another four deer into dried venison. A few more containers is also an option. I've got a lot of requests for this stuff. I am retired so I guess my friends and relatives figure I've not much else to do!
Gamemaster - I guess I wasn't clear about the cure. I bought a commercial cure, so I don't know the mixture, but the package shows saltpeter, salt and sugar as the ingredients. It is by FRISCO BRAND SPICES. Their telephone is 800/762-6689 and their web site is www.friscospices.com. The one I used is their "Cure, Complete w/ Sugar #2018". They also make one that is maple flavored, but I thought that would be better for pork than for venison. They said to mix the one-pound package with one gallon of cold water and it would be good for 10 pounds of venison. I also injected it into the meat, but that may not be required.
Beers - Is the 160 deg F inside temperature is a recommendation kind of like 8-pound triggers on a rifle? That is, because of lawyers and law suits. If one were to dry the venison at a lower temperature, would it be better to not inject the cure solution into the meat using a shringe? That is, would the shringe move potential contaminents/bacteria from the surface of the peices of meat to the center where it could multiply before the cure got there to kill it? I would like to try the drying/cold smoking at a lower temperature, but my smoker will not do that and I am not sure what would be required (a full sized smoke house like my grandfather had).

[Beers]

Beers - Is the 160 deg F inside temperature is a recommendation kind of like 8-pound triggers on a rifle?

Could well be... I know it's not necessary for dry cured meats. As to the syringe question, it shouldn't hurt, and can save you some time. Without the syringe a large muscle should sit in the cure for 2 - 3 weeks, refrigerated. I don't really know how much difference, timewise, the syringe makes... I've never used them.

You see, the bacteria are already there... you don't have to worry about pushing them in w/ the syringe. It's up to the salt and the nitrate, along with the lack of moisture, to keep them from multiplying and causing problems.

You might consider adding some other seasonings to the cure (juniper, thyme, rosemary... you get the idea) and trying it without the heat/smoke, and see what happens.

All that said, if what you're doing looks, smells and tastes good; and hasn't made anyone sick, then keep it up. If it ain't broke....