Cold smoking a deer roast

[huddleston101]

Looking to cold smoke a deer roast this deer season if im lucky enough to bag a few, any ideas on a rescipe. And brine or no brine, any ideas would be great..

[Cyberfly]

Depends on the wood you use to smoke.
For apple wood I like sweet rubs on lean meats. I use brown sugar based rubs with garlic.
For Mesquite I'll use saltier rubs with tangier spices.
For Hickory I've used basil and sun dried tomato with onion and garlic powders with white pepper.
These are just some that I've used over the years. We tried using Cherry wood a couple of times and it just didn't turn out very well.
If you are going to marinade, you have a couple different options. If you get a younger buck that has a really bad gamey smell, soak it in buttermilk overnight to pull the gamey flavors out first. Then an overnight soak in Italian salad dressing will soften the meat and make it more tender. I've used this on venison steaks, but never a roast. I think it would work if it wasn't cut too thick.
You have to remember that it's the combination of the fat and smoke that makes smoking so successful and venison is an extremely lean meat.

[huddleston101]

Thanks fly, i thank i will try the hickory one. wounder how long i need to cold smoke it, 12 or more hours? i have smoked plenty of meat but nothing as big as a roast. cant wait to try it..

[Cyberfly]

Depends on how thick the roast is, how much smoke you are pumping through...there really are a lot of variables.
People tend to think that MORE smoke is better. That isn't always so. You tend to build up a coating on the outside that is very dark and acidic and it can ruin your meat. Your best bet is, if you want to smoke the meat for a very long time, use very little smoke. Even though it's called 'cold smoking', you do still need some heat. It opens up the cells in the meat and softens it allowing the meat to accept the smoke deeper inside, essential for larger cuts.
If it were me, I would slice the roasts into two smaller pieces and smoke them together. But then, as I said, I've never tried to smoke anything as large as a roast before. I've done briskets and I've done up to four slabs of ribs at a time, but those are fattier cuts. Even then, I never smoked a brisket more than three hours. Then I wrap it tight in foil and oven cook it, sealing in the moisture and allowing the meat to cook in it's own juices. With venison being so lean, it will dry out quickly. You'll need to watch it carefully or you may well end up with extremely thick deer jerky.
My best advice...smoke it for a couple of hours with a medium to heavy hickory smoke, wrap it foil and seal the ends good to trap moisture inside, then bake it at 325 for a long period. This will allow it to 'slow roast' in the smokey flavored drippings and you should end up with a really tender, smoke flavored roast that will fall apart when you stick a fork in it.

[huddleston101]

:thumb: Thanks for the advise fly, when i get one i will try it the way you said. sounds like a good way to smoke it. know i am getting hungry :laugh: come on deer season

[Cyberfly]

Well far be it from me to tell a man how to run his smoker, but if anybody wants to learn from my many years of testing, I'm more than happy to give free advice.
I've been smoking meats for three decades and I think I've gotten it down to a pretty fine art.
Every Christmas my family all but begs me to give jerky as presents and if it weren't so damned expensive, I probably would. One thing I used to love to do was experiment in the kitchen and see what flavors I could develop. There's a place about thirty miles from us that sells bison. Nice beefy flavor without all the fat. Really lean meat that dries well and holds pungent spices well. Makes great jerky and smokes up nice. I went through about 90 pounds of lean roasts one year making jerky and nobody realized it was buffalo until I told them.
I've gotten a bit more sensitive to smells in my older years and the gamey smell of venison just really bothers me now. Cleaning the dense white connective tissue to prep the meat for processing just about makes me sick and I can't hardly wash the smell from my hands afterward. I steer clear of venison unless it's a younger doe.