Smoked venison tenderloins and first run with my new pellet smoker!

[tddeangelo]

My wife said I was a good boy this year and had Santa stop by early with a Pit Boss 4-series vertical pellet smoker.

My daughter knocked down a nice doe last night (12/5) and she and I took the doe apart today to put in my "deer fridge" to drip for a few days. I took out the tenderloins ("fish" or "inners") and immediately trimmed them up, coated them with coarse ground salt, freshly cracked pepper, and garlic powder. Popped them in the pellet smoker at 225 for an hour and brought them to an IT of about 137 (was aiming for 130, and they got there faster than I expected).

Pulled and seared in cast iron.

What a tasty change to how we do venison! The kids (three girls) gobbled it up and all went back for more! Successful first smoke!

My wife thought the smoke was a bit much, and I'd used hickory. I think I'll switch to a fruit wood for the next time, but everyone agreed it was a winner.

Looking forward to making some snack sticks, sweet bologna (PA thing), and trying out making some ring bologna. I want to try Bearcarver's dried beef venison recipes, too. My old MES was being quirky and finally died. So far, the pellet smoker seems like a nice change....loving it so far!

 

[tddeangelo]

Finished product-

And a piece of backstrap I also smoked... done more because the wife insists.

 

[WV_Crusader]

Wow that’s looks great!!!

 

[Brokenhandle]

Congrats on the new smoker and to your daughter for a successful hunt! Food looks great!

Ryan

 

[chew2475]

Finished product-

View attachment 474043
And a piece of backstrap I also smoked... done more because the wife insists.

View attachment 474044

Looks great. Just got one myself a week ago. Often smoke these and find that I like apple wood best with venison when smoking.

 

[tallbm]

Awesome to hear about the daughter and the success on the smoked tenderloin they look awesome!!!
Sounds like you are going to grind most of the deer. The backstrabs would make great dried/chipped venison! :)

Also if you would like to get your MES up and running properly feel free to ask. I'm sure we can help ya figure it out and get it going for ya :D

 

[doongie]

I want to try Bearcarver's dried beef venison recipes, too.

I have been making Bearcarver’s dried beef using venison, and it is fantastic. Even people that don’t like venison, like it. A friend shot a doe this year and wants me to make some using his backstraps and loins.
I have adjusted his recipe a bit though. Instead of using tenderquick, I Use a beef dry rub from a BBQ place in Ft Worth TX. Using digging dogs online calculator, I figure out how much rub and cure #1 to use for each piece (I know the approx. salt content of the rub). I have also been using zero sugar, just a personal preference, but when I have made it with sugar it was just as well received.
Then I use my old MES30 with the mailbox mod. It might seem putzy, but bringing it up to internal temp slowly seems to be a key factor in the final quality.
My wife really likes it in gravy like chipped beef on toast (with a homegrown cayenne or two in it), or I slice it paper thin and serve it with cheese and crackers. I’m also thinking sliced thin, smeared with herbed cream cheese and wrapped around a pickle spear might be better than ham, but haven’t tried it yet.

online calculator:

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www.diggingdogfarm.com

 

[pineywoods]

Congrats on the new Pit Boss and the deer. Looks like it came out great.

 

[tddeangelo]

Awesome to hear about the daughter and the success on the smoked tenderloin they look awesome!!!
Sounds like you are going to grind most of the deer. The backstrabs would make great dried/chipped venison! :)

Also if you would like to get your MES up and running properly feel free to ask. I'm sure we can help ya figure it out and get it going for ya :D

The electronics/controller went bad and it wouldn’t power on. I was more than happy to use that as a reason to make a switch. :)

As for the deer, I butcher 3-4 a year for the family. Backstraps and loins are our steaks. I separate the hind quarters into the major muscles and slice into strips or cubes for recipes my wife makes, except for the sirloin, which I keep as a roast.

Depending on the condition of the shoulders, I make roasts from them or trim meat. I grind the rest. That’s burger for tacos and meatloaf and such, and for a base for smoked products like bologna and snack sticks. And some fresh sausage.

 

[chew2475]

The electronics/controller went bad and it wouldn’t power on. I was more than happy to use that as a reason to make a switch. :)

As for the deer, I butcher 3-4 a year for the family. Backstraps and loins are our steaks. I separate the hind quarters into the major muscles and slice into strips or cubes for recipes my wife makes, except for the sirloin, which I keep as a roast.

Depending on the condition of the shoulders, I make roasts from them or trim meat. I grind the rest. That’s burger for tacos and meatloaf and such, and for a base for smoked products like bologna and snack sticks. And some fresh sausage.

Never thought of venison bologna. Have a recipe you care to share?

 

[tallbm]

The electronics/controller went bad and it wouldn’t power on. I was more than happy to use that as a reason to make a switch. :)

As for the deer, I butcher 3-4 a year for the family. Backstraps and loins are our steaks. I separate the hind quarters into the major muscles and slice into strips or cubes for recipes my wife makes, except for the sirloin, which I keep as a roast.

Depending on the condition of the shoulders, I make roasts from them or trim meat. I grind the rest. That’s burger for tacos and meatloaf and such, and for a base for smoked products like bologna and snack sticks. And some fresh sausage.

If you ever want to bring the MES back to life it wouldn't be complex but would cost a little money for a PID controller. A simple cutting of 4 wires and splicing to make 2 wires will have your MES ready to work with a PID controller and it would work 10x better than any new MES ever could.

Your deer processing sounds similar to mine. I usually end up processing 10-14 animals in one shot between my animals and my brother's from our yearly hunt. But no hunt this year with as tough of a years it has been.

TX deer don't have big bodies so front legs are all sausage grind. Back legs I may keep a few of the bigger better roasts but then they become sausage and 100% venison burger grind as well. I do alot with the grind vs having roasts.
I usually make a deal with my brother where I give him the backstraps but don't clean them up he does that on his own. This saves me a crazy amount of time in not processing them plus I end up grinding them anyhow for like premium burger grind since I don't fry much food and have not found a better way to do the backstraps than chicken fried.
I DO keep the shank and heal muscle meat separate and use that for braised dishes and OMG it's soooooo good.
I make about 40 pounds of Venison brats and 40 pounds of pure 100% burger grind. Alot of that burger grind gets turned into venison jerky so I like having a lot of 100% grind on hand :)

 

[tddeangelo]

Never thought of venison bologna. Have a recipe you care to share?

I wish I could claim credit. There is an Amish/Mennonite store near where I work that sells mixes for sweet bologna that I use. I mix ground venison and ground pork 80/20 (venison/pork), mix in the seasoning mix from the store plus the prescribed amount of pink salt, then it gets stuffed into muslin bags by hand and hung in the smoker to an IT of 165 (the store says 150, but other sources I've seen say 165 for safety for ground venison, so I go a little higher).

I've done a few batches. To get it really right, it takes a while and has to be inched up sloooooowly in temp. My last batch was made in that MES and I couldn't get the temps right and I rendered out the fat with too-high temps.

Same place has ring bologna mix, too.

I may try to add some high temp cheese to both types, just for kicks.

I have to say.....the pellet smoker is a lot more stable than the MES was for me.

I should have checked in here before ditching the thing, but I sold it to someone who wanted it and didn't look back, lol.

 

[JLeonard]

Nicely done. I'm waiting on my sons (13yo), doe to get out of the processor. I'm ready for some smoked deer roast. Congrats to your daughter.
Jim

 

[tallbm]

I wish I could claim credit. There is an Amish/Mennonite store near where I work that sells mixes for sweet bologna that I use. I mix ground venison and ground pork 80/20 (venison/pork), mix in the seasoning mix from the store plus the prescribed amount of pink salt, then it gets stuffed into muslin bags by hand and hung in the smoker to an IT of 165 (the store says 150, but other sources I've seen say 165 for safety for ground venison, so I go a little higher).

I've done a few batches. To get it really right, it takes a while and has to be inched up sloooooowly in temp. My last batch was made in that MES and I couldn't get the temps right and I rendered out the fat with too-high temps.

Same place has ring bologna mix, too.

I may try to add some high temp cheese to both types, just for kicks.

I have to say.....the pellet smoker is a lot more stable than the MES was for me.

I should have checked in here before ditching the thing, but I sold it to someone who wanted it and didn't look back, lol.

Well u sold it off! Yeah MES temp swings so at those temps it will definitely fat out our sausage. With a PID you can hold right on or within 1 degree at those temps so sausage making is a breeze.
Glad you are gettin it with your pellet smoker :)

 

[tddeangelo]

Guess I'll have to get another electric smoker at some point.

The wife will not be on board with that. Some plotting...er....strategy...er.....planning is in order.

 

[tallbm]

Guess I'll have to get another electric smoker at some point.

The wife will not be on board with that. Some plotting...er....strategy...er.....planning is in order.

IMO best electric u can by is like a used $40-50 MES from Craigslist or Facebook. Take it and wash it out at the carwash. Rewire and put a PID controller on it :)

 

[uncle eddie]

Nice tenderloins! Like!