# Homemade Venison Ham



## poacherjoe (Nov 10, 2019)

Looking for detailed information on how to make it! I  have all the stuff it's that I don't want to over inject and screw up a good piece of meat...


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## SmokinAl (Nov 10, 2019)

Here are a bunch of ham articles from 

 daveomak
 . If you can't find what your looking for just PM  him & he will walk you through the steps.




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Al


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## dernektambura (Nov 10, 2019)

Ya'know.... I would trade that peace of raw venison ham for 18 month aged pork ham ham.... if you're close to Ontario border lets do swap and let me take over your problem while you enjoy prosciutto ham....


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## doubles shooter (Nov 10, 2019)

I use Bearcarver's Canadian bacon/dried beef recipe. I do my venison just like I do the CB. Delish!


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## Bearcarver (Nov 10, 2019)

poacherjoe said:


> Looking for detailed information on how to make it! I  have all the stuff it's that I don't want to over inject and screw up a good piece of meat...




I hate to say this but when you cure Venison, you end up with a product that is nearly identical to Dried Beef, and it is Fantastic. When I make Dried Beef from Beef and Dried Beef from Venison, you could not tell the difference. 
Now you could call a Venison Hind Quarter a "Ham" because of where it comes from on the deer, but it tastes nothing like Ham.
Pork Products cured taste like Ham or Bacon.
Beef & Deer cured taste like Dried Beef.

Here are a few of mine made from Deer Meat:
Smoked Venison Dried Beef (Hind Quarter)
Venison Backstrap Dried Beef
Venison Backstrap Dried Beef #2

Bear


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## Fueling Around (Nov 10, 2019)

What the bear (mostly) said

My local venison does not taste the same as beef.  Similar, but definitely not the same.

Get the fat pocket out of the haunch before you start anything.
I don't think the size of a venison haunch requires injecting.  I save one for a delectable roast and send the other to the processor

I haven't done dried venison haunch myself.  Local chop shop (butcher) that did a great job at wild game was my source, but they closed.  I need to talk to previous owner and get his recipe.


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## poacherjoe (Nov 11, 2019)

I will try Bears method this year but I am still looking for info on how to inject the brine into the ham. If possible I want to keep the bone in the ham. Depending on the size of the deer it will probably weigh 10 lbs or so. The old guy that passed away soaked them in crocks with a brown sugar cure that tasted great. I didn't get any info on the details before he passed away. I am worried about over injecting the ham and ruining it.


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## Bearcarver (Nov 11, 2019)

poacherjoe said:


> I will try Bears method this year but I am still looking for info on how to inject the brine into the ham. If possible I want to keep the bone in the ham. Depending on the size of the deer it will probably weigh 10 lbs or so. The old guy that passed away soaked them in crocks with a brown sugar cure that tasted great. I didn't get any info on the details before he passed away. I am worried about over injecting the ham and ruining it.




I would never leave a Hind Quarter Whole, injecting or not.
I used to take my Hind quarters to a Processor for about 20 years. He used to cure them whole, after removing the bones. Then one year I got mine back & it was spoiled & stinky inside. He told me after removing the bones, when he brined it, the brine didn't get in to the holes all the way, and that's why it spoiled. So from that day forward, I took each Hind Quarter apart in the 3 pieces myself, and gave them to him that way. He used to complain about it, but I didn't care. I wasn't going to let him ruin another one!!! Since I learned to do my own, 9 years ago, I've done the same thing for myself, as you can see in the following Step by Step: 
Smoked Venison Dried Beef (Hind Quarter)

Another plus about taking it apart in 3 Natural pieces is that none of the pieces are over 3" thick, so injecting isn't needed, when following my Step by Step.

Bear


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## smokerjim (Nov 11, 2019)

i've done whole hind 1/4's9 I try to use smaller deer for this)  using pop's brine, injected all along the bone then submerged into brine. for 1 day for every 1/4 inch plus 2 days, then cold smoked a couple hours then slowly up the temp until I got to a internal temp of 160.  glazed it with a mixture of orange juice, brown sugar and ground cloves. they come out great


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## archeryrob (Nov 13, 2019)

I did Bear's recipe and made a honey mustard glaze for it to be like ham. The glaze didn't work in the smoker. I would like to try it again and smoke to 140 IT and bring it in and glaze and cook at 350 for 15 minutes or so. 

Like Bear said it's more like beef and I do it like pastrami with onion, garlic and lots of table grind black pepper coated all over it. Now deer it good, but every one wants it when I do the same recipe with goose breasts.


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## tallbm (Nov 13, 2019)

poacherjoe said:


> I will try Bears method this year but I am still looking for info on how to inject the brine into the ham. If possible I want to keep the bone in the ham. Depending on the size of the deer it will probably weigh 10 lbs or so. The old guy that passed away soaked them in crocks with a brown sugar cure that tasted great. I didn't get any info on the details before he passed away. I am worried about over injecting the ham and ruining it.



Hi there and welcome!

I believe the rules of an equilibrium brine will keep you from getting too salty.

In short you:

weigh your venison ham.
You figure out how much water it will take to cover the ham by 1 inch of water and get that weight.
Add your venison and water weights together and copy down that number as your Total weight
You will take 2-3% of the total weight and add that much salt to the water (I recommend 2.25% as a good number as 3% is just too salty for me)
The math for 2.25% salt is,  Total Weight x 0.0225 = salt needed

You then do 1% of the total weight as sugar or brown sugar
The math for 1% sugar is, Total weight  x  0.01 = sugar needed

Calculate the cure #1 amount THIS IS IMPORTANT so it will be
Using Total Weight In Grams - (Total weight in grams / 453.6g)   x  1.134g of cure = cure needed
In Pounds - Total weight in pounds  x 1.134g of cure = cure needed

Dissolve the ingredients in the non-heated water (I fill up a blender with water and dry ingredients and blend until dissolved).  Heat will kill the cure so don't add the cure to hot water
Put your venison leg in a brining tub or bucket and pour the brine/cure liquid over the leg
Get a meat syringe and draw the liquid from the tub and start injecting the ham all around the bone and like 2 inches apart all over
This is called an equilibrium brine and should NOT oversalt your meat because no matter what, there can be only 2.25% of salt available for ALL the material (water and meat) in the bucket.  As you let this cure for all of those days the salt will/should distribute EVENLY throughout the water and the meat.  So again 2.25% salt max in any of it.

This is a lot of info so if any of it is confusing please feel free to ask but this is basically a great way to cure your venison or any ham and ensure it isn't too salty :)


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## Bearcarver (Nov 13, 2019)

tallbm said:


> Hi there and welcome!
> 
> I believe the rules of an equilibrium brine will keep you from getting too salty.
> 
> ...




Or you can just follow my Dry Cured Dried Beef Step by Step & not get anything too salty.

Bear


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## poacherjoe (Nov 13, 2019)

I am going to give yours a try . Do you have a  recipe for bear summer sausage? I am going to shoot one next month and I am researching various recipe's . I have always taken mine to the butcher and he injects them with the bone in. I have grown accustomed to it that way and we use the bone to flavor a pot of beans.


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## tallbm (Nov 13, 2019)

Bearcarver said:


> Or you can just follow my Dry Cured Dried Beef Step by Step & not get anything too salty.
> 
> Bear



Hahaha yeah or that


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## archeryrob (Nov 14, 2019)

poacherjoe said:


> I am going to give yours a try . Do you have a  recipe for bear summer sausage? I am going to shoot one next month and I am researching various recipe's . I have always taken mine to the butcher and he injects them with the bone in. I have grown accustomed to it that way and we use the bone to flavor a pot of beans.


You can make bear SS the same as deer and lots of stuff on here about it. Either add 15% pork fat or cut it with 50% beef with 73% fat as they sell in the store. It's bear to make damn sure it is cooked good. Do not raise the smoker over 180 and the thicker the tubes just be prepared to cook it a long time.

If you've never cured before I would not recommend curing with the bone in. Google "bone sour" associated with curing hams and you'll get the idea.


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