# Venison Backstrap Pastrami - 12 day process - QVIEW



## hoity toit (Feb 13, 2015)

I had back-straps from this years deer season and decided to see if I could turn them into  pastrami, or a venison dried "beef" for snacking. What I did was to take my pickling spices, some crumpled up bay leaves and some garlic and boiled them in a couple cups of the brine to release the oils in the spices. Then after doing a super trim job on the meat removing all the sinew and stringy membranes that always get in between you teeth, I submerged into the brine and weighted it down with a plate inside of a 5 gallon food grade bucket and back in the fridge it went. I rotated and turned the meat slabs each day. Ten (10) days later they were removed from the brine rinsed off and patted dry with paper towels. Next, and I know some of you here don't like this method, I coated all the meat with a horseradish mustard, sprinkled on some Mrs Dash (garlic/herb/no salt), and packed them heavy with black pepper. I then place on the bottom rack in my meat frig overnight.

Preheated the MES40 to 150* and put the meat in along with hickory in the Amaze-n-smoker tray.

2 hrs into the smoke the meat IT was 128/127 . I used an i-Grill 4 probe thermometer to monitor progress.

at the 3 hr mark I raised the temp to 170

at 4 hr mark bump to 180 - meat is now at 139/.140

at 8 hrs I bump to 200 , meat is now 150/146

at 9-1/2hrs I turned heat off and let it sit while I eat my dinner,  IT is at 157/162.

brought it inside after an hour and put in the frig overnight

Just finished slicing and bagging up.

The taste is good, mustard is gone, and it has a nice color and finish. I only have a few photos so here they are below.

Enjoy !













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Nice n Red













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I will do this again. Like Pop said in one of his posts., it takes time, don't get in a hurry. How true that statement is.


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## gary s (Feb 13, 2015)

That looks Great !!!   You will be sending out samples ?

Gary


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## hoity toit (Feb 13, 2015)

gary s said:


> That looks Great !!!   You will be sending out samples ?
> 
> Gary


I don't think they will last long enough to send out...


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## gary s (Feb 13, 2015)

Shucks, just my luck

Gary


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## pc farmer (Feb 13, 2015)

Man that looks awesome.

I have a small venison roast that I now know what to do with.

Great job.


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## elginplowboy (Feb 13, 2015)

Congrats looks great and if anything like my first batch it won't last long!


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## hoity toit (Feb 14, 2015)

c farmer said:


> Man that looks awesome.
> 
> I have a small venison roast that I now know what to do with.
> 
> Great job.


I have a couple roasts also, think I'll do the same thing as these came out great. Took some to a bar last night and they gobbled itup fast.


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## hoity toit (Feb 14, 2015)

ElginPlowboy said:


> Congrats looks great and if anything like my first batch it won't last long!


They gobbled some of it up last night at a beer joint I went to. Everyone was pleased with it.


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## WaterinHoleBrew (Feb 14, 2015)

Sure does look nice, great job !  

:points1:


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## crazymoon (Feb 15, 2015)

HT, They look incredible !!!!


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## hoity toit (Feb 16, 2015)

WaterinHoleBrew said:


> Sure does look nice, great job !


Thank you sir...


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## hoity toit (Feb 16, 2015)

CrazyMoon said:


> HT, They look incredible !!!!


Thank you, they are almost gone too. I knew that it wouldn't last long.


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## twoalpha (Feb 18, 2015)

Sure enough great job on the venison. Nice post and pictures. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





What cure was used? 

Thanks again for your previous help.

Larry


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## ajbert (Feb 18, 2015)

That sure does look great but there's no way I could sacrifice any of my backstrap.  I do have a few elk roasts that I'm just waiting for the snow to melt of a bit to give pastrami a try, though.


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## hoity toit (Feb 20, 2015)

twoalpha said:


> Sure enough great job on the venison. Nice post and pictures.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


-----------------------------

I used Cure #1 .


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## hoity toit (Feb 20, 2015)

AJBert said:


> That sure does look great but there's no way I could sacrifice any of my backstrap.  I do have a few elk roasts that I'm just waiting for the snow to melt of a bit to give pastrami a try, though.


--

Yep I know , it was a tough decision for me to sacrifice them, however I wanted to try something different for a change.

And Thanks for the nice comments, I appreciate it.


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## timberjet (Feb 20, 2015)

Wow! If I could ever actually get home from camp with the backstraps I might try this. Hahaha...


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## hoity toit (Feb 20, 2015)

timberjet said:


> Wow! If I could ever actually get home from camp with the backstraps I might try this. Hahaha...


I sure liked the way it came out.You should be able to use a venison roast and get the same results.


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## timberjet (Feb 20, 2015)

Well heck maybe I won't make it all into SS and stuff then. I am drooling now after looking at the pictures again.


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