Cold Smoked Venison Loin

[uncle albert]

Hello Gents

Was hoping to tap some knowledge.

A few years ago, I had some of the cold smoke venison loin which I think was produced by Rannoch Smokery. It was extremely tasty.

Years have past and I have now have a BGE, ProQ smoke generator and stalk deer. So I would like to produce something similar to what Rannoch produce.

Have done all the normal googling and there is surprisingly little out there. I have Erlandsons book, but I think his smoking times are excessive for loins.

I am guessing a simple dry cure of equal quanties salt and sugar ( maybe a tiny amount of sodium nitrite around 0.02%). Maybe some thyme, rosemary, juniper, pepper and garlic powder - small quantities though in the cure.
Then a cold smoke for 6-8 hours ( more likely however long a Pro Q will burn a whole tray) and a day or two to settle down.

Any advice on brine and good combinations of wood would be very useful.

I know it can be a fantastic product, better than proper Smoked salmon, just need to find a good starting recipe and then refine it.

Cheers!

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[JBBQ]

Got a recipe I have been meaning to try (like you I have a rifle, but currently no deer!)
I've not heard of a 50/50 sugar salt mix - only third and two thirds at most

This is from Smokey Jo's book
Brine for venison
1.8 litres water
240 grams salt
40 grams sugar
(small pinch of saltpetre)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp maple syrup
200ml red wine
1 bay leaf
1 tsp sage
2 crushed juniper berries

brine for 12hrs per kg rinse and dry, then oil, smoke for 24-36hrs

weigh the joint - you need to be sure it has lost 25% of its weight to be safe to eat (if its not done in the time above you might have to air dry further rather than over smoke, or finish off with a hot smoke?)

I'd go with oak to allow the brine flavours to come through

[essexsmoker]

Hi JBBQ, what's with the 25% weight loss making it safe to eat? Just a dehydration thing? Does the salt and nitrite not make it safe?

Does that weight loss apply to all curing?

[uncle albert]

The 25% (or more) is typically what you would associate with cured meats such as lomo, Salami, bresoala etc. Will normally take at least a couple weeks of hanging to lose 25% properly, if you apply too much warmth you get a hard exterior and soggy interior.

The salt petre (potassoum nitrate) indicates that the curing period would be expected to over 3 weeks. Nitrates break down into nitrites over time to feed bacteria , that is why long term cured items include nitrites and nitrates. Mind you, the salt petre is probably included just to keep the red colour in this recipe, as the curing time is short .

Sure it would be very nice, but would not use a loin on it, probably a haunch or whole muscles from a haunch would be best. Going to try making venison bresoala myself as well as the loin.

Think the loin must be treated very simply from what I can remember.




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[essexsmoker]

But what is the significance of the 25% ?

[uncle albert]

25% weight loss is the loss of water through evaporation, makes the meat even less hospitable to 'bad' bacteria etc. Some recipes say hang your cured meat for X weeks, but it is better approach to hang based on % weight loss - less room for errors due to different humidity, temperature etc

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[essexsmoker]

Ahh right. Thanks. Makes sense.

[uncle albert]

Still looking for cold smoke venison loin tips.....guess I am going to go down the trial and error route

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[essexsmoker]

Oops, yes, sorry to detour your post!

[YetiDave]

Are you planning on cooking the loin or eating it like salumi? That'll dictate which cure you want to use