A buddy of mine let me try some smoked venison an Amish friend made - OUTSTANDING.
THe smoker is pretty simple: basically a miniature outhouse - sized box or 'building' erected over the tail of a 10+ foot steel pipe (6-10 inches diameter). At the head of the pipe is where the fire is built - in a fire pit or open, whatever your druthers. I've heard of other folk building their fire right on the floor of the 'outhouse' or in an old scrapple or cracklin' kettle - whatever works. Preferred wood is sugar maple, but a dose of hickory or fruit wood (e.g., apple) probably would be nice, too.
Anyway, this Amishman takes chunks of meat - on the order of 1-2 pounds, dips them in boiling water briefly, wipes them down and puts an extremely light coating of salt on them. Runs a length of cord through one end, then hangs them in the smoker for about 2 days. This is a "warm smoke" at around 180 degrees. The chunk I had was like a really good jerky (only more tender) for the outer inch and the center was a soft, pink, super-tender delight.
I imagine you could do this with a cold smoke at 80-100 degrees for 3-4 days or a hot smoke at 240-260 degrees in a 3-4 hours, like smoking a pheasant.
Topic: smoked venison (Read 1050 times)