Venison Bacon

[kona77]

Have seen a number of recipes on line for Venison bacon so I thought I would give it a try.
Used a mix of 60% venison trimmings with 40% pork (25lbs total) . Added in a bacon seasoning and cure from a local company and ran the meat thru my grinder. Placed in 4 aluminum cake pans ( 9x13) and refrigerated over-night. Smoked using cherry wood and ran the 3D for 2 hours @ 130 and then increased to 175 until I hit my internal meat temp of 145.

Finished product turned out good but I would have preferred some more flavor or kick to the meat. Will have to play around with some other seasonings if I do more in the future. Will use to fry up in the morning for breakfast sandwiches or BLT's etc 

 

[TexasSMK]

Looks tasty, what would you change?

 

[old sarge]

I like the looks of that.  I can only guess that it would make for some fine sandwiches.

 

[Pork Belly]

Did you take it out of the pans to smoke?

 

[kona77]

Brian-  Yes, I did take the meat out of the alum. pans before I smoked. I have shared the venison bacon with a number of family members and friends and they all really like it. Mainly use it to make breakfast type sandwiches (like an Egg McMuffin type sandwich).. I do take a strip of regular bacon and render down the fat and then fry the venison to give it a nice bacon flavor.. Even better with the pork bellies I have now smoked. 
As far as potential changes, I would probably smoke a bit longer and add some other seasonings for a bit more kick. Also may smoke with hickory. Will have to wait for next deer season to make another batch

 

[Pork Belly]

It all sounds and looks good. You could roll logs of meat with cling film then firm them up in the fridge.
Slices of the log would fir you sandwiches better.

Ask the butcher to sell you a stack of the little foam trays he uses. Shingle your slices onto the tray for easy freezing and storage.

 

[NDKoze]

Looks really good.

We have to make a batch of this for my sister and her family every year because they love it. For me, it is not necessarily my favorite.

We have found that it tastes a lot more like bacon if you fry it, but it tastes pretty good even without frying, but tastes more like a Snack Stick type flavor.

 

[kona77]

Brian- Thanks for the tips.. I may try the meat roll process next year.

Greg-  I do a lot of different things with our venison. Home-made summer sausage, brats etc. I have a local butcher make sticks for me every year but want to try making my own. I have appreciated all your past posts and tips on making sticks and hope to use them later this year.

 

[NDKoze]

Brian- Thanks for the tips.. I may try the meat roll process next year.

Greg-  I do a lot of different things with our venison. Home-made summer sausage, brats etc. I have a local butcher make sticks for me every year but want to try making my own. I have appreciated all your past posts and tips on making sticks and hope to use them later this year.

Yeah, I am with ya. We have tried a lot of different things and I am always looking to try something new.

I have see others make the round loafs like Brian suggested and I think that would be cool to try. I wonder if it would take a little longer to get done though or if that is really even a big deal? Just thinking out loud.

We like the strips primarily so it looks a little more like bacon.

Let me know if you have any questions when you get to the sticks.

I think this weekend coming is going to be our Snack Sticks Palooza 2019 weekend. We have about 125 lbs of sticks planned to make. Since we are doing so much at the same time, we are going to have our rural meat market smoke them for us since I can only do 25 lbs at a time in the #3.

I'll try to take some pics/video and make a post.

 

[Pork Belly]

Back to the Round Loaf possibilities, why not stuff the bacon mix into large diameter fibrous casing?

 

[NDKoze]

Back to the Round Loaf possibilities, why not stuff the bacon mix into large diameter fibrous casing?

That would be an interesting idea. You would have a really nice round loaf then.