Wet Spaniel

He knows I need the help, I sometimes provide him with venison..... Which usualy looks like I've taken a scythe to it!

Aye, I’d be happy if more of our meat was the same way. The butcher who killed and processed the beasts called me today to see if I wanted to come over and cut/butcher the carcasses under his supervision/tuition. I had another commitment which meant I couldn’t- which is a real shame as I would’ve loved the opportunity to get some professional guidance

Just had a lamb, well two half lambs dropped off. Half is a lamb, the other half is a shearling (up to two years). Both lived in the field next to my house - literally over the wall so I’m more than happy to have meat like that in my freezer. I have friends over tomorrow for some barbecue so I’m going to add half a shoulder to the smoker.

I sold my slicer as it didn’t get much use. I’m kicking myself on the density thing, I didn’t bother getting my stuffer out and stuffed it by hand and ended up having to squeeze and manipulate it to get rid of the air pockets - I may as well have just cured the muscle whole!!

I made some salami a while back with some venison an American Friend of mine shot whilst over here visiting - he wasn't able to take the carcass home obviously so seing as I helped drag it out of the woods, it came home with me. To be honest I'd half forgot about them/didn't get round to taking these out of the fridge on time so they have lost a lot more weight than I would've liked. Normally I aim for about 25% weight loss after curing but these had lost approx 50%. Taste was fine, not great (I made the recipe) but they are too dense (again my fault at the stuffing) it's more like eating a venison breasola than a salami. I love the fact that every day is a school day with this sort of thing, it's just a shame that the time lapse can be such a long time. lessons learned, keep an eye on the sausage whilst during and weigh regularly, and, even for a couple of 2 lb salami, get the sausage stuffer out rather than trying to do it by hand.

That's a great post Wade, very informative. I do wet brined hams so few and far between that I have to go back to my notebook every time I do one. I really like the injection method too, it saves so much effort and logistics of having a great big bucket in a fridge with a leg in it. I am having vac packer envy, my little domestic one wouldn't cope like yours has.

Looks superb Steve. If you can justify it, a scalloped bladed knife such as a grant on beef knife makes a hell of a difference when slicing.

Marvellous !! I just bought a load of pigs cheeks on special offer, didn't have anything planned for them - I do now

I tend to,expect most of the weight loss to occur during the curing phase, in the amount of liquid that leaches from the fish. How much salt etc did you use? I'm no expert - I'd be interested to see how your findings match up/compare with mine

I've had it, it was ace. Not my own idea though, I saw it on a blog somewhere. Hot smoked it at about 300f for 2 hours. I sliced a diamond pattern into it, not all the way through But enough so it opened up as it got hot, then sprinkled rub into gaps. forget keeping it for a week max Wade, mine didn't see the afternoon out.

I wouldn't say it's that small, I could hang som summer sausage in it, but may me mine are a bit on the small side !! They are in stock at several places from £315.00 i have an American friend who cold smokes at much higher temps than I would for the same reason as you, all his bacon is done this way and as long as he doesn't render the fat he's happy with the process and the results are outstanding. I'll measure the internal dimensions later and post. It may not be right for you size wise but I'm very impressed with the control and functionality

Hi Peter, are you looking to start smoking your sausage at a low temp then gradually ramp up the heat so that it is finally cooked as well as smoked - as you would with a summer sausage ? I've been after an electric smoker with this capability for a while but kicked back against the Bradley's as midday want to go down the bisquette route. I've just bought a char broil deluxe electric smoker for less or about the same as a Bradley and although I'm just getting used to it, it's great. It'll cook from 40 to 135 celcius, can be dialled up in 1 degree increments and has a built in temp probe with a cook to internal temp so it will cut out once your predetermined internal temp is met. It's got all the functionality I want and more. Not as much fun as cooking with fire, but more convenient when you don't have the time or inclination.

I'll gladly do one, I've just seasoned it so will get something on it to smoke tomorrow as a tester. I really like the look of the built in temp probe and cook to temp function.

New smoker arrived just now. Can't wait to get it seasoned and fired up in anger.

Thanks for the input folks. I was a little bit gobsmacked by my local butchers response as I've always gone to their sister shop (now some 20 miles away) before we moved house and they couldn't do enough for me, I took in books with descriptions of brisket etc and they'd work it out and cut it from the next carcass they got in.

Does anyone have any Reccomendations for online meat suppliers. I had a bit of a surprise in my local butchers today when they wouldn't budge on being able to order a flat brisket - I think they are on lock down on the run up to Christmas so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, in the past I have used hook n block, I was wondering if anyone else had a suggestion of somewhere they've had a good experience with. cheers

Very gracious of you not to nick the credit, irrespective, I'm going to be all over that like a tramp on chips. I live in a 1 horse town and do miss a good kebab after a late one in the local, this could be the answer!!

I've just ordered a lamb from the farm next door - oh boy, this recipe is going to get a good coat of looking at when Larry turns up. This looks superb

I absolutely love loin of venison. I tend to take it off the bone and cook it as you would a fillet steak, definately my favourite cut of venison. That looks lovely.

I've found 3 2 1 can be a bit much too, at first I thought it was poor temp control on my part but I came round to the fact that there wasn't as much meat on the baby backs I was cooking so I went to 2 2 1 and found that worked for me.

Hi Bill, thanks...again!

I used a food safe mastic tube for this job, we used the mastic at work so I nicked one, emptied it out and it works a treat in a standard diy mastic gun. It's also great for stuffing into tight spots such as stuffing a pork chop etc

Hi Wade, a plasterers bath in the back of the pickup saves a lot of strange looks on the trip back down south. I lease some land (with a small group of others) on the west coast , I only get up there once or twice a year which doesn't make it the most cost effective venison, but it is very satisfying to have taken the beast literally from field to fork so to speak. I've not made venison bacon but usually make salami, bresaola, summer sausage and jerky, the rest gets (rather badly) butchered into joints, steaks, mince and casserole. i smoke quite a few salmon (especially this time of year) for friends, mainly farmed as I am not such a great salmon fisherman and if I do get one, I prefer to put it back, same for trout, I'll maybe take a wild one every once in a while. Where we stay in Scotland is very good for mackerel fishing and I will stock up on them, they are brilliant hot smoked. My salmon/trout curing is pretty similar to yours in the post on here, maybe 2/3 salt to 1/3 sugar for 12-24 hours and then I use a pro q cold smoke generator which I think is a great piece of kit. i do make bacon, started with shop bought cure till I realised it wasn't the dark art that I first thought so now make my own, same with the charcuterie, hopefully if I can, I'd be happy to help anyone else get their heads round it - but I suspect I'm in pretty good company already on that front. I've just had a call to say that my new char broil smoker will be delivered on Friday so I suspect my first picture posts may be of something shiny!! cheers Jonty

Morning, thanks to Wade for pointing me in the direction of this site. I'm a keen smoker and curer based in the Yorkshire Dales. I fell in love with barbecue after a visit to southern Georgia. I mostly have been smoking on a diy smoker and a ProQ excel but have also just bought a char broil electric smoker. My goal is to build my own reverse flow smoker....once I've learned to weld!!! i also enjoy shooting and fishing really like curing the fish I've caught or processing the meat I shoot. I've currently got some venison salami in the man fridge from a red deer taken in Scotland a short while back, and some Sumer sausage from the same beast that is in the freezer as my 8 year old demolishes it if I leave it in the fridge. Apart from meat, I really love beer too - I have a diy 100 litre real ale home brewery which has been in storage for a couple of years, it's new home, a workshop in the garden is currently under construction and I'm keen to get back into production. im looking forward to picking up some top tips, and hopefully, maybe I can pass on some things I've picked up along the way too. all the best Jonty