Venison Bresaola: In Need of a Meat Slicer
Growing up in Wisconsin, we did not get a day off of school for Kazimir Pulaski Day or Columbus Day, but we did get opening day of deer hunting season off. However, my hunting career never materialized. I never had the patience for it. You had to wake up early, it was cold, and I was never sure that I could pull the trigger. My dad is polar opposite. Those are things that he loves about hunting.
Once I stopped the hunting experiment, I stayed on for the best part. Deer deconstruction. In our semi-urban garage, we hung the deer, skinned it, and broke it down. Neither of us were any good at it though and we just had bags of random piece labeled with the general region of the deer. Since then, the process became more scientific and is done at the hunting camp. After taking a hog butchering class, I may request to have a deer brought home to do it myself.
Cured Venison Loin
I still get venison from my dad’s take and looking in the freezer, I pulled the last package — a loin no less. I had not made much charcuterie with venison, only some sausages, but the qualities of venison almost suit it better for being cured and dried than being cooked.
Unlike most whole cuts of meat, this venison loin is a quick cure and takes about a week to dry. The biggest struggle with this whole process is cutting the damned bresaola. I refuse to get a meat slicer, but this venison would be so much better sliced paper thin. Even clumsily sliced, the venison is delicious. The rosemary and juniper berries work very well with the gamey flavor of the venison.
Wrapped cured loin ready to hang
Venison Bresaola
- 10 ounces Venison Loin
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon black pepperm, ground
- 10 juniper berries, ground
- 1/4 teaspoon pink salt
Simple slate of ingredients
Step one: Combine all ingredients in a zip top or vacuum bag and seal for a week. Turning daily.
Step two: Rinse the now cured loin and dry completely. Wrap in cheesecloth and hang to dry. When the bresaola weighs 70% of its hanging weight. It is ready. It took a little over 2 weeks for this version.
Can’t believe I just found your blog. Good stuff. Making Venison Bresaola tomorrow, going to cold smoke it as well.
Thanks for reading, Scott. What is your cold smoking set up?
Use a device called a proq cold smoker, I put this inside a big green egg. You can see some of my cold smoking experiments on my blog.
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`Tried this today with a axis tenderloin. Can’t wait to see how it turns out.
After a week how hard or dense should the meat be?
After a week, it should not be terribly firm yet. It should feel just a little less heavy than it was when you hung it up. If it is drying too quickly, it is likely that the area in which you are curing it isn’t as humid as it should be. Did you weigh the tenderloin before hanging it?
After a week in the vacuum bag… sorry for the confusion
That is a good question. After a week, it should not be floppy. It should feel firmer than when you put it in the cure, but depending on the moisture level at the start, the firmness will vary. An approximation of the incremental increase in firmness is the difference in firmness between a rare steak and a medium steak.
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I don’t want this to be a dumb question, but when you are curing it is it in a fridge or just out on a table or something? What temperature do you need to cure the meat in. And then also hanging, what should the general temperature be? thanks
The venison was cured in the fridge, but then hung out at about 60 degrees.
Doesn’t the first day of deer season always fall on a Saturday?
It does now, but I remember getting out of school despite not being a hunter. That was years ago. Ahem…decades ago.
I am trying this recipe right now but I am new to the whole process. My venison loins have been curing over night in the ingredients listed above. The loins have an even coat of salt and seasonings with some extra in the bag but the “rub” and excess seasonings are saturated now with some extra juices in the bag that have seeped out of the meat. Do I need to add more of the ingredients or should the meat stay fairly moist during the curing process? The meat is not swimming in it’s own juices but rather there is a mist on the inside of the bag and all of the salt mix is saturated.
As long as it is in its juices, it will be great. Keep in mind that those juices contain most of the salt that you added to the cure, so it is essentially brining the venison. Let me know how it goes.
Do you use #1or #2 cure for this?
I’m still a little confused on that except I know #1 is for bacon.
Great stuff on making bresaola, however I cringed when I saw that you were using the loin (or backstrap for the hunters out there). There are so many great recipes to make with the loin, and so little of it, that I would tell people reading this to use another cut. It sounds like the that was the only cut you had in the freezer and you really wanted to make bresaola so I understand (sort of) in this case.
I hunt quite a bit, process my own deer and elk, and make a wide range of sausages. There are venison cuts that are marginal as roasts or steaks, that can make outstanding Bresaola. A tougher cut like the bottom round (or eye or top) will not disappoint. That will save your precious loins for other recipes. One of my all time favorites is from Hank Shaw: http://honest-food.net/2012/12/16/venison-cumberland-sauce-recipe/
P.S. Lot’s of Wisconsin props, I’m from SE Wisconsin originally and a long line of kraut sausage makers.