Sunday, February 8, 2009

Venison Prosciutto

Remember this gory post back here? (After seeing it my sister cried) Since then a small doe's hind quarter has been hanging in the basement wrapped in cheese cloth. Every now and again I'd go down there and inspect. Humidity was generally around 40%, and the temp hovered between 45 and 50. From curing duck breasts in the past, I knew density was an issue, so I'd occasionally give the thing a poke to see how it was coming along. In general, I tried to ignore it.

Yesterday ignoring the hanging meat proved futile. I was helping a buddy store some stuff in my basement so that he could go off to play mercenary and fight pirates. Even to him, the sight of a cheese cloth covered hunk of flesh was startling. So after his things were all packed away I smelled, poked, and prodded the curing venison. It seemed good to me.
And there it is, in all it's deery glory. It was all very simple and remarkably unscientific. I tried reading up on the process on the interweb, but didn't have much luck. I spoke to a guy around here who has cured a pig leg or two, and that was helpful enough--particularly one tip involving lard--but still, no details abound. So screw it, I just covered the thing with salt for three days (see bottom pic) and put it in the fridge. After three days I brushed all visible salt off with a paper towel and coated the thing in a mixture of about equal parts ground coriander, juniper berry, and black pepper. I also rubbed it with pork lard, paying particular attention to the area where the bone was kind of sticking out (see next pic down).

That was it. It just hung in the basement for about a month and a half. There were no nitrites, nitrates, deep tissue massages, or otherwise pampering. And I don't think I'll do it any differently when I do this again. I'm curious about using a lard/flour paste instead of just lard, and maybe sea salt instead of regular kosher salt. But then again, if it ain't broke . . . .

Now it's just a matter of figuring out what to do with all of it. Like porcine prosciutto, a little goes a long way. Radicchio salad w/ pine nuts, parm, and a lemony vinaigrette?
Looks fine to me (except for those weak knife skills--I'll blame the lack of a suitable slicer).

Getting ready for a three day slumber in the fridge.

30 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oh, it is beautiful!

Your knife skills are fine and will improve with each "ham" you work your way through. Remember, the best hams in the world are sliced by hand not on a slicer.

I hope I get to taste your venison prosccuitto.

Diane

The CFT said...

Thanks Diane. And thanks for organizing the New Year dinner.

I think the slicing will come together, even if I don't have an ESP sticker on my car. There's potential with the chef's knife.

I'll make sure you get a piece.

Adam said...

This recipe is going to my aunt and uncle. They must bag 5-10 deer a year and have a garage big enough to store a leg of venison in. They're big on jerky so hopefully they'll give this a shot.

The CFT said...

Give it a shot -- get it? This was super easy and totally worth doing. Easier than jerky too, just a little riskier.

Unknown said...

Whoa!!! I've been looking for a recipe for this!!!! So your post seems to start with the leg hanging in the basement. What did you do to prep it??? And most important, did it taste good???

Anonymous said...

Hey man, thanks for posting this, there is literally a void I'm the internet regarding skilled curing and prep for venison. Far too many stew and table recipes that look like slop when complete in my opinion. I am interested in finding a variety of dried sausage and cured meat preparations so off you have found any other resources I would love some advice if you feel like posting them.

Tys said...

So? still alive? eating this thing? how was it? what'd you do with it? have you thought about doing it again?
thanks for the great blog.

Anonymous said...

Hello hello....We have a buck in the shed, my boyfriend's biggest one yet (10 sturdy symmetrical points) and we want to make prosciutto...he is cutting it up while I research how to make it!...so basically we put it in salt for 3 days, then wipe that off, cover in seasoning, then lard, then cheesecloth, and hang in a cool airy place for a couple of months....? You'd say go for it? How exciting. Yum! Please let me know. Love Victoria

Food for Hunters said...

How did the fat taste? We always hear people say that deer fat tastes terrible.

Anonymous said...

Delicious! Well worth the time and effort it sounds like. Went on my first deer hunt this season and have it waiting in the garage to butcher up. My boyfriend is an avid hunter and we like to come up with new ways to use all of the different parts (he's a fantastic chef, I on the other hand...). I'll impress him with this entry in a couple of months though, just in time for his birthday! Thanks for the time and energy spent here, you are amazing.
-marguerite

Anonymous said...

I concur, how was it?

Anonymous said...

the ham in your photo looks phemonemal. any chance you might be willing to post the full recipe/process? thanks,m

Alex G said...

I killed a doe last week and am about to try the same process with one of its hind legs. The leg has been sitting in the fridge since we butchered it. There are a variety of recipes out there for venison prosciutto, and I am sure salt levels and drying times depend on local environmental conditions.

I see you're in Cleveland, as am I. My basement stays about 65F-70F and has low humidity all winter because the furnace is there, so I was going to try curing this in my attic. The attic is unheated, but remains above freezing, and retains a moderate humidity level. Do you think there's a temperature too low for curing prosciutto? If my attic gets to 40 degrees or lower, will that affect the final product negatively?

One other question, if I coat this leg in salt and leave it in the fridge for longer than 3 days, say 2 weeks or more, could that affect it negatively?

Thanks for your awesome blog, and this post. Any help is much appreciated.

-Alex

Mark said...

Hey nobody has follow up on this venison proscuitto thing. Did the chef die? I have one in the fridge, been curing for 5 months. I'm willing to post pics and a story line/explanation of how I did it if anybody cares. Let me know.

Mark

Unknown said...

I'd be interested in hearing you made out Mark. I'm starting to wonder if the original poster is still alive lol. I'm hoping to get a deer this season and would love to try this out if I can get more feedback from you as to how successful this is.
Thanks.

Alex G. said...

Hey Guys, this is Alex G who left the comment above 11 months ago. In the meantime I made and consumed/shared a fantastic venison proscuitto from a fresh doe's leg. I got married earlier this year and shared some of it with family members who were in town (Cleveland, OH) from Florida a couple days before the wedding. They were floored with the buttery flavor, texture, etc.

I used a combination of ideas I found on this site, another venison prosciutto site, a lamb proscuitto recipe I found, and a youtube series on how traditional Prosciutto di Parma is made. I'm no expert, this was my first try, but I think some of the things I did made a big difference in how this thing turned out. I kept ridiculously careful notes, and took a lot of photos along the way.

So where are these notes and photos you ask? Stay tuned, when my site is up I'll share the link here. Don't worry, I'll have it up in time for gun season in a couple weeks. If you bag one in the meantime, save one of the hind legs!

TheCFT said...

I am alive!!!! Nice to see interest on this. I don't blog much these days, but please note the recipe does work and is not, at least in that instance, deadly. One leg produces a fair amount of cured meat, so that's been keeping me from making it more often. Good luck to everyone trying this.

Unknown said...

Yeah Alex G, share the 411 on your culinary adventure. I have a leg all ready

Alex G said...

David, I started a blog just to post about what I did. The first part of the venison prosciutto post is up. I hope you find it helpful:

https://saltytrencherman.wordpress.com/

Unknown said...

Great thanks!

Anonymous said...

So you used an whole bonein quarter?

Unknown said...

Yes

Tracker said...

Have done the thing with pork legs. Have done similar things with Pork loin. The latter is so easy peasy. The thickness of the piece/leg generally controls how long the curing (salt) goes on. Where did you find out that 3 days covered in coarse salt was enough to cure a deer leg? I am truly interested, as i have worked with 3 % salt rubs and it takes much longer to penetrate the meat and cure it (1 week per inch thickness).... I don't want it to taste too salty. I'd love to try this on one of my next deer's hind legs.
Tracker

Tracker said...

Hi Alex, not seeing deer prosciutto with your link. Can you update link?

Tracker said...

Hi Alex, not seeing deer prosciutto with your link. Can you update link?

Tracker said...

Thanks Alex for Part I. Nicely documented. I am keen to see the other parts:)

Alex G said...

The last post about my Venison Prosciutto experiment is up at http://saltytrencherman.wordpress.com

Thanks for the kind words Tracker! I'm no expert, so all I could do was document how the process went for me. Hope it helps someone else out.

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Unknown said...

Hi I am just finishing the last week of the hanging time ... can't wait to slice into it

Anonymous said...

I took a deer hind quarter, trimmed most of the fat away covered it in course black pepper, garlic powder and salt and put it in a game bag and hung it in the dark corner of my buddies shop...that was ten days ago