Venison Pastrami ((Hank Shaw)

• servings: 2 servings
• active time: 15 minutes
• total time: 4 hours 15 minutes

Ingredients

A venison roast, (hind leg or backstrap)

Kosher salt (see recipe notes)

Instacure No. 1 (see recipe notes)

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

1/4 teaspoon caraway seed

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon crushed juniper (optional)

1 teaspoon ground black pepper, (plus 3 tablespoon ground black pepper)

1/4 cup brandy, (red wine, vinegar or water)

3 tablespoons coarsely ground coriander

Directions

Weigh your venison. For every pound of meat, you’ll need 10 grams of kosher salt and about 1.5 grams curing salt. Mix the salt, curing salt, sugar as well as the thyme, celery seed, caraway, juniper and the teaspoon of black pepper and grind them all together in a spice grinder. Pack the venison with this mixture, massaging it into the meat. Vacuum seal or put the meat into a Ziploc bag or closed container and set it in the fridge for 3 to 5 days. A general rule is 2 days per pound of meat. If you’re unsure, leave the meat in one more day than you think you need to. This salt ratio will prevent the meat from getting overly salty.

Rinse the cure off the venison and pat it dry. It’s fine if you have a little bit of the cure stuck to the meat, but you don’t want too much. Put the venison on a rack in the fridge and let it dry uncovered for up to a day.

Dip the meat into the brandy — or really any other liquid you want — and then coat thoroughly in the 3 tablespoons of remaining black pepper and ground coriander seed. I like to grind this myself so the texture is a little coarse, a little fine. Press it into the meat well.

Smoke the venison at about 165°F to 200°F until the interior hits 145°F, which takes me about 3 hours. Let the pastrami cool and eat as lunch meat, or on crackers or whatever.

Nutrition

• Calories: 106 kcal
• Total Fat: 2 g
• Saturated Fat: 1 g
• Sodium: 4 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 7 g
• Dietary Fiber: 3 g
• Total Sugars: 2 g
• Protein: 1 g