As a follow on from Boggy's Offal thread, I thought I'd ask who uses game for charcuterie?

I have made air dried venison hams and salami/chorizo. My favourite however was a brine cured venison ham which was later boiled in the fashion of gammon.

My success with the salamis has been limited, especially when compared to some of the continental offerings.

I still think the smoked loin of venison is a good offering though, and has not been done for some time now. Perhaps some Munty Loins after this weekend could feature in the smoker.

K

I'd say the easiest item would be corned brisket, maybe you'd be more familiar with salt beef here. I make some with beef a couple weeks back and got to enjoy the king of sandwiches...the mighty Reuben! Thin sliced corned beef, Swiss cheese and sauerkraut all nicely pan toasted inside thin slices of rye bread and lightly dipped in Dijon mustard. Fantastic! Ie done the same with moose, elk and deer meat and they all work well.

I like to make some smoked sausages with game occasionally and they usually turn out nicely. I haven't tried doing any of the dried sausages as they take specialised conditions. Jerky is of course an easy one as is biltong.

I make lots of biltongue. I tried to make a bresseola out of a Roe haunch - it did nt work very well, tasted awful and went mouldy. So I turned it into lobsters - stuck it in our lobster pot and it caught a good half dozen!!!!

I use to dry moose meat outside in the spring. I am planning to build a smoker to make my own.

Ah yes, Biltong too. I built a wall mounted box from a kitchen cupboard which is permanently mounted in my garage.

I just need to remember to bring more spice back from South africa with me next month

K

Just use a mix of 1/3 coriander seed, 1/3 black pepper and 1/3 sea salt- cover the meat with that mixture, then add a good dash of Worcester sauce. Let marinade over night and then hang up to dry. My trouble is with the two legged rats that keep trying - first bits ready in two / three days, one gets to a week before it is all gone.

I'm off to a Pork Butchery course tonight.
Hopefully I'll pick up a few tips!

quote:

Originally posted by Trapper Dave:
I'm off to a Pork Butchery course tonight.
Hopefully I'll pick up a few tips!

Find out how to cook really fatty traditional breed pork. I'm struggling after the lean venison I'm used to.

G,
It was a really good evening.
Run at the Ginger Pig butchers in Moxon Street.
They sell a group of free range old breeds bred on their farms.
There was about two hours of hands on demo cutting up half a pig properly, followed by wine and a fresh cooked version of the joints we'd prepared to take home.
I picked up some good tips both on butchery technique and cooking pork.

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:

quote:

Originally posted by Trapper Dave:
I'm off to a Pork Butchery course tonight.
Hopefully I'll pick up a few tips!

Find out how to cook really fatty traditional breed pork. I'm struggling after the lean venison I'm used to.

Hey Boggy,

What cuts are you using?

I got some Iron age porkers last year and the meat had a huge covering of fat on it. it really threw me to be honest.

K

I do!

Mike Robinson's recipe for potted venison! Used to do about 4-5 roe per year of it, and it would not last 1 week in the freezer with friends over.

Otherwise, salami's and other sausages with all manner of deer (UK & USA).

Now experimenting with Billtong, with SAF scipe mixes. Should be great (same as springbuck / kudu)

Cuts: everything except for the fillets!

I've had roe cold smoked a couple of time and served it sliced thin a la carpaccio (olive oil, lemon juice and parmesan) or bresaola style (olive oil, parmesan rocket & black pepper).

Lovely.