A friend gave me a shoulder of venison that he had brined and than cold smoked with apple. The meat is very tender, but way too salty for my taste. is there anyway to cover/neutrilize the salt?

Yes .
There are many good hams in the market but they are salty.Instead of baking the ham put the ham in a pot large enough to cover with water.Bring to a boil an boil for ten minutes. Dump the water then refill adding some wine if you like, and onion, celery and carrot and simmer for about two hours.This removes the salt.
The same can be done with your venison.

It is said that potatoes will absorb some of the salt too.....can't hurt to throw a few of them peeled and cut up into the second boil.

You can always cut it up and make some baked beans or something similar that needs salt anyway.

Ditto on all the above. You will have to leach the salt out of the meat with some salt-free liquid. Dry cured country hams like Smithfield take 12-18 hours of very low simmering with water changes every 4-6 hours, depending on weight and how much saltiness you want to retain. Using that initial degree of saltiness as a reference, I would think a deer ham would take 1/3 to 1/2 that time.

Lads,

Mete has the formula correct!! The salty taste is due to the chloride ion Cl. It is highly soluble, so it stays in solution - the key is to continuously change out the water into which the Cl ion has leached. Adding back flavor w/Mete's formula sounds tasty!!!

People always seem to over-salt venison when brining. But note... salt substitutes also contain Cl which still adds to the salty taste. They remove the sodium Na in an attempt to make it "healthier" by adding potassium or some other element or compound instead, but the Cl is actually what provides the salty taste.

Eat well,

Mike

Yes it does work !
If you want to add a nice touch - preheat your oven to 450 F. Mix a jar of preserves with the juice and grated rind of a lemon .I use a low sugar type like Pollaner and peach goes well with ham.Remove from water and drain the ham. Brush the entire hame with the preserves and bake for about 10 minutes. This gives a nice subtle peach flavor with the ham.

Thanks for all of the info. I boiled the venison ham for one hour, tossed the water, then simmered with a couple of spuds for three hours. Made a nice combo with smoked cooper cheese.

You didn't have to boil it that long 10-15 min would be fine. Glad it came out !