Thread: Turning venison into ham and bacon

Hi guys, I know @Tahr makes his own bacon and by all accounts its pretty good but has anyone taken theirs to a butchery to get made into ham and bacon and what were the results.

I have just dropped 4 back legs into my local butchery to get 2 done in ham and 2 into bacon but I thought I would ask if anyone else has done this and if its good bad or ugly.

I’m getting a leg done into ham, pick it up Monday and curious so see how it shapes up.

@7mm Rem Mag I am lucky & have been mates with a pair of retired Italian & German Chefs & restaurant owners l took hunting over 20 yrs ago & have been great mates since .We have been making smoking/preserving meats & making our small goods for years & they are a wealth of knowledge. Of course it depends on personal tastes but Venison Ham is fantastic ,they got me addicted to Mocetta which is basically Italian Venison Ham ,it is like prosciutto & perfect for meat without the skin , the Italians use it for their Goats which are skinned like we do with Deer . It is now my favorite & gets center stage at xmas,Venison Bacon is good but the next door farm has pigs & we swap home made Sausage & Salami for as much pork as we want ,but am also lucky to have some prime eating mountain pigs we hunt 10 mins away from our farm & that is what they prefer for our bacon etc.

If you have taken it to a Butcher who knows how to Prep Venison my bet is you will love it .

The Farm chiller with our Summer/xmas treats all Venison/game based .

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....lami-small.jpg

Originally Posted by Mauser308

Dunno about vension bacon, never tasted it but fairly sure the brine curing and smoking woud work on anything - manuka smoked and brine preserved chicken is amazing for one so can't see why venison wouldn't work for bacon.

I know a couple of butchers that won't try and do anything into ham other than pig-sourced meat, not sure if thats a butchery trade religious belief of for any other reason but they've always flatly refused. Possibly in their book just isn't worth the risk as a commercial thing?

I know they do venison ham but they said they don't normally do bacon but are willing to give it a go.
Thought I would try a few differrnt options so we don't get sick of eating the same old stuff.

Originally Posted by outdoorlad

I’m getting a leg done into ham, pick it up Monday and curious so see how it shapes up.

Let us know, mine will be ready on Monday so ill post what it tastes like. I know a guy who takes legs in to that butchery to get hams done all the time and he swears by it

Originally Posted by bunji

@7mm Rem Mag I am lucky & have been mates with a pair of retired Italian & German Chefs & restaurant owners l took hunting over 20 yrs ago & have been great mates since .We have been making smoking/preserving meats & making our small goods for years & they are a wealth of knowledge. Of course it depends on personal tastes but Venison Ham is fantastic ,they got me addicted to Mocetta which is basically Italian Venison Ham ,it is like prosciutto & perfect for meat without the skin , the Italians use it for their Goats which are skinned like we do with Deer . It is now my favorite & gets center stage at xmas,Venison Bacon is good but the next door farm has pigs & we swap home made Sausage & Salami for as much pork as we want ,but am also lucky to have some prime eating mountain pigs we hunt 10 mins away from our farm & that is what they prefer for our bacon etc.

If you have taken it to a Butcher who knows how to Prep Venison my bet is you will love it .

The Farm chiller with our Summer/xmas treats all Venison/game based .

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....lami-small.jpg

Talk about professional, that stuff looks real good. Thanks for the post

@7mm Rem Mag If someone had said to me years ago that l would get hooked into smoking & preserving meat etc l would have said they were nuts ,but l really love the whole mateship/family traditional part of it now & look forward to our Salami & Sausage making weekends like l use to look forward to Xmas when the kids were young & l love how it is a extension of hunting that is such a big part of my life .

I am even doing up plans now for a new Man Cave /workshop at the back of the farm with a dedicated kitchen/BBQ/Smoker/Chiller set up all with Stainless Steel Benches etc & hose down cleaning that will be my retirement present to myself.

This is how me & the missus filled in time during a really shitty weather patch on the farm during lock down ,we made up & gave away to the neighboring farms over 45 kilos of Venison & Game based Sausages etc to give them a helping hand over the Lock Downs,as living rural we can not just nick down to the shops on the corner .

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....nags-small.jpg

Originally Posted by bunji

@7mm Rem Mag If someone had said to me years ago that l would get hooked into smoking & preserving meat etc l would have said they were nuts ,but l really love the whole mateship/family traditional part of it now & look forward to our Salami & Sausage making weekends like l use to look forward to Xmas when the kids were young & l love how it is a extension of hunting that is such a big part of my life .

I am even doing up plans now for a new Man Cave /workshop at the back of the farm with a dedicated kitchen/BBQ/Smoker/Chiller set up all with Stainless Steel Benches etc & hose down cleaning that will be my retirement present to myself.

This is how me & the missus filled in time during a really shitty weather patch on the farm during lock down ,we made up & gave away to the neighboring farms over 45 kilos of Venison & Game based Sausages etc to give them a helping hand over the Lock Downs,as living rural we can not just nick down to the shops on the corner .

https://www.nzhuntingandshooting.co....nags-small.jpg

Thats really generous of you to think of others. I love the way you can do so many different things with meat. Variety is good

Tried some and it turned out ok, our family didn't mind it, nothing like the real deal though.

I had some back leg cuts pickled by a butcher and smoked them myself, it was a very fat deer. The bacon was yum, but the fat tasted horrible

You used to be able to get hogget legs cured into ham.... a few hair cuts ago. It was cheaper than pork back then though.

I have often done corned venison silverside myself, it is bloody good!!

@bunji you have to be confident to commit that much meat / effort into bungs... well done. I love the small goods journey too. I have actually had Italians here that I have given salami to, ring up and ask for more.

Mutton hams or York hams are good as corned venison is tasty any muscle out of the back leg works good. Reason most butchers don't muck around with venison for bacon is it is a pain to work with and when you add time into the commercial factor it's not worth it the same as skinny wild pigs. The trick with all lean red meat is don't over cook it and when frying don't let it stew get the pan hot first.

Have had fallow done like "mutton hams"
no complaints.
Mind you the old story only as good as the meat you drop off.

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Had a few hams done by local butcher only fallow so far. They’ve come out great, keep getting asked for more by mates I’ve given some to. Nice change at Christmas too.