Dec 3, 2019

Wild Game Pastrami

Here is my first attempt at making wild game pastrami... and it will not be the last!!! This recipe is a definite winner, my wife and all of my kids ranging from 12 to 4 years old have endorsed this one with two thumbs way up!!! Aside from having to wait a week or so, the space that the roasts took up in the fridge, and taking 30 seconds every day to flip the roasts over... pastrami is an easy and delicious way to prepare a couple of wild game roasts.

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I started with the Cabela's Venison Pastrami recipe. From the freezer I pulled one elk roast (eye of round), one deer roast (bottom round), and one pronghorn roast (bottom round) and brought together all the ingredients for the cure. I toasted the spices in a cast iron skillet before mixing with the Morton's TenderQuick.

Then I coated each roast equally with the cure and placed them in vacuum sealed bags. The bags went into the fridge and I rotated the bags every day for 7 or 8 days. Each day when I rotated the roasts I snapped a quick picture of them for a type of "day by day" look at them. Initially they started out dry in the bag but over time the cure began to pull moisture from the roasts. By about Day 4 or 5 I could really tell the Tender Quick was doing it's job because I could feel that the texture of the roasts had changed as I manipulated the bags.



At the end of Day 7, I opened the bags and rinsed each roast with tap water then soaked the roasts in water overnight in the fridge. I mixed the rub as directed by the recipe and coated each roast with a generous layer of the rub.


I set up the smoker in the snowstorm on the morning of Thanksgiving and smoked the roasts to an internal temperature of 150 degrees. Removed from the heat I wrapped the pastrami in foil and allowed it to rest for a couple hours before slicing. Quite frankly, after giving a couple slices to my wife and the kids... I'm extremely lucky that I had enough to make an amazing little slider.

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